Ascending Mt. Sinai

(10) Hashem said to Moses, “Go to the people and and sanctify them today and tomorrow; they must wash their clothes.(11) Let them be ready for the third day; for on the third day Hashem will come down, in the eyes of all the people, on Mount Sinai.(12)Set boundaries for the people around (the mountain), saying, ‘Beware of going up the mountain or touching the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain will be put to death."

(1)Then He (God) said to Moses, “Come up to Hashem, with Aaron, Nadav and Avihu, and seventy elders of Israel, and bow from afar.(2) Moses alone will approach Hashem and the others will not approach, nor will the people come up with him.”

You came forward and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain was blazing with fire to the heart of the heavens - darkness, cloud, and heavy cloud.

The people stood afar, but Moses approached the heavy cloud where God was.

“And the mountain was blazing with fire to the heart of the heavens, darkness, cloud, and heavy cloud”— If you were to say that the beginning of this verse appears to contradict its end seeing that if something burns and is aflame, there is obviously no darkness there? The miracle at the time was that darkness and light coexisted. Moses continues by explaining what took place: Hashem spoke to you out of the fire; what you heard, were the sounds of His voice. However, you had no vision of something by means of a picture, an illustration. The reason that you could not see the vision, the picture, was that it was enveloped by different degrees of darkness. This had to be so, as no human being is allowed a visual image of the essence of Hashem.

"And Moses entered into the heavy cloud" — within the three partitions (mehitzot): darkness, cloud, and heavy cloud. Darkness, the outermost; cloud, within (lifnim); mist, the innermost (lifnei velifnim). As it is written "But Moses approached the heavy cloud [where God was]."

(1) Now Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian and led the flock into the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.(2) An angel of Hashem appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the bush. He saw and behold! There was a bush burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.(3) Moses said, “I must turn aside to look at this great sight - why doesn’t the bush burn up?”(4) Hashem saw that he had turned aside to look and God called to him out of the bush: “Moses! Moses!” And he answered, “Here I am.”

Moses perceived three matters, and they are: the fire, the angel, and the Divine Presence. First, he saw the fire that was kindled in the bush, though the bush was not burnt. This he saw with his physical eye in a state of wakefulness...After he saw this fire, his awareness was strengthened [enough] to see the angel, as it is written, "An angel of Hashem appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the bush." (Exodus 3:2) ... And after his awareness was strengthened through seeing the angel, he saw through prophecy the presence/glory of the Divine Presence, and this is as is said, "Hashem saw that he had turned to look, and God called to him..." (3:4) Since this was the beginning of Moses' prophecy, the Holy Blessed One wanted to teach him gradually, to raise him up one level at a time until his awareness is strengthened. A parable to which this can be compared: To a person who sits in a dark house for a long time. If he were to suddenly leave and look directly at the sun, he would not be able to see properly. Therefore, he needs to look at light gradually until he becomes accustomed to it. Just as this is true regarding the light of the sun, so it is true and is the very principle regarding the light of awareness, for matters of the intellect/awareness follow the form of physical matters. That which occurs in the intellect/awareness is what occurs in the senses. Are not the capacities of the soul intertwined with the capacities of the body?

...And Shibolei haLeket wrote in the name of the Ge-onim that the reason for the three paces is because, "When a person stands in prayer, they stand in a place of holiness and the Divine Presence is above their head. Once they finish their prayer, they must take three paces back in order to leave the place of holiness and stand in an ordinary place. There is evidence that this is the case because, when they go back three paces, they bid farewell ("give peace") to each other, as if to say, 'Until now, we were in a holy place and we left it for an ordinary place.'" And in the name of Rabbenu Hai I found it written that "The reason for the three paces is because prayer was decreed in reference to the daily sacrifices and, when the High Priest would ascend to the altar with the limbs of the daily sacrifice, he would ascend by the right side and circle (the altar) and descend on the left side. And between the altar and the ramp there were three paved levels of stone and he would descend them them with three paces at the heel. And we do as they used to do."