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Who needs Arthur Conan Doyle? If we are seeking adventure, searching for an enigmatic mystery to solve, we don't need stories about Sherlock Holmes. There is a greater and more exciting quest in our daily lives. It is a game of cosmic hide and seek. We are "it" and the One we are seeking is G-d Himself. But G-d is deeply hidden. To find Him we must first understand why He hides.

In the Eighteenth Century, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto wrote one of the most masterful presentations of Jewish belief every put down on paper: Derech Hashem ("The Way of G-d"). In it he explained why G-d created the universe. It is an arena for human action. Within it, man can grow morally and spiritually to achieve his ultimate reward: closeness to G-d. All the difficulties we face in life are but steps along the way, problems we must solve to further our growth -- and as this is going on, God remains hidden. Why?

Suppose I go to the governor of the state and tell him that I have a new way of rehabilitating prisoners. I can take the worst criminal and in one week turn him into a good person. The governor is intrigued. How will I do this?

Quite simple. The prisoner will be released into my custody. I place a gun to his head and tell him that I will be following him around for the entire week. If he ever hurts another person, if he ever commits any criminal act, if he ever does anything wrong I will squeeze the trigger and shoot him.

Now at the end of the week, will I find that he has committed any offense against society? Of course not. But, by the end of the week will he have become a good person? Absolutely not. In fact, no moral growth will have occurred at all since the only reason the prisoner avoided criminal acts was his fear of the consequences. It was pure self-preservation. He had no thoughts or concerns as to the morality of his actions. He did not grow. In effect, he lost his free will.

G-d wants us to grow. If we could see His presence at all times, if we could see Him looking over our shoulders as we go through life, we would be no different than the prisoner. We would lose our free will, we would lose the freedom to transgress, and hence we would not experience the moral growth that occurs when we freely choose to do the right thing. So G-d must hide to give us room to become "all that we can be."