{"id":47856,"date":"2019-01-20T23:53:09","date_gmt":"2019-01-20T21:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=47856"},"modified":"2022-08-14T14:16:51","modified_gmt":"2022-08-14T11:16:51","slug":"in-the-presence-of-the-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/in-the-presence-of-the-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"In The Presence Of The Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At the end, at Meribah, God tells Moses and Aaron: \u201cYou shall <\/span>speak<\/span><\/i> to the rock <\/span>before their eyes<\/span><\/i>.\u201d Once before they had seen sounds: at Mount Sinai, they had \u201cseen the voices\u201d (Exod. 20:15). Something of the power of God\u2019s word had affected them with the primal, traumatic impact of vision. Perhaps, suggests Meshech Chochmah<\/em>, now, at the end of the wilderness time, as they are about to reenact the Sinai Covenant, God wishes them to re-experience the visionary impact of the word. At Sinai, they had been confronted with its demand. Now, each individual will envisage Moses delivering that impact to unimpressible rock. They will bring themselves to bear on the scene; their eyes will be sanctified by <\/span>seeing<\/span><\/i> the holy word.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Moses, because of his anger with the people, calls only on their sense of <\/span>hearing<\/span><\/i>: \u201cListen now, you rebels, shall we bring water forth for you from this rock?\u201d <\/span>Seeing<\/span><\/i> God\u2019s message would have generated faith, trust, intimate connection. But he fails to engage their depth perception of the moment. To see God\u2019s words is to bring one\u2019s personal presence-conscious and unconscious-to the scene; to be affected to the roots of one\u2019s being by something staged before one\u2019s eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n

But for this to happen, one must have eyes that can see. Such an intensity of vision is evoked in the midrash: \u201cEach person saw himself standing in the presence of the rock.\u201d \u00a0This is a scene of presences: the people are gathered <\/span>el pnei ha-sela–face-to-face<\/span><\/em> with the rock. Each person sees his\/her own presence in the presence of the rock. Looking at the thing, one endows it with a face; a space is created between two faces. One enhances the rock with one\u2019s own life.<\/span><\/p>\n

The English psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott calls the space between mother and baby <\/span>potential space<\/span><\/em>; it is electric with fantasy and dream. In this space, mother and baby create each other. Facing the rock, each person experiences him\/herself facing the rock.<\/span><\/p>\n

Excerpted from: \u00a0<\/span>Bewilderments<\/span><\/i>, Schocken Books, 2017, \u00a0\u201cHeart of Stone, Heart of Flesh,\u201d Chapter 8, Page 221.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":78824,"id":78824,"title":"zeph1-face","filename":"zeph1-face.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-insider-outsider\/zeph1-face\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"zeph1-face","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":78815,"date":"2020-08-13 13:01:15","modified":"2022-08-14 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