כלי יקר — ויתן על פניו מסוה

Q — Why did Moshe veil his face — and what does Kli Yakar add to Rashi/Ibn Ezra, who say it was 'לכבוד קרני ההוד שלא יזונו הכל מהם'?

A — Kli Yakar offers a different motive grounded in Moshe's character. Moshe was 'עניו גדול וביישן' — supremely humble and modest. The constant staring of others at his radiant skin made him uncomfortable, as is the natural reflex of every shy person. The veil was not to protect the holiness of the rays from the people, but to protect Moshe's modesty from the stares. The reframe relocates the act from a public-sacred concern to a personal-character one — the same humility that earned the rays now hides them.