Is there tradition in Judaism about seeing God through nine mirrors? I have a vague recollection of hearing that in Jewish tradition, it was not possible to view God directly because of his holiness/ majesty/ awe.  The only way to survive seeing his face was if it were reflected nine times through mirrors. I'm sure I heard of this tradition in some commentary on the NT passage, "now we see dimly through a mirror..." Q: Is there such a tradition?

But I cannot remember the source. I recently repeated this to some knowledgable friends at a bible study and they were flabbergasted. I cannot seem to find it at Google, but their results seem to pick 2-3 words at random from your query.
I don't know about Judaism, but I did run across something that sounds like what you're looking for.  It's not nine mirrors, but two mirrors, the first with nine facets, and that we can't see God directly or clearly through either of the individual facets, or even in the first mirror.


  A TALE OF TWO MIRRORS An Exposition of I Corinthians 13:8-13
  
  An Examination of the Biblical Basis of the Charismatic Movement
  
  by B. L. Turner


It can be found at http://ncbible.org/resources/Tale2Mirrors.html

Note that it is from a Cessationist point of view, a view rejected by those in the Charismatic Churches.

It's an interesting read.  It speaks of two mirrors.  The first has nine facets.  Each of these facets represents a gift, through which we see God, but not fully or partly.  


  The complete mirror consisted of a mosaic of nine pieces, that is, the
  nine gifts. Paul asked a series of rhetorical questions which make it
  quite certain that no one person had all the segments of that first
  mirror. He asked, “Are all workers of miracles? Have all gifts of
  healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?” (I Corinthians
  12:29-30). If the advocates of today’s Tongues Movement could impose
  their will, all Christians would indeed speak with tongues even though
  that was never the divine intention. Because no one person had all the
  segments of that mosaic mirror, sometimes Christians in New Testament
  times could not use that part of the mirror which they did possess.
  Paul’s command about that issue makes the point clear. He charged, “If
  any man speaketh in a tongue...let one interpret: but if there be no
  interpreter, let him keep silence in the church.” (I Corinthians
  14:27-28) Obviously, had every recipient of those special gifts
  received all the parts of the mirror, that is, all the gifts, an
  interpreter would always have been present.
  
  To have used one isolated part of that mirror would simply not have
  given a complete enough reflected image to have been spiritually
  beneficial or useful. Therefore, it would only have been a novelty or
  a curiosity. It would have qualified, perhaps, at least, for a short
  while, as an amusement to the idly curious, such as the Athenians who
  sought only to hear or tell some novel thing. (Acts 17:20-21) The use
  of one isolated part of the mirror would not have contributed to the
  edifying of the church. Since that was the purpose for which the gifts
  had been given (I Corinthians 14:5), such a perverted use of those
  gifts was understandably prohibited.


The second mirror is Scripture, which is, per the teaching, teh perfect mirror, which allows us to make sense of what we see in the first.


  From James’ statement it is clear that it is the word of God, not the
  temporary spiritual gifts which shows the entire image as it truly is
  and gives complete insight into spiritual reality. If there is any
  lack of perception where the Scripture is available, it is not because
  the reflected image is defective. It is because people make a habit of
  going away (The verb form “goeth” in the older English translations of
  James 1:24 expresses the habitual or continuous present tense of the
  verb) and do not habitually continue to look into the word. Similarly,
  the eth ending of the verbs “looketh” and “continueth” in James 1:25
  express the continuous present tense of each verb.


The teaching ends with this:


  A Tale of Two Mirrors, then, becomes a story of one beautiful,
  complete and perfect mirror which exists and is available to anyone
  who wishes to know the truth. It is the written form of the perfect
  law of liberty, that is, the New Testament. The other mirror used to
  exist, but even then it was partial and inadequate. Therefore we
  should not regret its removal nor seek to have it restored, especially
  since no one can restore it anyway. The alleged restorations are
  totally anti-scriptural and are, therefore, fraudulent with no more
  reality than a mirage.
  
  Every sincere seeker who uses the Perfect Mirror will be able to see
  the whole picture, the true picture, the past picture and the future
  picture. Let us, therefore, press on unto perfection! Let us not try
  to become heirs of those gifts which have passed away, but heirs of
  “the gift” (Acts 2:38-39) which will abide as long as God is calling
  sinners to himself, the gift without which, according to Rornans 8:9,
  no one is a true Christian.