Shemot 34:29 (Ki Tissa) - The radiance on Moshe’s face: Temporary or permanent?

Shemot 34:29 record that when Moshe came down from Mount Sinai with the second set of tablets the skin of his face was radiant, karan or. Was this karan or a permanent or temporary phenomenon?

Ibn Ezra (short comments on 34:33) suggests that the karan or was a temporary phenomenon that was renewed every time Moshe spoke to G-d. According to this idea, whenever Moshe spoke to G-d he received the karan or, and it remained on him until he relayed the words of G-d to the people. With this approach, the mask was in order that the simple people would not see that the karan or had left Moshe, and most of the time Moshe did not have the karan or. In his short comments, Ibn Ezra claims that if one closely examines the text, he will realize that this approach is correct, and that the temporary nature of the karan does not contradict Devarim 34:7 that "Moshe’s eyes did not dim nor did his freshness fled," since the absence of the radiance of the karan or did not impact on Moshe’s vision or his "freshness."

In his long comments (on 34:34), Ibn Ezra quotes this approach anonymously and rejects it, as he quotes R. Saadiah Gaon who argued that the karan or was permanent based on Devarim 34:7. The Abravanel also rejects this temporary approach since he cannot accept that the veil was just a trick to fool the people. Another difficulty with Ibn Ezra's temporary approach is that it seems that the karan or was from the time when G-d's glory passed by Moshe when Moshe was on the cleft, and as this event was never repeated, then the karan or on Moshe was never replenished. It is striking that this amazing phenomenon is never mentioned again in the Torah. Also, in the book of Bemidbar we read of several challenges to Moshe’s authority (for example, Aharon, Miryam, Bemidbar 12, and Korah, Bemidbar 16), and if Moshe still had this karan or this would seem to have been sufficient to have repudiated any challenges.

It is striking that this amazing phenomenon is never mentioned again in the Torah. Also, in the book of Bemidbar we read of several challenges to Moshe’s authority (for example, Aharon, Miryam, Bemidbar 12, and Korah, Bemidbar 16), and if Moshe still had this karan or this would seem to have been sufficient to have repudiated any challenge to Moshe.

My guess is that the karan or existed from the time that G-d's glory passed Moshe on the cleft on Mount Sinai until the people departed from Mount Sinai, the second month of the second year of the people’s stay in the desert. In this period, Moshe told to the people the book of Vayikra, and some of Bemidbar. If Moshe came down from Mount Sinai with the second set of tablets on Yom Kippur, then Moshe would have the karan or for approximately eight months. After this period, the karan or left Moshe and Moshe no longer wore the veil. 

A proof for this timing is that immediately after the people left Mount Sinai, they started to complain (Bemidbar 11:1), but when they were at Mount Sinai, the Torah does not record any complaints of the people. Maybe the lack of complaints at Mount Sinai was because at Mount Sinai the people would have seen Moshe either with his karan or or the veil. If the karan or left Moshe when the people departed from Mount Sinai, then this might explain why the people had the gall to start complaining. Finally, the loss of the karan or might also explain Moshe’s despondency in Bemidbar 11 after the people left Mount Sinai see our discussion on Bemidbar 11:10-19, “The beginning of the great depression.”