Q&A: Is the Hiding of God's Face a Positive Thing?
Is the Hiding of God's Face a Positive Thing?
Question
In the book There Is No Person, etc., the Rabbi suggests that the hiding of the Holy One’s face from us (the fact that He leaves us in the hands of nature without our sensing His providence) is not something negative in the way it is usually portrayed, but rather a kind of “maturation” of humanity.
On the other hand, in the Torah portion of Vayelekh (Deuteronomy 31:17–18) it says:
"Then My anger shall flare up against them on that day, and I will abandon them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be consumed; and many evils and troubles shall befall them, and they will say on that day: Is it not because my God is not in my midst that these evils have come upon me? And I will surely hide My face on that day because of all the evil that they have done, for they have turned to other gods."
So it would seem that the hiding of God’s face is a punishment.
Answer
Clearly there is a kind of hiding of God’s face that is a punishment. In a period when His face is revealed and we need that revelation (the period of our childhood), if we sin we are punished—like parents with children. But there is also a kind of concealment that is part of the overall historical plan.
Otherwise, why does the hiding of God’s face continue long after the sins, down to our own day? Why did the sins in the period of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) not prevent prophecy and miracles, while our sins do?