Earlier this week I was blessed to receive my first COVID Vaccine. What a mechiya/delightful blessing! A relief, really. And an overwhelming miracle. And a stroke of luck that surviving breast cancer moved me up in the line. Barukh Atah Adonai Eloheynu Melekh HaOlam, Hatov V'hameytiv/ Blessings to You Holy One of the Universe, Who is Good and Bestows Goodness.
This week's parasha, Ki Tisa, highlights Gd's insistence that a human cannot see Gd's face and live. In fact, Gd tells Moses, come sit near me so I may reveal my back as you
experience my presence, u'fanai lo yay'ra'u/but my face may not be seen (Exodus 33:23). The Holy One has no problem bringing Moses close without a face to face encounter. Yet, the Torah is clear in the book of Genesis that one can see a divine being and live. In preparation for the reunion with his estranged brother Esau, Jacob wrestles with a being and, although injured, earns a new name - Israel. So Jacob named the place P'niel because he saw a Divine being panim el panim/face to face and his life was preserved (Genesis 32:31).
The trope of this past year has travelled between life and death, seeing and not seeing, struggling with the divine and emerging fractured yet transformed. There have been days I have praised humanity and days I threw my hands up in despair. Yet, the time I spent at the Javits Center last week was filled with hope and the face of the divine. I saw Gd in the face of Dylan who confirmed my statistical information and marked the information on my vaccine card. I saw Gd in the face of Azziza who administered my first COVID vaccination. I saw Gd in the face of the National Guardsman who assured me I could determine how long to wait following my vaccine. Amazingly, his name was Pesah, perfect for this experience moving people from the narrow space of the pandemic towards a hopeful and healthful future. I even/especially saw Gd in the face of Kimba who asked me to wait while she wiped the toilet seat in the stall before I used it. We joked about how we both clean toilets at our homes as well. I am still filled with abundant gratitude for all of these individuals, as well as those of my fellow citizens who waited, masked, on long lines with patience and respect for one another and for the process.
Joan Osbourne asks, If Gd had a face what would it look like? In my experience, the Holy Divine One looks like each one of us. Perhaps that's why the word for face in Hebrew is offered in the plural. Panim encompasses the tapestry of faces who walk the earth. What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us. Just a stranger on the bus.Tryin' to make his way home. (One of Us, Joan Osborne, 1995). I love the idea of Gd as one of us, finding their way through this complicated life, engaged, struggling, bruised, transformed and hopeful for the future. May our names and our faces continue to make us known to one another as we journey together on Gd's earth.
Shabbat Shalom rg
"Wall of Thanks" Javits Center COVID-19 Vaccination Site
Congregation Habonim 103 West End Ave New York, NY 10023
