In the Book of Numbers, Bamidbar, chapter seven, the twelve tribes bring gifts for the inauguration of the Mishkan, the tabernacle, the “dwelling place” of God, that the Israelites carried in the desert. Each tribe brings the same gifts, which include a silver bowl of the weight of 70 shekels. In Midrash Bamidbar Rabbah, 13:15, the rabbis ask, “Why 70?” They answer themselves, “Because God has 70 (meaning an infinite number) of faces…” for the 70 different peoples.

Each people has their own way of seeing and understanding God. Rabbi Margot Stein wrote a song based on this midrash with the words in this painting: When I look into your eyes, I see the seventy faces of God.

What description of how we are each made in the image of God; that loving one person helps us love all of humanity, helps us love God.

Those of us who engage in the ritual of Taharah can relate to this meaning even when we encounter the eyes of those who have left this world.