Can we ever see God?

Rabbi Irwin Wiener, D.D.


The great sage Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “God is in search of man, as man is in search of God.” We all desire to know God, to feel God’s presence in our lives and, of course, to seek the help of God in times of trouble. Yes, it is true that God searches for us as strongly and as curiously as we search for God.

To understand this better we need to recount the episode in Exodus, 33:18 as Moses asks to see God’s glory. In reality, Moses wants to see God because even he found it difficult to understand a concept or a perception of something that can’t be imagined. “You will not be able to see My face, for no human can see My face and live.” Picture yourself having a conversation with a spirit that is alive and yet not formed. Most would say that you were mad or worse, perhaps, even delusional.

Then the climax of the encounter, “I shall shield you with My hand until I have passed. Then I shall remove My hand and you will see My back, but My face may not be seen.” God is invisible to the naked eye and here we learn about God in human terms about God’s hand, God’s face, God’s back. It is impossible to think or describe things other than how we were created as human beings. We touch, we feel, we smell, we hear and we see. These things we can understand, but to realize that there is a spirit that moves about the universe with none of these characteristics just does not seem possible.

Moses too has his doubts. It started with a bush that burned and was not consumed and continued through the ordeal of plagues and torments described but impossible to imagine. It was followed by a tumultuous voyage that witnessed miracle after miracle culminating in a spiritual connection that made Israel distinct in every way.

It is this distinction that makes Passover so significant. People fight for independence and freedom every day in all corners of the globe and yet, Israel’s fight was explicit in that it contained an element of intimacy with God. We constantly struggle to maintain that connection. Our ancestors found it difficult coming from a culture that saw many gods and now re-taught about one God. They could not understand the difference between invisible and visible. The Golden Calf represented the visibility of God and that gave them comfort.

We all need to feel the nearness of God. It is hard to imagine and we are no different than those who left Egypt in search of this nearness. We have our Golden Calves, whether it is wealth or beauty. However, we neglect to remember that we can find God’s nearness with everyday living or recovery from illness or the birth of a child or a marriage. Each day is an experiment that brings completion and fulfillment if we will it because we remember to love and allow ourselves to be loved. Most of all we need to show gratitude by sharing with others.

However, to me, the most important aspect of Passover is that our very existence is a compliment to God for the imprint on our lives as attested to by our ancestors and will remain a testament to our ability to persevere and prosper so that future generations will hear the same story and marvel as we do to the timeless message of emancipation.

Generation after generation retells the story because it fulfills the wishes and desires of all humankind. And as Moses exhorts Pharaoh to “let the people go” in their desire to worship God in peace and security, we are reminded that this is a clarion call for all people to be able to feel secure.

Yes, we searched for God, we still search for God. God searched for us and still searches for us and this episode in history affirms that the search is not complete and may never be. Just as we search for the leaven before the Passover begins, and as we search for the Afikomen during the Passover Seder, we need to continue to probe because Passover is the continuing search to see God.