The Far Side...

...has returned. Sometimes, I tell ya, the lead-in writes itself:)

This is one of those Parsha's (never liked the way that sounds, with the "s" on the end, but writing it with a "t" on the end just didn't look right) that does not lack for material.

It is also one my favorites (does that sound right, should one have "favorite parsha's"?, anyway...) because it allows me to use my favorite thought that I have ever heard. It may not speak to anybody else to that extent...but I like it and I'm the one doing the typing:)

There is a medrash which relates the following:

When Moshe went up onto Har Sinai (or up to the shomayim…pick your preference) to receive the Torah, God was at that time “finishing up” writing the Torah.
After God had completed the writing there was a small amount of ink left over. So, God rubbed this leftover ink into the forehead of Moshe Rabbenu and this is what accounted for the Or (light) that shone forth from the pnei Moshe (Moshe’s face) after he descended.

(Now, I am not going to get into the issue of whether or not this is to be taken literally because for the post at hand it makes no difference.)

Questions abound…How is it possible that God had “left over” ink? Does the medrash mean to say that God did not know exactly how much ink was going to be needed to right out the Torah? Why did God make use of this “extra ink” by rubbing it into the forehead of Moshe Rabbenu? Furthermore, why does the medrash attribute the Or of the pnei Moshe to this specific thing, the extra ink, as apposed to anything else that took place on Har Sinai (…or in shomayim) or to the overall experience of being in that setting itself?

I truly love this explanation (can’t help but get jazzed up every time I write it or say it over)…Of course God didn’t “overestimate” on the ink, it was “extra” on purpose! The ink that God rubbed into the forehead of Moshe Rabbenu represented the giving of God to Moshe, and to all of mankind, the ability to interpret the Torah and use the Torah as it is intended.

Many things are not written in the Torah. However they were written, by God into the seichel ha’yashar (sound, uncorrupted intellect…innate common sense) of all of Bnei Yisroel.

Often people will say “show me where that is written” or “the Torah never says that”. The answer to these people and those questions is that not everything needed to be written down. God gave man a mind and an ability to use it and the Torah to his utmost, and some things are known simply by one’s own intuition/knowledge.

(Big finish)…and THAT is why this specifically caused the pnei Moshe to shine; because it is this ability, this responsibility(!), of a person that gives true life to the Torah and true meaning to ones emulation of HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

You know who else was blessed with an innate sense...that's right, one Mr. G. Larson. It's just that in his case the bestowed sense was one of perspective:
(always thought the jar should have been labeled "Jews")