Hester Panim: Sin, Teshuva, and the Problem of Evil
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(טז) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יקוק אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה הִנְּךָ֥ שֹׁכֵ֖ב עִם־אֲבֹתֶ֑יךָ וְקָם֩ הָעָ֨ם הַזֶּ֜ה וְזָנָ֣ה ׀ אַחֲרֵ֣י ׀ אֱלֹקֵ֣י נֵֽכַר־הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֨ר ה֤וּא בָא־שָׁ֙מָּה֙ בְּקִרְבּ֔וֹ וַעֲזָבַ֕נִי וְהֵפֵר֙ אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֔י אֲשֶׁ֥ר כָּרַ֖תִּי אִתּֽוֹ׃ (יז) וְחָרָ֣ה אַפִּ֣י ב֣וֹ בַיּוֹם־הַ֠הוּא וַעֲזַבְתִּ֞ים וְהִסְתַּרְתִּ֨י פָנַ֤י מֵהֶם֙ וְהָיָ֣ה לֶֽאֱכֹ֔ל וּמְצָאֻ֛הוּ רָע֥וֹת רַבּ֖וֹת וְצָר֑וֹת וְאָמַר֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֔וּא הֲלֹ֗א עַ֣ל כִּֽי־אֵ֤ין אֱלֹקַי֙ בְּקִרְבִּ֔י מְצָא֖וּנִי הָרָע֥וֹת הָאֵֽלֶּה׃
(16) The LORD said to Moses: You are soon to lie with your fathers. This people will thereupon go astray after the alien gods in their midst, in the land that they are about to enter; they will forsake Me and break My covenant that I made with them. (17) Then My anger will flare up against them, and I will abandon them and hide My countenance from them. They shall be ready prey; and many evils and troubles shall befall them. And they shall say on that day, “Surely it is because our God is not in our midst that these evils have befallen us.”
Bereishit Rabba 19:7
וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ אֶת קוֹל יקוק אֱלֹקִים מִתְהַלֵּךְ בַּגָּן לְרוּחַ הַיּוֹם (בראשית ג, ח)...עִקַּר שְׁכִינָה בַּתַּחְתּוֹנִים הָיְתָה, כֵּיוָן שֶׁחָטָא אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן נִסְתַּלְּקָה שְׁכִינָה לָרָקִיעַ הָרִאשׁוֹן, חָטָא קַיִן נִסְתַּלְּקָה לָרָקִיעַ הַשֵּׁנִי, דּוֹר אֱנוֹשׁ לַשְׁלִישִׁי, דּוֹר הַמַּבּוּל לָרְבִיעִי, דּוֹר הַפְלָגָה לַחֲמִישִׁי, סְדוֹמִיִּים לַשִּׁשִּׁי, וּמִצְרִיִּים בִּימֵי אַבְרָהָם לַשְּׁבִיעִי. וּכְנֶגְדָן עָמְדוּ שִׁבְעָה צַדִּיקִים, וְאֵלּוּ הֵן, אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק וְיַעֲקֹב לֵוִי קְהָת עַמְרָם משֶׁה, עָמַד אַבְרָהָם וְהוֹרִידָהּ לַשִּׁשִּׁי, עָמַד יִצְחָק וְהוֹרִידָהּ מִן שִׁשִּׁי לַחֲמִישִׁי, עָמַד יַעֲקֹב וְהוֹרִידָהּ מִן הַחֲמִישִׁי לָרְבִיעִי, עָמַד לֵוִי וְהוֹרִידָהּ מִן הָרְבִיעִי לַשְּׁלִישִׁי, עָמַד קְהָת וְהוֹרִידָהּ מִן הַשְּׁלִישִׁי לַשֵּׁנִי, עָמַד עַמְרָם וְהוֹרִידָהּ מִן הַשֵּׁנִי לָרִאשׁוֹן, עָמַד משֶׁה וְהוֹרִידָהּ מִלְּמַעְלָה לְמַטָּה.
דבר אחר שובה ישראל עד יקוק אלקיך דרש רבינו הקדוש גדול [כחה] של תשובה שכיון שאדם מהרהר בלבו לעשות תשובה מיד היא עולה [לא] עד עשרה מילים ולא עשרים ולא עד מאה אלא עד מהלך חמש מאות שנים ולא עד הרקיע הראשון אלא עד רקיע (השני) [השביעי] ולא עד רקיע (השני) [השביעי] אלא שהיא עומדת לפני כסא הכבוד כן הושע אומר שובה [ישראל] עד יקוק אלקיך:
On Hoshea 14:2
Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik (and Pinchas Peli), On Repentance
When man sins, he creates a distance between himself and God and becomes, in Maimonides’ words, “separated from the Lord, God of Israel,” as it is written, “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God” (Isaiah 59:62). The end result of sinning is the driving out, as it were, of the Holy Prescence. But who, then, will take care of the sinner after the Holy One removes Himself and the sinner is left alone?...Who will extend a helping hand to rescue him from the quicksand into which he has sunk?
“You extend a hand to sinners and Your right arm stretches forth to receive the penitent.” The sinner begins to struggle and twists and turns but lacks the strength to extricate himself. He must be assisted. Someone must give him a hand. And then “You extend a hand to sinners” – as one extends a hand to a child, helping him take his first steps. “Your right arm stretches forth to receive the penitent.” When the sinner has already begun to walk and run by himself, how many obstacles are strewn in the path before him, how easy it is for him to stumble and fall! And here arms are stretched out to receive him, just as one holds out one’s arms to embrace a running child lest he fall…
“The Lord, the Lord”: two times the ineffable name is mentioned – the first removes Himself from the sinner, abandons him, but the second, the Lord who is there after man sins, remains…
… the Shekhinah never departs completely from any Jew, no matter how far he is gone or how deep he is immersed himself in sin. God is there after man sins, He remains hidden in the inner recesses of the heart of even the worst evildoer until the moment arrives when he remembers his Maker and renounces his ways and repents…
…When someone reaches the closed gates he has to cry out: “Oh, I beseech Thee!” “Open the gates for those who come knocking in repentance!” “Allow us to repent and to enter!”
On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would shout out the Ineffable Name of God three times…When the Ineffable Name was proclaimed for the third time, after the cleansing, man could again find himself “before the Lord,” as he is allowed once again to approach God who is there before man has sinned.
Is God Really Hiding?
(דברים לא, יח) ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני ביום ההוא אמר רבא אמר הקב"ה אף על פי שהסתרתי פני מהם בחלום אדבר בו רב יוסף אמר ידו נטויה עלינו שנאמר (ישעיהו נא, טז) ובצל ידי כסיתיך
With regard to the verse: “And I will hide my face in that day” (Deuteronomy 31:18), Rava said that the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: Even though I hid my face from them and My Divine Presence is not revealed, nevertheless: “I speak with him in a dream” (Numbers 12:6). Rav Yosef said: His hand is outstretched, guarding over us, as it is stated: “And I have covered you in the shadow of my hand” (Isaiah 51:16).
בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא נָדְדָה שְׁנַת הַמֶּלֶךְ אָמַר רַבִּי תַּנְחוּם נָדְדָה שְׁנַת מַלְכּוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם וְרַבָּנַן אָמְרִי נָדְדוּ עֶלְיוֹנִים נָדְדוּ תַּחְתּוֹנִים רָבָא אָמַר שְׁנַת הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ מַמָּשׁ
The verse states: “On that night the sleep of the king was disturbed” (Esther 6:1). Rabbi Tanḥum said: The verse alludes to another king who could not sleep; the sleep of the King of the universe, the Holy One, Blessed be He, was disturbed. And the Sages say: The sleep of the higher ones, the angels, was disturbed, and the sleep of the lower ones, the Jewish people, was disturbed. Rava said: This should be understood literally: The sleep of King Ahasuerus was disturbed.
A Cry for Help, A Demand for Answers
(ב) עַד־אָ֣נָה יקוק תִּשְׁכָּחֵ֣נִי נֶ֑צַח עַד־אָ֓נָה ׀ תַּסְתִּ֖יר אֶת־פָּנֶ֣יךָ מִמֶּֽנִּי׃ (ג) עַד־אָ֨נָה אָשִׁ֪ית עֵצ֡וֹת בְּנַפְשִׁ֗י יָג֣וֹן בִּלְבָבִ֣י יוֹמָ֑ם עַד־אָ֓נָה ׀ יָר֖וּם אֹיְבִ֣י עָלָֽי׃ (ד) הַבִּ֣יטָֽה עֲ֭נֵנִי יקוק אֱלֹקָ֑י הָאִ֥ירָה עֵ֝ינַ֗י פֶּן־אִישַׁ֥ן הַמָּֽוֶת׃ (ה) פֶּן־יֹאמַ֣ר אֹיְבִ֣י יְכׇלְתִּ֑יו צָרַ֥י יָ֝גִ֗ילוּ כִּ֣י אֶמּֽוֹט׃ (ו) וַאֲנִ֤י ׀ בְּחַסְדְּךָ֣ בָטַחְתִּי֮ יָ֤גֵ֥ל לִבִּ֗י בִּֽישׁוּעָ֫תֶ֥ךָ אָשִׁ֥ירָה לַֽיקוק כִּ֖י גָמַ֣ל עָלָֽי׃ {פ}
(2) How long, O LORD; will You ignore me forever?How long will You hide Your face from me? (3) How long will I have cares on my mind, grief in my heart all day?How long will my enemy have the upper hand? (4) Look at me, answer me, O LORD, my God!Restore the luster to my eyes,lest I sleep the sleep of death; (5) lest my enemy say, “I have overcome him,”my foes exult when I totter. (6) But I trust in Your faithfulness, my heart will exult in Your deliverance.I will sing to the LORD,for He has been good to me.
(כ) לָ֤מָּה לָנֶ֙צַח֙ תִּשְׁכָּחֵ֔נוּ תַּֽעַזְבֵ֖נוּ לְאֹ֥רֶךְ יָמִֽים׃ (כא) הֲשִׁיבֵ֨נוּ יקוק ׀ אֵלֶ֙יךָ֙ (ונשוב) [וְֽנָשׁ֔וּבָה] חַדֵּ֥שׁ יָמֵ֖ינוּ כְּקֶֽדֶם׃ (כב) כִּ֚י אִם־מָאֹ֣ס מְאַסְתָּ֔נוּ קָצַ֥פְתָּ עָלֵ֖ינוּ עַד־מְאֹֽד׃
(20) Why have You forgotten us utterly,Forsaken us for all time? (21) Take us back, O LORD, to Yourself,And let us come back;Renew our days as of old! (22) For truly, You have rejected us,Bitterly raged against us.
Humanity's Perception/Actions Cause God to Hide
Aryeh Kaplan, Innerspace, p. 160 (paraphrased)
When Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (the Kotzker Rebbe) was five years old, he asked his father "Where is God?" to which his father answered: "God is everywhere!" Menachem Mendel then responded "No, I think God is only where you let Him in."
Martin Buber, Eclipse of God
“Eclipse of the light of heaven, eclipse of God—such indeed is the character of the historic hour through which the world is passing...An eclipse of the sun is something that occurs between the sun and our eyes, not in the sun itself...But … one misses everything when one insists on discovering within earthly thought the power that unveils the mystery. He who refuses to submit himself to the effective reality of transcendence as such—our vis-à-vis—contributes to the human responsibility for the eclipse.”
"In our age the I-It relation, gigantically swollen, has usurped, practically uncontested, the mastery and the rule. The I of this relation, an I that possesses all, makes all, succeeds with all, this I that is unable to say Thou, unable to meet a being essentially, is the lord of the hour. This selfhood that has become omnipotent, with all the It around it, can naturally acknowledge neither God nor any genuine absolute which manifests itself to men as of non-human origin. It steps in between and shuts off from us the light of heaven. Such is the nature of this hour.”
Rabbi A.J. Heschel, Man Is Not Alone (p. 151-153)
Does not history look like a stage for the dance of might and evil-with man’s wits too feeble to separate the two-and God either directing the play or indifferent to it? The major folly of this view seems to lie in its shifting the responsibility for man’s plight from man to God, in accussing the Invisible though iniquity is ours...We live in an age when most of us have ceased to be shocked by the increase in moral inhibitions. The decay of conscience fills the air with a pungent smell. Good and evil, which were once as distinguishable as day and night, have become a blurred mist. But that mist is man-made. God is not silent. He has been silenced...The will of God is to be here, manifest and near; but when the doors of this world are slammed on Him, His truth betrayed, His will defied, He withdraws, leaving man to himself. God did not depart of His own volition; He was expelled. God is in exile.
ומפני זה יראה לי כי כל מי שתמצאהו רעה מרעות העולם מן הנביאים או מן החסידים השלמים לא מצאהו הרע ההוא רק בעת השכחה ההיא - ולפי אורך השכחה ההיא או פחיתות הענין אשר התעסק בו יהיה עוצם הרעה. ואחר שהענין כן כבר סר הספגק הגדול אשר הביא הפילוסופים לשלול השגחת האלוה מכל איש ואיש מבני אדם ולהשוות ביניהם ובין אישי מיני שאר בעלי חיים והיתה ראיתם על זה - מצוא החסידים והטובים רעות גדולות. והתבאר הסוד בזה ואפילו לפי דעתם. ותהיה השגחת האלוה ית' מתמדת במי שהגיע לו השפע ההוא המזומן לכל מי שישתדל להגיע אליו ועם הפנות מחשבת האדם והשיגו האלוה ית' בדרכים האמתיים ושמחתו במה שהשיג - אי אפשר שיקרא אז לאיז ההוא מין ממיני הרעות כי הוא עם האלוה והאלוה עמו. אבל בהסיר מחשבתו מהאלוה אשר הוא אז נבדל מהאלוה והאלוה נבדל ממנו והוא אז מזומן לכל רע שאפשר שימצאהו כי הענין המביא ההשגחה ולהמלט מים המקרה הוא השפע ההוא השכלי. וכבר נבדל קצת העתים מן החסיד ההוא הטוב או לא הגיע כלל לחסר ההוא הרע - ולזה ארע לשניהם מה שארע: והנה התאמתה אצלי זאת האמונה גם כן מדברי ה'תורה' - אמר ית' "והסתרתי פני מהם והיה לאכול ומצאוהו רעות רבות וצרות ואמר ביום ההוא הלא על כי אין אלוקי בקרבי מצאוני הרעות האלה". ומבואר הוא ש'הסתרת הפנים' הזאת אנחנו סיבתה ואנחנו עושים זה המסך המבדיל בינינו ובינו - והוא אמרו "ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני ביום ההוא על כל הרעה אשר עשה" - ואין ספק כי דין היחיד כדין הציבור. הנה התבאר לך כי הסיבה בהיות איש מבני אדם מופקר למקרה ויהיה מזומן לאכל כבהמות הוא היותו נבדל מהאלוה; אבל מי ש'אלוקיו בקרבו' לא יגע בו רע כל עיקר - אמר ית' "אל תירא כי אתך אני אל תשתע כי אני אלוקיך וגו'" ואמר "כי תעבור במים אתך אני ובנהרות לא ישטפוך וגו'" [ופרושו 'כי תעבור במים ואני אתך - הנהרות לא ישטפוך']. כי כל מי שהכין עצמו עד ששפע עליו השכל ההוא תדבק בו ההשגחה וימנעו ממנו הרעות כולם - אמר "יי לי - לא אירא מה יעשה לי אדם" ואמר "הסכן נא עמו ושלם" - יאמר פנה אליו ותשלם מכל רע:
Hence it appears to me that it is only in times of such neglect that some of the ordinary evils befall a prophet or a perfect and pious man: and the intensity of the evil is proportional to the duration of those moments, or to the character of the things that thus occupy their mind. Such being the case, the great difficulty is removed that led philosophers to assert that Providence does not extend to every individual, and that man is like any other living being in this respect, viz., the argument based on the fact that good and pious men are afflicted with great evils. We have thus explained this difficult question even in accordance with the philosophers' own principles. Divine Providence is constantly watching over those who have obtained that blessing which is prepared for those who endeavor to obtain it. If man frees his thoughts from worldly matters, obtains a knowledge of God in the right way, and rejoices in that knowledge, it is impossible that any kind of evil should befall him while he is with God, and God with him. When he does not meditate on God, when he is separated from God, then God is also separated from him; then he is exposed to any evil that might befall him; for it is only that intellectual link with God that secures the presence of Providence and protection from evil accidents. Hence it may occur that the perfect man is at times not happy, whilst no evil befalls those who are imperfect; in these cases what happens to them is due to chance. This principle I find also expressed in the Law. "And I will hide my face them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them: so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?" (Deut. 31:17). It is clear that we ourselves are the cause of this hiding of the face, and that the screen that separates us from God is of our own creation. This is the meaning of the words: "And I will surely hide my face in that day, for all the evils which they shall have wrought" (ibid. ver. 18). There is undoubtedly no difference in this regard between one single person and a whole community. It is now clearly established that the cause of our being exposed to chance, and abandoned to destruction like cattle, is to be found in our separation from God. Those who have their God dwelling in their hearts, are not touched by any evil whatever. For God says: "Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God" (Isa. 41:10). "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee" (ibid. 42:2). For if we prepare ourselves, and attain the influence of the Divine Intellect, Providence is joined to us, and we are guarded against all evils. Comp. "The Lord is on my side; I will not fear; what can man do unto me?" (Ps. 118:6). "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace" (Job 22:2 1); i.e., turn unto Him, and you will be safe from all evil.
God Hides to Preserve Free Will
Eliezer Berkovits, God, Man and History (p. 148-150)
No doubt, God is sufficiently powerful to intervene every time a wrong is committed; it would indeed be a small matter for him to eliminate all evil and injustice from the earth. But his evident intervention would destroy not only evil, but also the essence of man's humanity--namely, his moral responsibility. Man is man only if he may choose between alternative courses of action, and if he can do so in moral freedom...if divine providence were indeed manifest in the world, if it convincingly lived up to human expectations...if God acted always as man's sense of justice would have him do...there would be only "goodness" left imposed from without. Man would cease to be a morally responsible creature. Therefore the problem of God's providence and justice must forever remain unsolved in history, so as to enable the possibility of history itself, and of life's increasing orientation to God, through human responsibility...God hides from man most of the time so that man may believe in him without compulsion...The very silence of God in history is due to his concern for man.