Kommentar zu Schemot 32:32

ועתה אם תשא חטאתם YET NOW, IF THOU WILT FORGIVE THEIR SIN — well and good: then I do not suggest to You, “Blot me out [of Thy book], ואם אין מחני BUT IF NOT, BLOT ME OUT.” This is an elliptical sentence, the words “Well and good” being omitted; of such there are many in Scripture.

YET NOW, IF THOU WILT FORGIVE THEIR SIN. Rashi comments: “If You forgive their sins — well and good, and I do not say to you ‘Blot me out.’ But if not, blot me out. This is thus an abbreviated verse. There are many cases similar to it. Out of Thy book — this means out of the whole Torah; so that people should not say about me that I was not worthy [successful] to seek mercy for them.” But if so, what was the answer that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave to Moses — Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book⁴⁰¹Verse 33. — since there was no one else to be blotted out of His book [i.e. the Torah, since they are not mentioned therein to begin with]? Perhaps [Rashi] will interpret it thus: “I shall only blot out [from My Torah] those who have sinned against Me, and you have not sinned against Me.” But this is not correct.
Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote that the expression out of Thy book which Thou hast written is like, The judgment was set, and the books were opened,⁴⁰²Daniel 7:10. “the books” in Ibn Ezra’s opinion being the dispositions of the heavenly bodies upon which the fate of the lower creatures depends. And G-d answered, Whosoever had sinned against Me, him will I blot out from My book,⁴⁰¹Verse 33. which means: “I will not blot you out, but I will blot out from among the people those sinners who have sinned against Me in their thoughts, and were not killed by the sons of Levi.” It is with reference to this that it is said, And the Eternal smote the people.⁴⁰³Verse 35. — This interpretation [of Ibn Ezra] does not appear to me to be correct, for besides those killed by the sword of the sons of Levi and those who died in the plague, most of the people had sinned against Him, as I have written.⁴⁰⁴Above, Verse 7.
In my opinion [the interpretation of the verse is as follows]: Moses said, “Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin in Thine mercies [— well and good]; but if not, blot me out in their place from the book of life, and I will share their punishment,” it being similar to what Scripture says, But he was wounded because of our transgressions, he was crushed because of our iniquities; the chastisement of our welfare was upon him, and with his stripes we were healed.⁴⁰⁵Isaiah 53:5. And the Holy One, blessed be He, answered Moses: “I will erase from My book [of life] whosoever sinned, but not you, for you have not sinned.”

אם תשא חטאתם ואם אין מחני נא מספרך, regardless if You, G’d, will forgive their sins or will not forgive them, wipe out any merits I have accumulated in Your Book and transfer them to the credit balance of this people.

ועתה אם תשא חטאתם "And now, if You are prepared to forgive their sin, etc." We have to understand this wording as corresponding to a statement in Bereshit Rabbah 21,6 according to which the word עתה is always used as related to repentance. Moses argued that seeing the Israelites had already repented, they qualified for forgiveness.

מחני נא מספרך, the Book of Life which You have written. Compare Isaiah 4,3 כל הכתוב לחיים בירושלים, “everyone who has been inscribed for life in Jerusalem, etc.” Moses asked to be killed by G’d.

אם תשא את חטאתם ואם אין מחני נא מספרך, “if You will forgive their sin…., and if not please blot me out from Your Book.” According to Rashi, Moses wanted to have his name removed from the whole Torah. Nachmanides finds this difficult, as in his opinion G’d’s reply that He would remove the sinners’ names from His Book and not those of the ones free from sin, would not be comprehensible. Who else was there whose name could be erased, seeing that we have not heard about the names of any of the sinners? He therefore concludes that Moses’ request must be understood thus: “If You will forgive them in Your Mercy, o.k, if not, I prefer that you wipe me out from among the living i.e. the Book of Life, and let the people continue living in my place. G’d’s reply that He will punish the guilty and not the innocent instead of the guilty, makes perfect sense then. He had no reason to erase Moses from the Book of the Living.

From the entire Torah. . . Although [all] the Torah had not yet been given, Moshe already wrote from Bereishis until the giving of the Torah, as previously explained (24:4). Alternatively, [Moshe was referring to] the Torah he was destined to write.

V. 32. ועתה אם חשא חטאתם, es fehlt der Nachsatz, der aber schon im: ועתה angedeutet sein dürfte. ועתה richtet doch die Erwägung auf die nunmehr zu erwartende Zeit. Diese nunmehr zu erwartende Zeit, alles, was nun ferner kommen könnte, die ganze Zukunft in ihrer ganzen Allgemeinheit kann sich Mosche nur denken, ist für Mosche nur da, wenn Gott Verzeihung dem Volke gewährt. Ohne diese Verzeihung gibt es für ihn keine Zukunft mehr, ist sein Dasein und seine Sendung zu Ende, gibt es für ihn kein עתה weiter. Daher denn auch der Gegensatz: ואם אין מחני נא מספרך אשר כתבת. Es kann sich nicht wohl dies ספרך auf das ספר der תורה beziehen, selbst wenn man das Präteritum auf den bereits als ספר הברית (Kap. 24, 7) geschriebenen Teil beziehen wollte. Es fände doch damit derselbe Ausdruck im folgenden Verse מי אשר חטא לי אמחנו מספרי seine Erklärung nicht. Denn deren Namen findet doch im ganzen Bereiche der תורה ohnehin keine spezielle Erwähnung. Vergleichen wir die Stellen Ps. 139, 16: גלמי ראו עיניך ועל ספרך כלם יכתבו ימים יצרו ולא (ק׳ ולו) אחד בהם : "mein ungeformtes Wesen schauten deine Augen schon, und in dein Buch werden alle die zur Bildung bestimmten Tage verzeichnet, selbst wenn noch keiner von ihnen wirkliches Dasein hat", oder nach dem קרי, wo dann sich das לו auf גלמי bezieht: "mein ungeformtes Wesen schauten deine Augen schon, und als in dein Buch sie alle, die zur Bildung bestimmten Tage verzeichnet wurden, war auch ihm einer von ihnen bestimmt." Ps. 69. 29: ימחו מספר החיים ועם צדיקים אל יכתבו, "mögen sie aus dem Buche der Lebendigen gelöscht und mit Gerechten nicht niedergeschrieben werden." Oder die damit verwandten Stellen Ps. 56, 9: נדי ספרתה אתה שימה דמעתי בנאדך הלא בספרתך, "mein Wanken hast du gebucht, gönne auch meiner Träne einen Platz in deinem Schlauche, steht sie nicht auch in deiner Buchung?" Maleachi 3, 16:אז נרברו ירי ד׳ איש אל רעהו ויקשב ד׳ וישמע ויכתב ספר זכרון לפניו ליראי ד׳ ולחשבי שמו וגו׳ "da besprachen sich Gottesfürchtige einer mit dem andern und es horchte Gott hin und hörte, und es schrieb sich ein Buch des Gedächtnisses vor Ihm für Gottesfürchtige und Denker seines Namens. Und die bleiben mein, sprach Gott, für den Tag, da ich einen Kern bilde, und ich sorge schonend für sie, wie ein Mann, der für seinen Sohn, der ihm dient, schonend sorgt". Nach diesen sprachlichen Erscheinungen glauben wir sagen zu dürfen: wenn alles, was ist, von Gottes "Wort" sein Dasein hat, und alles, was wird, auf Gottes "Wort" geschieht, so können alle diese Schöpfungen und Waltungen zusammen als der Inhalt eines Gottes-"Buches" begriffen werden. Es kann der ganze Weltenplan, den Gott durch die Weltgeschichte realisiert, als das "Buch" bezeichnet werden, das Gott im vorhinein geschrieben hat und dessen Inhalt er durch seine Waltungen im Laufe der Zeit verwirklicht. In dieses "Buch" sind dann alle die Männer verzeichnet, deren Gott sich als Werkzeug zur Ausführung seines Planes bedient, in diesem Buche findet aber auch jeder seine Stelle, der mit dem beschränkten Maß seines Daseins und seiner Kraft in dem beschränkten Kreis seines Einzellebens treu dem Dienste seines Gottes, das ist ja eben der Realisierung seines Willens, lebt. In diesem Buche ist jede reine Träne und jede reine Tat, ja, wie Maleachi lehrt, jeder reine Gedanke unverloren. In diesem Buche hat Dasein und Wirken eines Mosche sicherlich nicht die letzte Stelle. "Lösche mich aus dem Buche, das du geschrieben" heißt danach nichts anderes, als: tilge mich aus der Zahl der dir bedeutsamen Existenzen, enthebe mich meiner Zukunft, die du mir in deinem Weltenplane zugedacht.

מחני נא, “please erase me, etc.” according to Rashi, when Moses used the expression מספרך, “from Your book,” he asked to have his name erased from the whole Torah. According to Rash’bam, he only referred to the Book of Life in which people are inscribed on Rosh Hashanah if they will live out the year commencing on that day. (He bases himself on Isaiah 4,3, as well as on what Moses is recorded as having said in Numbers 11,15) This also appears to be the understanding of the Talmud, tractate Rosh Hashanah, folio 16. There the word: מספרך, “from Your Book,” is understood to refer to people who on that day have not yet qualified for a year of life until their merits exceed their demerits before the Day of Atonement, whereas the words: אשר כתבת, “which You have written,” is understood to refer to the righteous who have already been inscribed for another year of life. An alternate interpretation: Moses reminds G–d that His reputation rests on the fact that He does not have favorites. If He will refuse to forgive the people their sin, how could He forgive Moses’ sin since he had smashed His Tablets? G–d explains to him that the comparison is not valid as the people who had committed the sin of the golden calf were the cause that made him smash the Tablets. He would punish those who had, without provocation, committed the sin, not Moses. Nonetheless, we find that Moses’ name did not appear in the portion of Tetzaveh, the first time ever since he had been born. The reason is that the Rabbis have a rule that if a Torah scholar utters an oath, even a conditional oath, such as Yaakov decreeing death for the thief found with Lavan’s teraphim, which had been stolen by his daughter Rachel, though not found in her possession, as was the condition of the oath, such an oath cannot be without consequences. Rachel’s death before Yaakov crossing into the Holy Land is therefore attributed to this oath. Here too, Moses’ oath could not remain without any consequences for him. G–d therefore omitted mention of his name in that portion of the Torah.

מחני נא מספרך, “please erase my name from Your book;” this is not a reference to the Torah which had not yet been committed to writing. Moses refers to the “Book of life” in which every human being is inscribed on Rosh Hashanah if he was found deserving on the basis of his past record. This is based on the Talmud in tractate Rosh Hashanah folio 16, where the “book” is referred to as “the book of life,” in which the righteous are inscribed.

מספרך OF THY BOOK — of the entire book of the Torah; that people should not say about me that I was not worthy enough to pray effectively for them.

אם תשא חטאתם "if You forgive their sin, etc." Why did Moses leave the second half of the sentence unfinished? Perhaps we must understand Moses as saying: "and now," seeing that the Israelites have already done תשובה, i.e. they have done their part, it is up to You G'd to do Your part. Moses did not know if G'd would accept repentance seeing the sin was so grave. This is why he did not complete the verse, waiting for G'd to complete the other half of the sentence.

ואם אין מתני נא מספרן אשר כתבת "and if not, please erase me from the book You have written." A broker is entitled to a commission for all the deals he is instrumental in concluding between two parties. Inasmuch as Moses had "brokered" many deals between G'd and Israel of which the Israelites' acceptance of G'd's Torah was not the least, he was certain that his part in all this had been duly recorded in G'd's Book of records. He argued that if G'd were not to forgive the people He would have to erase all the merits Moses had acquired thus far and which had been recorded in that Book. His own merits, after all, had only been achieved through his association with the Jewish people. G'd answered him that his reasoning was faulty; He would erase only the previously recorded merits of the sinner from His Book. The merits which had been acquired through someone's association with someone else would certainly not be negatively affected through sins committed subsequently by that third party.

Moses' argument can also be understood in light of the Zohar volume 3, page 273 that all the souls of the generation of Israelites travelling through the desert were "branches" of Moses' soul. If G'd were not to forgive the sins of the Israelites, the effect on Moses' own soul would be devastating. This is why he urged G'd to "wipe me out from Your Book." G'd answered him that only the branches of his soul would be damaged by the sins their bodies committed, not the "trunk (i.e. root) of their souls."

Another meaning of Moses' words may be that he told G'd that he himself had been guilty of many errors such as recorded in Exodus 5,22 when he had accused G'd of dealing harshly with the Jewish people. Apparently, G'd had forgiven him his errors else He would have to erase him too from His Book as his sin too was unforgivable. G'd answered Moses that it was the nature of the sin of the Israelites,- "they sinned against Me," -which made it impossible to accept repentance without decreeing punishment. Idolatry is a sin against G'd's Essence. It cannot go unpunished even when the guilty have been truly penitent.

The entire dialogue between Moses and G'd concerned only the timing of the forgiveness. Moses wanted G'd to display forgiveness at once so that the generation of Israelites who had committed this sin could still remain inscribed in the Book of the Righteous. As far as G'd eventually forgiving the Jewish people was concerned, he had no doubts about that. It would certainly occur not later than the Day of Atonement. Moses chose his words very carefully when he spoke about מספרך אשר כתבת, "from the Book which You have written." G'd in the Heavens has three Books. One contains the names of the righteous, another contains the names of the wicked people on earth; the third contains names of people who are considered "borderline" cases. The three Books are open in front of G'd on New Year's Day. G'd personally inscribes the names of the "righteous," the deserving people in the first Book. This is why Moses referred to that Book as "Your Book." He had to add the words "which you have inscribed," as the suffix "your" Book would not make clear whether G'd ever reviews anything written in that Book. After all, seeing the whole universe belongs to G'd, each Book in Heaven would certainly also be described as "Your Book."

Rosh Hashanah 16 explains the words מספרך as referring to the Book in which the righteous are listed; the words אשר כתבת refer to the Book in which the borderline cases are recorded; according to the Talmud (Kidushin 40) one must always view oneself as being a borderline case, as if the next act one performs could tilt the scales of the world either towards "guilty" or towards "innocent." Berachot 61 tenders similar advice. In view of the foregoing, Moses considered himself as a בינוני, "a borderline case" just like every other Jew. If G'd were not to forgive the Jewish people, which would result in a diminution of his own merits, Moses himself would automatically lose his place in the Book of the בינונים and would become part of the Book in which the names of the wicked appear.

Still another way of understanding this verse is that Moses argued that his own standing would become that of a righteous person if G'd were to find the Israelites as righteous, seeing most of his own merits derived from them. If G'd were to fail to forgive the Israelites, Moses would himself carry the burden of the sins of the Israelites as any merits he had acquired due to his efforts on their behalf would be considered as null and void or even worse. He would have been better off if he had never accepted the task of leading the Jewish people.

Another aspect of Moses' argument is that it is part of his response to G'd's offer to make a new Jewish nation out of him after G'd had destroyed the present generation of Jews. Moses simply told G'd that if He were not willing to forgive the Jewish people now, he for his part would prefer to be wiped out of G'd's Book rather than become the founder of what would in effect be a substitute Jewish nation. The underlying thought here is that a) a threat by G'd not accompanied by an oath remains reversible, whereas an oath announcing retribution is irreversible. b) By the same token a promise by G'd that He will do something perceived as good, as desirable, is irreversible even if it was a conditional promise (compare Makkot 11). Accordingly, when G'd had promised to make a new nation out of Moses, this had been recorded in G'd's "Book," a book known as the Sefer Hayashar. Moses' prayer then was that G'd should cancel the entry which contained the promise to make a new nation out of his offspring. G'd told Moses that He would indeed not abrogate the promise to the Patriarachs concerning the future of their offspring while at the same time He would not retract the promise He had made to Moses. We find that He fulfilled His promise to make a nation out of Moses in Chronicles I 23, 14-18 which concludes with the statement: "the descendants of Rechaviah kept multiplying." Berachot 7 claims this means that there were more than 600,000 of Moses' descendants.