Wyjścia 34:30 Halacha: Shulchan Shel Arba & Mishneh Torah, Foundations

And now I shall make known to you the subject of the upper light, which I mentioned above, and that’s how I will end this Gate. Know that the upper light I mentioned above is called “day” [yom] in the story of creation, and about it the prophet said, “there shall be one day – only the Lord knows when – of neither day nor night, and there will be light at evening time.”¹⁶⁷Zech 14:7 (JSB). The explanation of this verse: “There will be [ve-hayah] one day”. The word Ve-HaYa”H consists of the same letters of God’s proper name, and so it is written “YHVH is my light and my help, whom shall I fear? YHVH, etc.”¹⁶⁸Ps 27:1. This is YHVH is “light.” “One day of light – only the Lord knows” – He alone knows where it is. As they taught in a midrash, “He hid it for Himself, He made it separate for Himself.”¹⁶⁹Ber. R. 3:7. “Neither day nor night” – that is to say, a time will come when this day shall serve for the righteous, and time won’t consist of day and night like it works now with light and darkness, but rather, “there will be light at evening time” – a great light. And “evening” [‘erev] is the secret of “the sixth aleph,” which is the evening of Shabbat, as in “yom ha-shishi” – “the sixth day.” And this is the light that Moses our Rabbi (peace upon him) earned in “the cleft of the rock,”¹⁷⁰Ex 33:22.”the reflecting mirror”¹⁷¹B. Yebamot 49b. out of which he was able to prophesy, and thus earned the “radiation from the skin of his face”¹⁷²Ex 34:29. that was as bright as “the face of the sun.”¹⁷³B. Baba Batra 75a. And in an interpretation they said, “a variety of the upper light is the globe of the sun,”¹⁷⁴Ber. R. 17:7 (as translated by Jastrow). because the light of this level is the level of Moses’ prophecy, and the globe of the sun, which is a variety of this, is the “radiation from the skin of his face.” And this is what is written, “rays [karnayyim] given off from every side, and therein His glory is enveloped,”¹⁷⁵Hab 3:4. that is, the “radiation from the skin of his face.” This came directly from the hand of the Holy One Blessed be He to Moses, and this radiation is the fruit of what was his in this world, distinct from the eternal radiance that would be his in the world to come, and that is the level of the upper light. If so, then the word “karnayyim” – “rays” -includes both the fruit and the eternal radiance.¹⁷⁶Karnayyim is the dual form of keren, which can mean either “ray”, or more ordinarily, “horn.” From this ambiguity comes the misinterpretation of Ex 34:29 that led artists such as Michelangelo to represent Moses with horns coming out of his forehead. R. Bahya is playing upon the dual form of keren, karnayyim, which is the normal plural form for body parts, like horns, which come in pairs. And all this was because of the tablets – luhot – that he was holding. And so this is hinted at in the word “LU’a”H,” which is an acronym of the words in Habakkuk 3:4: karnayyim mi-yado Lo Ve-sham Hevyon ‘uzo. And they said in a midrash, ¹⁷⁷M. Tanhuma Ki Tisa 37. “‘[They saw] the rays of the skin of his face,’¹⁷⁸Ex 34:30. all the majesty that Moses got was but temporary fruit, a gift he earned, but the eternal radiance would be his in the world to come, as it is said, ‘rays [karnayyim] from His hand to him.'”¹⁷⁹Hab 3:4, reading mi-yado midrashically as “from His [God’s] hand,” i.e., two kinds of “rays” one in this world, one in the world to come, from God’s hand to Moses. And they went on in another midrash,¹⁸⁰M. Tanhuma Ki Tisa 37. “‘I will put you in a cleft of a rock’ – from ‘the cleft of the rock’ Moses earned the radiation from the skin of his face, and thus it says, ‘rays from His hand to him, there from a secret place [hevyon] His glory.'”¹⁸¹Hab 3:4.

All the things hereinof spoken is the path of prophecy for all prophets, First and Last, save Moses our Master, the Master of all prophets. And what division is there between the prophecy of Moses and that of all the other prophets? All the other prophets prophesied while in a dream, or in a vision, but Moses our Master prophesied while awake and standing up, as it is said: "And when Moses went into the tent of meeting that He might speak with Him, then he heard the Voice speaking unto him" (Num. 7.89); all other prophets received it through an Angel, they therefore saw what they did see in the form of allegory and riddles, but Moses our Master did not receive it through an angel, for it is said: "With him do I speak mouth to mouth" (Ibid. 12.8), and it is also said: "and the Lord spoke unto Moses face to face" (Ex. 33.11); and it is further said: "And the similitude of the Lord doth he behold" (Num. 12.8); which is to say that there is no manner of parable, for he sees the matter in its clearness without riddle and without parable, which is as the Torah testifies concerning him: "Even manifestly, and not in dark speeches" (Ibid.); he does not prophesy in dark speech but by sight for he sees the matter in its clearness; all prophets are awe-stricken, trembling and faint, but Moses our Master is not so, which is as the Verse says: "As a man speaketh unto his friend" (Ex. 33.11), meaning, that as no man trembles to hear the words of his friend, so was the power of the mind of Moses our Master to understand the words of prophecy, he remaining upright at his post unaffected; all other prophets could not prophesy any time they wanted, but not so Moses our Master, who at any time he desired, the Holy Spirit covered him, and prophecy rested upon him, and he needed not to prepare his mind, or be in readiness to meet it, as he was prepared and ready constantly like unto the ministering Angels. He, therefore, prophesied at all times, even as it is said: "Stand ye and let me hear what God will command concerning you" (Num. 9.8). Moreover, in this, Almighty assured him, saying: "Go and say to them, 'Return ye to your tents' and, as for thee, remain standing with me here"(Deut. 5.30–31). Herefrom we learn that all other prophets, when the spirit of prophecy departs from them, return to their tent for their bodily needs, they all, like unto the rest of the people. Therefore, do they not remain separated from their wives. But Moses our Master returned not again to his erstwhile abode, he therefore separated himself forever from his wife and from like matters; his intellect became apprenticed to the Rock of the Universe; glory never departed from him; his countenance became adorned with rays of light, and his saintliness was like that of Angels.