Deuteronómio 10:10 Midrash: Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Seder Olam Rabbah & Shemot Rabbah

And thus we find that they went back (the distance of) three journeys (at Moses' behest), viz. (Numbers 33:8-10) "And they journeyed from Pi Hachiroth … And they journeyed from Marah and they came to Eilim … And they journeyed from Eilim and they encamped at the Red Sea." And thus we find that they went back eight journeys in honor of Aaron for his burial. As it is written (Devarim 10:6) "And the children of Israel journeyed from Be'eroth Benei Yaakan … There Aaron died, etc," Now did Aaron die in Mosera? Did he not die in Hor Hahar, viz. (Numbers 33:38) "And Aaron the Cohein went up to Hor Hahar, etc."? What, then, is the intent of "There Aaron died and he was buried there"? We are hereby apprised that they went back eight journeys in honor of Aaron for his burial, viz. (Numbers 33:31-37) "And they journeyed from Moseroth and they encamped in Benei Yaakan. And they journeyed from Bnei Yaakan and they encamped in Chor Hagidgad and they encamped in Yatvatha. And they journeyed from Yatvatha and they encamped in Avronah. And they journeyed from Avronah and they encamped in Etzyon Gaver. And they journeyed from Etzyon aver and they encamped in the desert of Sin, which is Kadesh. And they journeyed from Kadesh and they encamped in Hor Hahar, at the edge of the land of Edom."

(Fol. 21) MISHNAH: Whoever reads the Megilla standing or sitting has fulfilled his duty. GEMARA: We are taught in a Baraitha: "It is not so with the reading of the Torah, [which can be read only while the reader is] standing. Whence do we infer this? R. Abahu said: "The passage says (Deut. 5, 28) But as for thee, stand thou here by me. From this we infer that the reader should stand, and the congregation sit." R. Abahu said again: "Whence do we know that the master should not teach the disciple when he sits on the bed, and the disciple on the floor? Because it is written But as for thee, stand thou here by me. (Just as I stand so you should stand. ) " Our Rabbis were taught: From the time of Joshua till Rabban Gamaliel the Torah was studied standing. When Rabban Gamaliel the elder died, sickness became prevalent, and they began to study sitting. And this is the meaning of the Mishnah: "Since Rabban Gamaliel the elder died the dignity of the Torah has ceased." One passage says (Deut. 9, 9) I sat on the mount forty days and forty nights; and another (Ib. 10, 10) I stood on the mount. Said Rab: "He stood when he studied, and he sat when he repeated." R. Chaninah said: "He was neither standing nor sitting, but bending." R. Abba, however, said: "Sitting means nothing else but abiding, as it is said (Deut. 1, 46) Ye sat in Kadesh [which means dwelt]." Raba said: "The easy things he studied while standing, and the difficult things while sitting."

On the seventh day after the Ten Commandments Moshe went up on the mountain, as it says "The Presence of the LORD abode on Mount Sinai, and the cloud hid it for six days..." (Shemot 24:16) This was in order for Moshe to purify himself. "On the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud." (ibid.) "Moses went inside the cloud and ascended the mountain; and Moses remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights." (Shemot 24:18) On the 17th of Tammuz he came down and shattered the tablets, "The next day Moses said to the people, “You have been guilty of a great sin. Yet I will now go up to the LORD; perhaps I may win forgiveness for your sin.” Moshe went back up on the 18th of Tammuz and pleaded for mercy on behalf of Israel, as it is written "When I lay prostrate before the LORD those forty days and forty nights, because the LORD was determined to destroy you," (Devarim 9:25) At that moment, the Holy One once again viewed Israel with favor and said to Moshe to carve new tablets and to come up the mountain once again, as it says "Thereupon the LORD said to me, “Carve out two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain; and make an ark of wood." (Devarim 10:1) He came down on the 28th of Av and carved the second tablets, as it says "So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the first, and early in the morning he went up on Mount Sinai..." (Shemot 34:4) He went back up on the 29th of Av and the Torah was repeated to him a second time, as it says "I had stayed on the mountain, as I did the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD heeded me once again: the LORD agreed not to destroy you." (Devarim 10:10) 'As I did the first time,' just as the first was a time of favor, so too the second were a time of favor- we can derive from this that those in the middle were a time of anger. He came down on the 10th of Tishre, which was Yom Kippur, and announced to them that they had found favor before God (Hamakom), as it says "Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your own!” (Shemot 34:9) Therefore it was established as a fixed day and a remembrance for the generations, as it says "This shall be to you a law for all time: to make atonement for the Israelites for all their sins once a year..." (Vayikra 16:34)