Comentario sobre Exodo 40:35

ולא יכל משה לבא אל אהל מועד AND MOSES WAS NOT ABLE TO COME INTO THE APPOINTED TENT — But another verse says, (Numbers 7:89) “And when Moses came into the appointed tent [to speak with Him then he heard the voice]”! There comes, however, a third verse and reconciles these apparently contradictory verses, for it says here כי שכן עליו הענן “For (or when) the cloud abode thereon (on the appointed tent)”. Hence you may say: so long as the cloud was upon it “he was not able to come into the appointed tent”, but as soon as the cloud disappeared he entered it and spoke with Him (Sifra, Braita d'Rabbi Yishmael 18).

ולא יכול משה לכא אל אהל מועד, and Moses was unable to enter the Tent of Testimony, etc. It seems strange that the "cloud" prevented Moses from entering the Tent seeing that the Torah had told us in Exodus 24,18 that "Moses went inside the cloud, etc." The difference is clear. In Parshat Mishpatim Moses entered the cloud after G'd had summoned him. In this instance no summons from G'd had been forthcoming.

ולא יכול משה לבא אל אהל מועד, at the time it was standing, assembled.

ולא יכול משה לבא אל אהל מועד, “and Moses was unable to enter the Tent of Meeting.” In a different verse (Numbers 7,89) we are told of “Moses entering the Tent of Meeting in order to speak with G’d, etc.” There appears to be some contradiction here. Nachmanides writes that according to the plain meaning of the text we must understand the words ובבא משה אל אהל מועד in Numbers not as Moses actually having entered the Tent, but that he heard the voice of G’d emanating from the Holy of Holies and on account of that he did not cross the threshold of the Tabernacle. An alternate explanation of the two verses is that the meaning of the words in our verse is simply that “Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting (without obtaining express permission from G’d to do so.” Upon being invited, he would enter the tent, just as he had been invited to ascend Mount Sinai at the time of the revelation, and had not proceeded without being called upon to do so.)

And the Presence of God filled the mishkan. Like "And the mishkan was filled with the Presence of God", and so too many verses where the words are reversed, as in "For they have come under the shade of my roof-beam" (Bereishit 19:8), meaning, "Regarding this, for they have come" - and so there are many. And for the honour of Heaven the words were reversed. For if it had said "And the mishkan was filled with the Presence", it would mean that the presence were contained within the mishkan which held it. Now, where it is written "And the Presence of God filled the mishkan", it means that the Presence is great and the mishkan is contained in its midst. And so too it says "And God called to Moshe from the tent of meeting" (Vayikra 1:1) - every place where the cloud is, Moshe was unable to enter without being called, for then he was given permission to enter. And so too it says at the giving of the Torah, "And Mount Sinai was all in smoke" (Shemot 19:18), and it is written after it "And God called Moshe to the top of the mountain, and Moshe ascended" (Shemot 19:20). Our rabbis explained: for each word, there was [first] a "calling" [to Moshe] - for this is the way of the world: to call a person when one wants to speak with them, that they should know that one is speaking to them.

ולא יכול משה לבא אל אהל מועד, “and Moses was unable to enter the Tent of Meeting,” at the time he had erected it. כי שכן עליו הענן, “for the cloud of glory of G-d rested above it;” it did so immediately, to demonstrate G-d’s fondness of the Jewish people. Subsequently, the cloud moved from being above the Sanctuary and took up its position above the Holy Ark which stood in the Holy of Holies. We know this from Exodus 25,22, where the Torah wrote: ונועדתי לך שם ודברתי אתך מעל הכפורת, “I will meet with you there and I will impart to you from above the cover of the Ark.”“Then Moses could enter the Sanctuary;” this is what is meant when the Torah wrote: 'ובבא משה אל אהל מועד וגו, “and when Moses used to enter the Tent of Meeting;” (Numbers 7,89). When Solomon consecrated his Temple something similar occurred as reported in Kings I 8,11. The priests were not able to enter and perform their duties as long as G-d’s cloud was hovering above the Sanctuary. Subsequently, that cloud was visible only above the Holy of Holies.

כי שכן עליו הענן, immediately after it had been put up. This was a way of G’d demonstrating His love for the people of Israel. Later on, the cloud moved from being over the Tabernacle and filling the whole Tabernacle with its presence and concentrated on being above the Holy Ark. This has been explained in Exodus 25,22 where the Torah defines the site of the Shechinah as being between the two cherubs on the kapporet, the lid of the Holy Ark. Moses is described as hearing the voice of G’d originating from the area between the extended wings of these two figurines. (Numbers 7,89) We find something similar when the Temple Solomon had built was inaugurated (Kings I 8,11) that the priests could not enter due to the presence of G’d which filled the Temple. G’d also had appeared in a cloud, much as He had in the desert. Subsequently, He reduced His presence to the area we just described, enabling the priests to perform their duties. Anyone who pays careful attention to the words of our Creator will not depart in his exegesis from that of my grandfather Rabbi Shlomoh (Rashi). Most of the laws of the Torah which have been attributed through exegesis as being derived from the text of the written Torah are very close to the plain meaning of the written text. The basic approach to his exegesis was to derive meanings from superfluous words or letters, or from missing words or letters in the text of the written Torah. It would be well if you also accepted what I have explained and you would do well not to ignore it. [the author paraphrases Kohelet 7,18. Ed]

Parshat Vayikra.

Another reason why Moses could not enter the Tent may have been indicated by the words כי שכן עליו הענן, that the cloud was stationary above the Tent and the glory of G'd filled the entire Tent. In Mishpatim we were told (24,17) that G'd's appearance on the top of the Mountain was like that of fire which consumes, and immediately afterwards we were told that Moses entered the cloud prior to ascending the Mountain. This means that the place Moses ascended was not the place where G'd's glory reposed at that time. In our situation, Moses could not enter an area in which G'd's glory reposed.