There is a well known midrash that Moshe’s shining face was caused by a little ink that was left over after he finished writing the Torah. There was a little ink that was left over on his hands and when Moshe wiped his brow, the ink went on his face. It was from that ink that Moshe’s face shown. 

This connects with another rabbinic teaching regarding the first word of Sefer VaYikra, Moshe wanted to write it: ויקר instead of ויקרא He wanted to leave out the “a” at the end of the word. This would have changed the meaning from “God called to him” to “God accidentally met him”. Moshe’s desire to leave out the “a” was an indication of his humility. God insisted on having the “a”, but Moshe insisted on not having the “a”. They compromised and made it a small “a”. It is from the small bit of saved ink that Moshe’s face shown. 

The full text of this midrash about why Moshe’s face shown, cites a different opinion. Rabbi Berachiah states that the tablets that the 10 commandments were on were 6 tfakim long. When God handed them to Moshe, God was holding the 2 tfakim closest to Him. Moshe held on to the two tfakim closest to him. Rabbi Berachiah says that Moshe’s shining face came from the two tfakim in the middle that neither he nor God were holding on to. Rabbi Yehuda bar Nachmani then says that the shining face was caused by the ink left over from the small “a” (aleph). 

Rabbi Yosef Yehuda Leib Bloch, one of the founders of Telshe yeshiva, explains this midrash as follows:

Everyone agrees that the light on Moshe’s face came from the amount of inner wisdom that was in Moshe’s soul and which emanated from his whole being, particularly from his face. 

Rabbi Berachiah thinks that this inner wisdom and light came from those aspects of the Torah that are not fully given to man. These are the aspects of Torah that are ephemeral. They can only be intuited and felt rather than fully grasped with our intellect through words and speech. It is these aspects of wisdom that will cause one’s face to shine. 

Rabbi Yehuda bar Nachmani disagreed. He felt that the wisdom that caused Moshe’s face to shine came from the revealed part of Torah. Through Moshe’s dedication and hard work in acquiring and teaching the revealed Torah, Moshe obtained the kind of inner wisdom that made his face shine. 

The message that I get from all of this is: “Different strokes for different folks”. Each of us has different strengths and natural tendencies. We all hold onto different slices of the Torah pie. But if we hold on to our slice strongly, cherish it and work hard on mastering that aspect of Torah for which we have an affinity, we too can merit to have our face shine.