(Rabbi Bindman, The Seven Colors Of The Rainbow, Resource Publications, Inc. San Jose, California, 1995, p. 25-32).

==Letter by Palliere, "The Invisible Presence"==

THE INVISIBLE PRESENCE

By AIME PALLIERE

I am writing these lines in the midst of my preparations for the observance of Yom Kippur. Thus it is only natural that my thoughts be influenced by the coming of this solemn day. I ask my readers to meditate with me on the word of the prophet Isaiah. In a vision he sees strangers, Egyptians, Ethiopians, Sabeans, come to Israel, pass in front of them and say: "Yea, only among thee is God, and there is no one else beside God." And the prophet exclaims: "Verily, Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior."

What does it mean? Why this contradiction? When the strangers discover God in Israel the prophet says: "Verily, Thou art a God that hidest Thyself." But here is no real contradiction. He who is present can hide himself. Whoever is absent does not hide, he just is not there. But God is never absent. While He may cover Himself with a veil of mystery, His presence nevertheless continues in the midst of His people, and He is there for one and for all.

Can we lift the veil? Can we perceive Him? The souls of the faithful are distressed because they cannot perceive their God. But is it not precisely when they grieve most over it, that they really see Him? Vainly I searched for my God amidst the atrocities of war; in vain did I seek Him under horrible persecutions. God was not there. No, God was not there, and this realization meant at the same time the discovery of Him where He really was: outside of those unbounded passions and struggles and hate. Yes, God is well hidden when evil reigns, and to place Him within the loathsome horrors would be blasphemy. We have to seek elsewhere; He is among the small and humble people, He is with the innocent victims, He is with those who suf fer silently and never give up hope. He is the God of unseen solace, of the victorious morrow. He is with our true self, that self which is immortal; for it He provides Divine liberation from the pains and the battles of life. Though invisible, He is more real than all our physical realities, and He expects man to establish His reign on earth.

The soul of the faithful is impatient. It wants to see the Lord in His splendor, in the unfolding of His power. Like Moses it prays: "Show me, I beseech Thee, Thy glory." No, you say, far be it from me to seek a vision of God like Isaiah's when God's majesty appeared to him surrounded by the Seraphim. Nor do I even attempt, as did Moses in the cleft of the rock, to catch a reflection of the Divine brilliance, for I know that the Lord said to him: "No man can see Me and live." But, at least let me see a sign of His august presence, a definite, incontrovertible sign of His favorable attention, be it only as the one Elijah received when the ravens were feeding him on the banks of the Jordan. Birds in the sky, truly a small miracle, but a winged message of a thought on high!

The sign that you, my readers, are looking for is here, brighter yet and more eloquent than that of the Tishbite; listen: When the Temple of the Lord was towering over Jerusalem in its ancient glory, the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur to perform the sacred rites. There he would pronounce the Ineffable Name, and the assembled priests and worshippers would prostrate themselves and proclaim: "Blessed be His glorious sovereign name forever and ever." At times the High Priest would linger in the Sanctuary; the assembly would anxiously wait for him to come out and, when he appeared, the people would look in his face for the sign of the Divine Presence, the radiance of the Shechinah.

Alas, the Sanctuary has been destroyed. There is no High Priest to pronounce His holy name, and on the friendless expanse of Judea a Bath Kol, a plaintive voice, resounds: "Woe unto My children, for their Temple is no more, the Shechinah is wandering through the world, and God's children are orphans, deprived of the intimate closeness of their father."

Yet this ancient plaint would be amiss today. The Shechinah wandering? No. On every Yom Kippur, wherever Israel gathers in prayer, the Holy of Holies rises anew, and His Presence waits for His children to come. He calls them together on that day, they respond to His call, and He does not disappoint them. Then comes true the word of the prophet Ezekiel: "I will not hide My face any more from them, for I will have poured out My spirit over the house of Israel, saith the Lord Eternal."

Dear readers, dear far-off friends: More than fifty years ago the writer of these lines set foot in a synagogue for the first time. It was Yom Kippur, at the hour of Neilah, and he was as much a stranger to Israel as were the Ethiopians and Sabeans of Isaiah. Now, I pray, admire with me the designs of Him who is the master of our destinies - twenty years later, on the same day of Yom Kippur, at the same hour of Neilah, this writer addressed a congregation from the pulpit of a synagogue in Paris. His address was a testimony, and I solemnly repeat this testimony as I write to you today. I testify that God is presenting Israel and that Yom Kippur is much more than a mere sign; it is a manifest reality. And Yom Kippur is not the only day of the year on which the presence of the Lord is deeply felt by His people; at the coming of the holy Sabbath every week His benevolent presence is with those who delight in the day of the Lord in true faith. For them it is a radiance, a peacefulness, a spiritual joy thatw6rds cannot describe.

Faith alone can lift the veil that hides His Presence; for we are not of the seers, who are few, but of the multitude of believers, to whom the Lord has revealed Himself throughout the ages and to whom it is given to behold Him through their faith. Faith is the light that illumines the way, the way of the righteous and holy ones through the generations. We walk in their path, the same goal is ahead of us and the same brightness guides our steps. Faith alone gives value to the sign; it alone imparts a profound meaning to Yom Kippur and the Sabbath. To see this radiance we need alertness of the soul; we must purify ourselves and lift ourselves above the misery and squalor of this world, above conventional mediocrity and human weakness.

Let me reiterate this to you, my brethren in Israel, and to you, too, my Christian brethren who so persistently mistake for blindness Israel's age-old faith in its union with the Lord: take heed of my own experience. God is present in Israel, He is true to His promise, and those who seek Him will find Him as did the strangers in the vision of Isaiah. Better yet, seek Him with that feeling of closeness and love of a child toward the father that will inspire you to say: Verily, Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior; but behind the veil Thou wilt be found by the heart that loves Thee, by the soul that trusts in Thee.<ref>Palliere, Aime, The Unknown Sanctuary ("Le sanctuaire inconnu"), translated by Louise Waterman Wise. New York: Bloch Publishing Company, 1928.</ref>

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