Let My People Know

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz: “Man “hiding” from God and God hiding from man.”

If the light within the divine speech were to be revealed in its full force, it would be too powerful for created beings to receive their vitality from it.

The life force that is given to every finite creature cannot exceed that creature’s ability to assimilate it .

By way of analogy, when an adult plays hide-and-seek with a child, the child usually hides where the adult can easily find him, but the adult pretends not to see.

He creates the illusion that there is both concealment and visibility; for if everything were revealed, the game would be over.

In this sense, human life consists of man “hiding” from God and God hiding from man.

—Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz