Parshat Vayelech
In Vayelech, as part of the introduction to the song of Ha’azinu, God warns the people that if they turn away from Him, He will hide His face on that day — bayom hahu: “And I will hide My face on that day, because of all the evil they have committed, when they turned to other deities” (Deuteronomy 31:18). The word for hide in this verse is actually written twice, emphasizing a double layer of hiddenness. It is explained in Chassidut that this type of double hiding is the worst of all as God is so absolutely hidden that people don’t even realize that He is hidden. It is as if He does not even exist. Unfortunately, throughout Jewish history there have been many times that it appears to many that God is hidden, If not, how could Israel suffer so much oppression and tragedy. Yet, throughout the Book of Deuteronomy the dynamic of history as it would unfold was revealed in the constant repetition of the “blessing and curse” dynamic. Ultimately, God put the choice of which path of history would unfold into the hands of the Jewish people.
Various commentators see this type of Divine constriction and hiddenness present at the time of Purim when God seemed to be hiding as Haman’s diabolical plot unfolded. It was not until after Esther and Mordecai were able to turn the situation around — expressed in the phrase nahafoch hu – that the people suddenly saw that God was acting behind the scenes the entire time.
The word hu of the phrase nahafoch hu in Hebrew is spelled hei/vav/alef (הוא) and is the very same word used in our portion to indicate that day in which God will hide his face, bayom hahu.
If we read the phrase nahafoch hu literally, it reads: to reverse or turn around [the letters of the word] hu. When doing so, we get the word אוה which means desire or passion. This word appears in a verse in Psalms: “For God has chosen Zion; He desired it for His habitation” (132:13). In other words, although God may in a measure for measure manner “hide His face” in response to Israel turning away from God, as described in the above verse in our portion, His true desire is to actually dwell in Zion among the Jewish people.
The Sages and subsequent Jewish thinkers have postulated various explanations for why God created the world. Perhaps the deepest reason given by the Sages for God’s creation of the world is that “God desired a dwelling place in the lower worlds” (Midrash Tanchuma, Naso 16). The above verse — “For God has chosen Zion; He desired it for His habitation” — perfectly encapsulates this concept.
When delving even deeper into this verse, a number of other ideas reveal themselves. The word Zion in Hebrew numerically equals 156, the same value as the Hebrew word for Joseph. In Jewish tradition Joseph is always associated with the tzaddik, the righteous one. Therefore, one can understand that God’s desire to dwell in Zion is synonymous with God’s desire to dwell in the lower worlds among the righteous ones of Israel, or even deeper — to dwell within the hearts and actions of the righteous; implying that it is we and our lives which are the potential dwellings in which God desires to reside.
The word in Hebrew for “His” habitation in this verse is lo, which numerically equals 36. According to tradition every generation has at least 36 righteous people who uphold the world with their holy thoughts, speech and actions.
Similar to a Jew’s desire and passion to be close to the Creator, so too, in a mysterious manner, God desires to not only dwell within the lower worlds, but to be intimately connected to the tzaddikim. Related to this, it is important to note that every Jew has an aspect of the tzaddik within them, as expressed in the verse: “And your people, all of them righteous, they shall inherit the land forever, a branch of My planting, the work of My hands in which I will glory” (Isaiah 60:21).
Another deep connection exists between the letters of the word hu and the war Israel fought with Amalek shortly after leaving Egypt. Commenting on the verse, “For the hand is on the throne of God; a war to God against Amalek, from generation to generation” (Exodus 17:16), Rashi notes that two different words in the verse are missing letters: the Hebrew word for “throne” is missing the letter alef, and the Hebrew word for “God” is written with only the first two letters of God’s four-letter name (yud-hei), thus, it is lacking the letters vav and hei. This deficiency, Rashi informs us, signifies God’s promise that His name and His throne will remain incomplete, hidden until the name of Amalek and all evil that it represents is totally uprooted from the world. Only then will God’s name be one and completely revealed.
These three missing letters from this verse are the exact letters that constitute the word hu (hei-vav-alef). Thus, God hiding His face at different times throughout history is rooted in the archetypal battle with Amalek that manifests “from generation to generation.” God’s hiddenness is a manifestation of an existential reality of an unrectified world in general which hides God’s Presence and His ultimate desire to reveal Himself and “dwell” fully in the world.
The promise of ultimate redemption — entailing the revelation of God’s Presence, the return of Israel to its homeland, the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple, and ultimately world peace — is found in the Torah, particularly in the book of Deuteronomy, as well as throughout the books of the prophets. Many of these prophecies, especially in the book of Isaiah, revolve around a Messianic figure. The last and permanent revelation of God, when His throne and Name will be completed with the addition of the three letters of the word hu, will only take place when evil is vanquished as part of the final redemption during the Messianic era. Only then will God’s promise be completely fulfilled, resulting in a new and eternal revelation of God, as Zechariah prophesied: “And then God shall become King over all the earth; on that day [bayom hahu] shall God be one, and His name one” (14:9). That day will be the nahafoch hu of all the times – bayom hahu – that God hid His face from His people.
