a) What does the Torah say about one's face?
b) What the does one's face represent?
c) Does one's face have a connection to his soul?
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3Hello. Your edit is a pretty major change that invalidates an answer that was already present. I'm rolling it back for that reason. Please feel free to ask your newer version as a new question. (You can get the text from the edit history by clicking on the "edited" link.)– Monica CellioFeb 16, 2015 at 1:35
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2@MonicaCellio is acting according to our policy regarding changing questions after a period of time, btw.– ScimonsterFeb 16, 2015 at 16:22
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Isn't part (a) way too broad? The Torah mentions faces all over the place. cc @MonicaCellio– msh210 ♦Feb 16, 2015 at 20:02
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@msh210 that could be; I'm not sure if "one's face" is a smaller subset of all the mentions of "faces". (The question would be better with more context or background.) I was only restoring the question to its prior state.– Monica CellioFeb 16, 2015 at 20:07
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1 Answer
The Gemara (Brachos 58a) writes that just as the appearance of one's face is unique, so is one's personality. R. Tzadok of Lublin (Dover Tzedek) explains this comparison on the principle that
עיקר הנפש היא בפנים
Rough translation: The soul is mostly in the face.
R. Ezekiel Landau explains the Gemara similarly (Tzlach to Berachos ch. 9 58b I think)
This explanation is probably rooted in the kabbalistic belief of חכמת הפרצוף equivalent as far as I can tell to Physiognomy. See also reference to it here. For an example of this belief in rabbinic literature see R. Bachye's commentary to Yisro (ch. 18).
