Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

In this week’s Torah reading we find the Priestly Blessing

May God Bless you and watch over you
May God shine His light upon you and be gracious to you
May God turn His face toward you and grant you peace.

In English, the word “you” is both singular and plural – it can refer to an individual or a group of people. But in the original Hebrew, the “you” in the blessing clearly refers to the individual. It implies that God has a personal relationship with each and every one of us.

This idea provoked a discussion in a group I was once teaching. God, one participant argued, is too busy running the universe to be mindful of every person on earth. A woman in the back of the room spoke up. “If the IRS can keep track of the income of 350 million Americans, surely God could watch over every single human being!”

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, relates a charming story that goes to the heart of the matter.  A crowd of people are gathered on a hill by the sea to watch a great ship pass by. A young child is waving vigorously. One of the men in the crowd asks him why. He says, “I am waving so the captain of the ship can see me and wave back.” “But,” said the man, “the ship is far away, and there is a crowd of us here. What makes you think that the captain can see you?” “Because,” said the boy, “the captain of the ship is my father. He will be looking for me among the crowd.”

Rabbi Sacks concludes the story by saying, “That is roughly what we mean when we say, ‘May God turn His face toward you.’ There are seven billion people now living on this earth. What makes any of us more than a face in the crowd, a wave in the ocean, a grain of sand on the seashore? — The fact that we are God’s children. God is our parent. He turns His face toward us. He cares.”