Dear Rabbi Simon,
Yehudah (aged 7 in year 3) asked me how G-d communicates if He has no body. He also wondered what Moshe saw on Sinai in where it appears he saw G-d’s back. He then asked me to talk about dinosaurs in order to change the subject.
Do you have any suggestions on how to address this question to him?
Best Regards,
Daniel
Dear Daniel
Adam clearly has a searching and inquisitive mind (following a family trait).
Hashem can generate sounds and visions even without a body. In the natural world speech requires a larynx, etc. But Hashem is able to produce sound, which can be perceived by human hearing faculties, even without those organs.
Another possibility is that all examples of people hearing the words of Hashem take place in a kind of meditative trance, in which the person (prophet) hears Hashem speaking to him in his own mind. But another person, even standing nearby, would hear nothing. (Unless Hashem chooses to also give him or her the gift of prophecy.)
G-d’s back: I would suggest that the meaning is that Moshe (and mankind generally) cannot “see G-d” ie understand His ways in prospect, but only in retrospect. The imagery of the Torah is only a metaphor. “The Torah speaks in the language of man.”
Dinosaurs: Tell Adam that when I was his age I also had a keen interest in dinosaurs.
Shanah Tovah to you and all the family
Rabbi Rashi Simon