“And Moshe was unable to go into the Tent of Meeting, for the cloud dwelled upon it, and the honor of G-d filled the Mishkan” (Sh’mos 40:35). The commentators contrast this verse with Bamidbar 7:89, which says that Moshe did, in fact, enter the Tent of Meeting, and they discuss how Moshe was able to go in — something he did on a fairly regular basis (whenever he communicated directly with G-d) — if G-d’s “honor” filled the Mishkan and the cloud covered it. Another issue raised by some of the Tosafists is how the required service, such as the lighting of the Menorah, burning the incense, and putting the bread on the Shulchan, could have been done by Aharon or any of the other Kohanim if they weren’t able to enter the sanctuary (the “Tent of Meeting”) either (as if Moshe couldn’t, surely they could not). Let’s take a closer look at how these issues (which are not necessarily one and the same) are addressed.

Rashi, quoting the end of the introduction to the Sifra (Rabbi Yishmael’s “13 attributes” for expounding verses), says that since the reason Moshe couldn’t enter was the cloud cover being there (which indicated that G-d’s “honor” was inside), whenever the cloud would leave (indicating that G-d’s “honor” no longer filled the Mishkan), Moshe could enter. Similarly, Moshav Z’kaynim, Pa’anayach Raza and R’ Chaim Paltiel quote the Rokayach (R’ Eliezer of Worms), who points out that the first letters of the expression “the cloud dwelled upon it” (Shin, Ayin, Hay) spell out the word “temporary,” indicating that the cloud only dwelled upon it temporarily, after which Moshe could enter and the Kohanim could perform the service.

There are two aspects of this approach that need a further explanation. First of all, the cloud cover is said to have always been over the Mishkan, not just sometimes or temporarily. The very next verses (40:36-38, reiterated in Bamidbar 9:17-22) state that whenever the nation wasn’t traveling, “the cloud of G-d” was on the Mishkan. Since the service was only performed in the Mishkan when they camped (and Moshe communicated with G-d when they were camped as well), if the cloud prevented these things from happening, and the cloud was always covering the Mishkan when they camped, how were these things accomplished? [Elsewhere (Bamidbar 9:16), it says explicitly that the cloud was “constantly” covering the Mishkan, making it quite difficult to assert that this only occurred for a short time.] Additionally, as Pa’anayach Raza points out, since one of the main purposes of the Mishkan (and the reason it is called the “Tent of Meeting”) was for Moshe to communicate with G-d there (see Sh’mos 29:42), if he could only enter after G-d’s presence had vacated the premises, how could it be the place they “met” to communicate?

Rashbam (see also Ramban and Chizkuni) says that initially G-d’s “honor” filled the entire Mishkan, so the cloud cover (which provided a “screen” for the “consuming fire” that G-d’s honor is compared to, see Kli Yakar) covered the entire Mishkan, including the Tent of Meeting, i.e. the sanctuary where the Menorah, Shulchan and Mizbayach HaZahav were. At that point in time, Moshe was unable to enter the Tent of Meeting, but subsequently, G-d’s “honor,” and the cloud that covered it, left that part of the Mishkan, and “squeezed” into the inner sanctum, the “holy of holies” where the Aron was (similar to the kabbalistic concept of “tzimtzum,” whereby G-d, who’s “honor fills the entire land,” makes room for us to function and exercise our free will by “vacating,” as it were, the space we operate in). Afterwards, Moshe was able to enter the Tent of Meeting and stand next to the curtain that divided it from the inner sanctum, where he would communicate with G-d, whose divine presence (“honor”) was over the Aron, between the K’ruvim (see Sh’mos 25:22). [Rashi says this explicitly on Bamidbar 7:89.] And just as Moshe was able to enter the Tent of Meeting after “G-d’s honor” had left that part of the Mishkan, so too were the Kohanim able to enter the sanctuary/Tent of Meeting to perform the service (see Moshav Z’kaynim) then as well.

Although this answers the questions posed above, it does leave us with one quirk, as Moshe couldn’t enter the Tent of Meeting because of “the cloud” (Sh’mos 40:35), yet “the cloud” is said to have been on “the Mishkan” whenever the nation was camped (40:36-37), without any indication that it is not the same “cloud,” or that it wasn’t covering the same parts of the Mishkan, in all those verses. True, they are technically accurate, as “the cloud” was initially over the entire Mishkan, and was then over the part of the Mishkan where the Aron was, but it is a bit misleading. It’s possible that prior to the nation traveling, G-d’s “honor” once again filled the entire Mishkan before departing, and then temporarily filled it again whenever they camped (before becoming concentrated over the inner sanctum), which would make the verses more exact, but it seems strange for G-d’s “honor” to momentarily fill the Tent of Meeting right before departing from the Mishkan completely (as opposed to when it was reconstructed at the next camp site, thereby recreating its initial construction).

Ramban is among the commentators (see B’chor Shor and R’ Chaim Paltiel, and Aderes Eliyahu on Vayikra 1:1) who take a different approach to resolve the apparent contradiction between Moshe “not being able to enter” (Sh’mos 40:35) and Moshe “entering” (Bamidbar 7:89); it wasn’t that he physically couldn’t enter while the cloud was there, but that he didn’t have permission to (or felt it was inappropriate to just walk in without first being invited). After G-d “called to him from the Tent of Meeting” (Vayikra 1:1), though, and permission was granted for him to enter, he did. [This was similar to Moshe’s initially being unable to enter the “cloud” that covered “G-d’s honor” on Mt. Sinai (Sh’mos 24:16), when Moshe didn’t enter for six days until G-d “called to him on the seventh day” (ibid), after which Moshe entered (24:18).] Whether G-d called to Moshe each and every time before he entered the Tent of Meeting (see Rashi on Vayikra 1:1), or Moshe entered whenever he wanted after the initial “calling,” once we translate “was not able to enter” as “it was not appropriate for him to enter without being invited in,” there is no contradiction between his “inability to enter” in Sh’mos and his actually entering, after the invitation was extended, in Bamidbar.

Interestingly, although after Ramban presents his approach, he quotes Rashi’s and refers to it as the approach of “our rabbis” (since it is from the Sifra), the Talmud (Yuma 4b) seems to present Ramban’s approach (see Maharsha). Nevertheless, Ramban may have understood the Talmud to only be saying that Moshe entered “the cloud” at Sinai; even though a verse from the Mishkan is used as part of the setup, the answer may not apply to the Mishkan. It should be noted, though that Vayikra Rabbah (1:5, see also Tanchuma Vayikra 1) does seem to use the same approach as Ramban’s for the Mishkan.

As well as this approach explains how Moshe was (finally) able to enter the Mishkan, it does not explain how the Kohanim could enter to perform the service, as only Moshe was invited inside, not Aharon, nor his sons.

I would therefore suggest that both approaches are true (and not just in an “eilu v’eilu” way); after being invited in, Moshe was able to enter the Tent of Meeting even when G-d’s “honor” was still there (just as he entered the “cloud” that covered the “consuming fire” on Mt. Sinai after he was called in). And G-d’s “honor” did fill the Mishkan, including the Tent of Meeting, for much of the time when the nation was camped, so “the cloud” referred to in Sh’mos 40:35 is the same “cloud” referred to in 40:36-38. [Since G-d’s “honor” filled the entire Mishkan for much of the time (as opposed to only initially), and it was always in at least part of the Mishkan, it can be presented as if it is the same “cloud,” and that it was there constantly.] Nevertheless, there were times when G-d’s “honor” was only in the “holy of holies,” and not in the Tent of Meeting, including whenever it was necessary for the Kohanim to enter the sanctuary/Tent of Meeting to perform the service, thereby allowing them to come in even though they didn’t receive the same special invitation to enter that Moshe did.