What is the significance of the Pasuk "va'Yavo Moshe be'Soch he'Anan"?
Rashi: The cloud was a form of smoke, and Hashem made a path for Moshe to pass through it.
How will we reconcile this Pasuk with the Pasuk in Pikudei, 40:35 "ve'Lo Yachol Moshe Lavo el Ohel Mo'ed ki Shachan comes he'Anan"?
Yoma, 4b: This teaches us that Hakadosh-Baruch-Hu seized Moshe Rabeinu and brought him into the cloud.
How did Moshe pass through the cloud that was dense like smoke?
What is the significance of the forty days that Moshe spent on Har Sinai?
R. Bachye #1 (in Pasuk 16, citing the Pesikta Zutr'sa): The world was created in six days and the Torah was given in forty. Praiseworthy is he who gives-up a work of six days and takes upon himself a work of forty days.
R. Bachye #2 (in Pasuk 16): Bearing in mind that Moshe Rabeinu attained the maximum understanding of Torah that a human-being can attain, it is impossible to achieve this in less than forty days and forty nights. 1
R. Bachye #3 (in Pasuk 16): On the merit of the forty days he spent on Har Sinai studying Torah he merited the rays of light 2 that shone from his head. 3
Seforno: It corresponds to the forty days that it takes for a newborn baby to form 4 (and explains the forty days that Moshe spent on Har Sinai each time he ascended it). Here too, Moshe was being formed into a new being who was able to learn from Hashem what nobody else was capable of.
R. Bachye: Hence the Gemara states in number of places - See for example Pesachim 72a - 'He learned it from him forty times, and it was as if he had it in his pocket'. Refer also to Devarim 29:3:2:2.
See end of Ki Sissa.
See R. Bachye.
This symbolizes a higher plain (a rebirth) that Yisrael were destined to attain, were it not for the sin of the Golden Calf. Refer to 20:21:1:3. They lost it during Moshe's first ascent, and Hashem was still angry during his second ascent. The third time they regained it to a degree, as the Torah testifies when it describes in Ki Sisa Shemos, 34:2 how his face shone (Seforno) - which Yisrael finally merited (Seforno). This also explains why the Torah only discusses the Mishkan following Moshe's third ascent, and why Aharon and the Levi'im were chosen only after the sin of the Golden Calf. See Seforno.
There is light by Hashem (Chabakuk 3:4, Daniel 2:22). How did Moshe know when it was day, and when it was night?
R. Bachye (in Ki Sissa 34:28) #1 and Moshav Zekenim (both citing the Tanchuma): During the day Hashem taught to him written Torah, and at night, Mishnah. 1
R. Bachye (in Shemos 34:28, citing the Tanchua) #2: When he saw the stars and the planets prostrating themselves before Hashem, he knew that it was day, and when he saw the sun prostrating itself, he knew that it was night. 2
Moshav Zekenim (citing a Midrash): During the day Hashem taught to him written Torah, and at night, Mishnah. 3
Moshav Zekenim: The angels say Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh... during the day, and Baruch Kevod... at night.
R. Bachye, ibid.: Because otherwise day and nght are one and the same bore Hakadosh- Baruch-Hu - as the Pesukim write in Daniel 2:22 "u'Nehora Imeih Shara', and in Tehili 139:12 "Gam Choshech Lo Yachshich Mimeka".
R. Bachye: As the Pasuk writes in Nechemyah 9:6 "u'Tz'va ha'SHamayim L'cha Mishtachavim".
Why did Moshe need to know when it is day, and when night? Perhaps it was to recite Keri'as Shma, i.e. in breaks he was given between learning different Parshiyos. (PF)
