Rabbi Konigsburg's Blog

On the heels of the great sin of the Golden Calf, before the new set of commandments is carved, Moses exclaims to God: “Let me behold your presence!” Coming up from the spiritual low of the nation’s disloyalty to God and approaching the holy zenith of receiving the new tablets, Moses yearns to know God. But doesn’t Moses already know God!? Hasn’t he been in conversation with the Divine from his shepherd days at the burning bush? Why now does Moses seem to be requesting something he has already known and experienced?
 
These past two weeks, my wife and I have been blessed with a new addition to our family, and this past Tuesday we brought our little Jonah into the covenant that we read about in our parsha; Ki Tissa. And while I am still discovering all the remarkable things about becoming a parent, each new discovery comes with a new understanding of the Divine presence in the world. The world is full of wonders and becoming a parent is only one such wonder. “How numerous are your creations, God, with wisdom you fashioned them all!”
 
Perhaps Moses wasn’t asking to know God’s presence because he hadn’t known it previously. Rather, maybe Moses was coming from a low place and needed a little spiritual pick-me-up. Sometimes we look around the world and are bombarded by disasters and stress, worries and strife and it is hard to find solace and refuge; it is hard to find the Divine presence. We look around the world and exclaim to God: “Let me behold your presence!” However, as I learned with becoming a father, the Divine presence is always nearby and can be experienced in numerous moments and circumstances. Our yearning for God’s presence is our commitment to keep our eyes open, to look for the Divine in the world around us; to believe that with each new day, that with each new moment, a glimpse of God’s presence can be “seen.” It is the faith in the possibilities that no matter how low down we might find ourselves, brighter opportunities can always be seen in our futures.