B”H
March 22, 2020
“The L-RD called unto Moses, and spoke unto him out of the tent of meeting.”
– Leviticus 1:1, JPS 1917 Tanach
After the Mishkan (portable tabernacle in the wilderness) was built, H’Shem called to Moshe from within the sanctuary, where His presence resides above the Ark of the Covenant, between the two golden cherubim on the cover of the Ark. What is notable about this invitation to Moshe is that “Moses could never enter the Tabernacle without first having obtained permission to do so” (Sforno, commentary on Exodus 24:16, sefaria.org).
Sforno references the pasuk (verse), wherein Moshe is called to enter into the Cloud of Glory, while previously on Sinai, before the building of the Mishkan. “And the glory of the L-RD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and the seventh day He called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud” (Exodus 24:16). The comparison alludes to the similarity between Sinai and the Mishkan. The Mishkan (tabernacle) became the dwelling place of H’Shem’s presence, as the Targum clearly states in its specificity:
“And it was when Mosheh had completed to erect the tabernacle that Mosheh reasoned and judged in his heart, and said: To Mount Sinai, whose excellency is the excellence only of an hour and its holiness the holiness but of three days, I could not ascend till the time that the word was spoken to me; but the excellence of this the tabernacle of ordinance is an eternal excellency, and its holiness an everlasting holiness; therefore is it right that I should not enter within it until the time that I am spoken with from before the L-rd.”
– Targum Jonathan, sefaria.org
The Tree of Life 