Parshat Naso

The last verse in Naso, quite out of the blue, describes how Moses would communicate with God from within the Holy Sanctuary. Moses would approach the Sanctuary with the intention of sp[eaking with God. He would then hear God's voice speaking from between the cherubs. At that point Moses would begin his conversation.

The verse raises several points.Why need this be described at all? And of all places, why here, after the offering of the tribal leaders?

It would appear that this is mentioned here as part of the dedication of the Altar, part of the overall dedication of the Sanctuary. It was only as a result of this dedication that the communication could now take place. This, however, begs the question, for different aspects of the Tabernacle dedication had been described at the end of Exodus as well as in Leviticus, without mention of the new mode of communication.

Ofcourse, Moses has spoken with God on many occasions, and the formality decribed had never been necessary before. What had changed?

Perhaps the answer is the following.

Until now, all of Moses' communications with God had been initiated by God himself. It would appear that that was the rule. Moses did not have the option of initiation.

The donation offering of the tribes was the first communal effort by the Jewish people to worship Hashem on their own initiation. It created a new dynamic of our nation with God. From hereon in our prophet, Moses, can approach Him without being called upon. Now we noit only are engeged by God in dialogue. Now we can engage Him in dialogue as well.