Ink on Moses’ Face

When our words are only skin deep, they are black ink. When our words contain many layers of meaning, these words are sources of light.

G-d’s Love for Moses

When Moses descended from the mountain his face shone. However, the Torah in this week’s Parsha states, “He did not know that his face shone.”

The Midrash comments, “What was the source of his radiant face? It was from the leftover ink of his quill.”

Obviously, these enigmatic Midrashic words are to be understood metaphorically. It does not mean literally that he took some left over ink and coated his face with it. What does this mean and what is the message that we can learn from this phenomenon?

According to one commentator, the extra ink came from his writing of the first word of the Book of Leviticus—Vayikra. The word Vayikra, translates as “and He called,” and it refers to the unique relationship G-d had with Moses. Before G-d would speak to him, as opposed to other prophets, He would call him as a sign of love and affection.

Moses Declined the Honor

When Moses was told to write this word, he demurred. “How can I write an expression that singles me out for special praise?” Moses’ humility made it very difficult for him to write a word that accorded him, what he thought was inordinate honor. Moses, therefore, wanted to leave out the letter aleph of the word Vayikra, which would then read Vayikar, and would translate as “G-d chanced upon him,” implying that the relationship between him and G-d was not a very close and warm one. G-d did not show him any affection, but happened to just meet him in a chance meeting, but made no effort to call out to him as the word Vayikra would have indicated.

Indeed, when G-d communicates with the heathen prophet Bilam, He uses the term Vayikar, “And He chanced.” G-d’s communication with him was not one that G-d cherished. It was not out of friendship and intimacy but one of distance. It was like a meeting with some underworld character which you don’t want to publicize.

With Moses, the communication was one of love and intimacy. And Moses did not want to highlight his extraordinary love G-d had for him in particular and wanted to delete the aleph so it would read Vayikar.

G-d, did not agree to this change and overrode Moses’ editorial preference. Instead, a “compromise” of sorts was reached. Moses would write the letter aleph at the end of the word as G-d wanted, but he would write the aleph in miniature form to leave room for the less complimentary reading of the word, to accommodate Moses’ humble desire as well.

Left Over Ink

As a result, there was extra ink left in Moses’ quill. Originally he filled his quill with enough ink to write the alpeh in its full size and shape. When G-d agreed to have him write it in miniature form, some of the ink was left unused. What happened to this ink? It made Moses face shine. His humility was so profound that it made him that much more receptive to the Divine light, and this light literally radiated from his face. Hence, it could be said that the extra ink generated the radiance from his face.

Three Forms of Writing

Another interpretation that has been offered is that there are three types of writing.

One category is the writer who has an idea and writes a book that embellishes the idea. The very same idea could have been captured in a much shorter book. Indeed, one chapter, paragraph or even sentence might have sufficed. But, literature very often is about embellishing an idea; where the idea is concealed in the abundance of verbiage and flowery language. Frequently, people miss the entire idea, not because it is so profound, but because it has been so adulterated by the excessive words.

Metaphorically, one would refer to this type of writing as one in which there is an actual shortage of ink. There is nothing with which to complete writing about the idea, because all of the writing was wasted on the embellishment. It goes without saying that there is no ink left to write more ideas of real substance.

A second form of writing is where the ink has all been exhausted in order to fully capture the core idea without compromising it in any way. No ink is wasted, but there is also no extra ink either. For all of it was used to capture the full depth of the idea.

There is also a third and totally different style where not only are the core ideas actually committed to writing, and there is no embellishment or unnecessary flowery language, but, moreover, one cannot even use all the ink to write about the core idea, because there are dimensions of the idea that are beyond being captured in writing. The deeper part of the idea will always remain with the writer.

Whatever Moses put into writing could not reveal the true inner depth of Moses’ comprehension of Torah. Something was always left out from the written version of the Torah, but remained etched into Moses mind, heart and soul. This hidden wisdom that Moses possessed — represented, metaphorically, by the ink left in his pen — radiated from his face, as the verse states, “The wisdom of a person illuminates his face.” From this hidden knowledge came the radiance of his face.

This hidden knowledge that cannot be found in the written word of the Torah will all be revealed in the days of Moshiach. When the prophet Isaiah refers to the new Torah that will be revealed in the Messianic Age, he was not referring to any new laws that were not given at Sinai. Rather he was referring to the hidden teachings that radiated from Moses face that will ultimately be revealed to all.

The Messianic Age will bring about the light that radiated from Moses’ face and will radiate from all of our faces.

From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Ki Sisa by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.