The Old Man on the Throne

(Exodus 33.12 – 34.26)

Is the Torah a saga, an historic fable, of the Jewish People? Was it handed down to us from generation to generation like Beowulf or Homer?

Many modern “space age” people ask: “How can we give any credence to this ancient fable of an old man with a long white beard sitting on a golden throne in Heaven?”

They are right. We cant! Why should we give credence to laws given by an old man thousands of years ago? This is the 21st century. “We live in the space age, and we know better!”

Space age moderns know that such an old man on a throne could not be the creator of our Universe.

And they are absolutely right! He couldn’t be!

Today’s scientists are clear that the Creator of our unfathomably complex Universe could not have been a human being, or anything else that we can contemplate.

Today, science is far advanced in its search for the single “unifying theory” of the Universe. So far advanced, in fact, that it is not sure it can find the answer. Einstein died, a failure in his eyes, because after years of trying, he could not find the answer.

The fact is that the deeper we delve, the deeper and broader is the mystery of Creation and human existence.

Once, not too long ago, there were atoms of electrons, positions and nuclei.

Now, there are quacks – upper and lower ones to boot – plus mesons, busons, etc., and according to Brian Greene, “strings!”

Many today, posit that mysterious “strings” are the glue that holds together the electrons, atoms, molecules and thus the Universe, and us.

No one can define “strings” except to claim that they are invisible, minute and extremely long. So long, that, if one electron was, relatively speaking, in the Bronx, its “string mate” electron would be in Brooklyn, about 10-12 miles away;.

No one knows the why or how of “strings,” other than the fact that could be an answer to how the Universe works.

But “strings,” if they exist, have “baggage.” They bring into play other “dimensions” - weird, unfathomable dimensions – perhaps as many as 19 of them – either so small that they are within us and our atoms, or so large that we are within them.

Is it these invisible to us dimensions that are involved in the Torah reading for this Intemediate Sabbath of Passover?

After the Exodus from Egypt – there was the miracle of the sudden “East wind” that the Torah tell us, blew the waters away to reveal the bottom so that the children of Israel could march across – then ceasing the wind to drown the Egyptians as they tried to follow. The song at the Red Sea,” that they then sang, is so spontaneous that even so ardent an atheist as Martin Buber claimed that it rang true with its vivid verses and spontaneity.

Moses, after the Exodus, pleads with G-d to reveal Himself to Moses: “If I have found grace in Your sight, reveal Yourself to me. Show me Your face? Show me Your Glory!”

Poor Moses. He does not understand. The Al-Mighty is far beyond even Moses’ contemplation. As a mere human being, Moses doesn’t know of the vastness of Creation, the invisible dimensions. But neither do our most advanced scientists. They can only speculate.

G-d explains to Moses that G-d is beyond all human comprehension – certainly not, as some moderns claim, an old man with white hair and a long white beard sitting on a throne in Heaven, and tells him, in effect:

“No one can see Me and live!

No one can see My face and live!

I am beyond human contemplation

I alone decide to whom I will be gracious!”

Thus, 3,300 years ago, our Creator explained to Moses the complexity of the Universe and gave Moses the unifying theory – an invisible dimension – that Einstein vainly sought: “No man can see Me and live!”

The Al-Mighty works through human beings – and chose Moses, to redeem the Hebrews from Egypt so that they could become His:

“Kingdom of Priests”
“A holy Nation,
“G-d’s Treasure on Earth,
“To bring the Torah
To the World.”

For that Divine purpose, G-d required living “dimension,” beings, and chose the Children of Israel to carry the Torch of Torah, whose message is in full accord with our Space Age.

© L. N. Service (30)