출애굽기 40:38의 Musar

When the Tabernacle was completed the glory of G–d was again revealed, just as after the completion of the universe. The Torah (Exodus 40,38) says: כי ענן ה' על המשכן יומם, ואש תהיה לילה בו לעיני כל ישראל, "For over the Tabernacle a cloud of the Lord rested by day, and fire would appear in it by night, in the view of all the house of Israel." In contrast to this, in the interior of the Tabernacle G–d remained concealed. Within the Tabernacle G–d remained in His capacity as the Ineffable four-lettered Name.

The same subject matter is raised in the Talmud Shabbat 22 where the same question is raised and Tossaphot query why the Talmud claims that the proof comes from the forty years the Israelites marched in the desert. Surely, Tossaphot ask, we also require G–d's light in all our lives ever since? Some answer that Aaron needed the light of the מנורה when he entered the Sanctuary because the pillar of light did not light up the windowless inside of the Tabernacle. This seems to contradict the tradition that during all of the forty years the Israelites were in the desert the pillar of cloud illuminated every last pot in the camp so that nobody ever needed any other source of light. If one merely looked at the outside of a pitcher of water one could see the water-level inside the pitcher! Tossaphot conclude that the principal message of this verse is to tell us that the Tabernacle and the candlestick in it provided proof that G–d's Presence rested over the Jewish people. The Tossaphot in Menachot leave the question of why restrict the fact that G–d provided light for us instead of the other way around open.