Chasidut zu Schemot 33:23

Exodus 33,23. “You will see My back, but My face is not ‎visible (to any creature).” In addition to the fact that of ‎course, G’d’s “back” is also invisible, as He is not corporeal, the ‎author quotes two verses from Job and Proverbs respectively, ‎which require further clarification. We read in Proverbs 15,20: ‎בן ‏חכם ישמח אב‎, ”a wise son causes joy to the father.” We also read in ‎Job 28,14: ‎והחכמה מאין תמצא‎ “but where does wisdom come ‎from?“ We know that the most important ingredient of wisdom is ‎acquired by man when he looks (with his mental eye) at the ‎concept of ‎אין‎, i.e. the “nothingness” from which the ‎‎(perceptible) phenomena of the universe came into existence, ‎emanated. When man trains himself to cleave ever more to the ‎roots of his life, i.e. to the Creator, this aspect is known as ‎אצל ‏הבורא‎, being next to the Creator, Who Himself is garbed in a ‎‎“garment,” i.e. a protective shield that prevents the powerful ‎rays of light emanating from Him from harming those exposed to ‎this. The prophet Isaiah 23,18 alludes to this when he said: ‎ולמכסה עתיק (יומין)‏‎ “dressed in primeval (of prehistoric origin) ‎garments” (compare Talmud Pessachim 119) This is also the ‎meaning of the allusion in the Talmud Chagigah 7 that ‎Israel provides G’d with His “parnassah,” livelihood, basing ‎itself on the word ‎לבוש‎ being used in that context, so that ‎חכמה‎, ‎‎“wisdom” in many instances refers to the ‎אור חוזר‎, the “reflected ‎light,” emanating from Israel in response to G’d’s largesse, as it ‎requires ‎חכמה‎, “wisdom or ingenuity,” for the original light ‎beamed at His creatures by G’d to be aimed back accurately at its ‎source. This is also referred to by way of allusion in Job 33,32, ‎ואאלפך חכמה‎ “I shall teach you wisdom.” The letters ‎א-ל-פ‎ when ‎reversed spell ‎פלא‎, miracle, something supernatural, as in the ‎word ‎נפלאות‎, and hint at the fact that the ability to reattach ‎oneself to the original source that has given one life is something ‎beyond man’s innate ability, and cannot be achieved without ‎direct Divine intervention. The process by which this is achieved ‎is known as ‎תנועה‎, normally translated as “motion,” meaning in ‎this context that G’d sets in motion some part of the word ‎תנועה‎.‎
‎[I confess that from this point on I have not ‎understood the author’s allusions on this subject based on the ‎meaning of the vowels underneath the consonants. Ed.]‎