Le Deutéronome 3:26 Commentaire : Tze'enah Ure'enah, Rashi, Chizkuni & Da'at Zekenim

“Enough” [3:26]. The Holy One said to Moses: Adam brought death into the world, so that each person must die. Moses responded: Lord of the Universe, Adam committed a sin. The Holy One said: did Abraham have to die? He allowed himself to be thrown into the fire for the sake of God. Moses responded: an evil son, Ishmael, came from Abraham. The Holy One said: Isaac stretched out his neck to be slaughtered for the sake of God and he had to die. Moses said: the evil Esau came from Isaac. The Holy One said: Jacob had twelve righteous children and he had to die. Moses said: however, Jacob did not ascend to heaven like I did, and he did not receive the Torah, as I did. Moses said: there were six hundred thousand Israelites and they sinned many times, and You forgave them, and You do not want to forgive me? The Holy One responded: one does much more for the sake of a community than one does for the sake of an individual. Moses said: punish me with torments to my body, but do not give me into the hands of the angel of death. I will tell Your praises in the whole world, as the verse says, “I shall not die but live and proclaim the works of the Lord” [Psalms, 118:17]. The Holy One responded: there is a gate through which even the righteous have to enter, as the verse says, “this is the gateway to the Lord – the righteous shall enter through it” [Psalms, 118:20]. Moses saw that he could not win his case, so he went to heaven and earth and said: pray for me. They responded: we have to pray for ourselves, since we will also be destroyed in the end, as the verse says, “the heavens should melt away like smoke, and the earth wear out like a garment” [Isaiah, 51:6]. This means, the heavens will dissolve like smoke and the earth will melt like a skein of thread. So Moses went to the stars and to the sun and moon, and the high mountains. They all responded: we have enough to deal with. He came to the sea and the sea said to Moses: what happened to you? You beat me with your stick and I had to split. The Shekhinah always stood at your right hand. As soon as Moses heard that the sea spoke about the wonders that he did in his youth, Moses ran and screamed, and cried before the highest angel and said: pray for me. The angel responded: I have heard that your prayers will not help. Moses immediately shouted and cried. The Holy One said: I have sworn two oaths. If you want to remain alive, then Israel must be destroyed, heaven forbid. If Israel were to remain alive, then you must die. Moses responded: I and my thousands should be destroyed, before any Israelite should be destroyed. The Holy One said: if your fear of the angel of death is so great, then I will place the angel of death in your hands. Moses responded: how should my mother, Yocheved, not mourn? She has already buried two children, and should she also bury the third one? The Holy One said: the time has come for Joshua to be a king over Israel. Therefore, you must die. Moses said: if this is why I must die, I will be a disciple to Joshua and let him be the teacher. The Holy One responded: If you want to do that, then it is good. Moses immediately went to the tent of Joshua, early in the morning, and stood by the door. Joshua taught Torah to Israel and did not see Moses, since Moses had bent down so that he should not be seen, and closed his mouth with his hands, so that he should not be recognized. All of Israel came to Moses’ tent and they found him with Joshua. Moses stood and Joshua sat. All of Israel said to Joshua: what is this? You are sitting and your teacher is standing? As soon as Joshua saw that Moses was standing, he tore his garments and cried, and said: my teacher, my teacher, my lord, what are you doing? The Israelites said to Moses, teach us Torah. Moses responded I am not supposed to. They said: we will not allow you. A heavenly voice came down from heaven and said: learn Torah from Joshua. They immediately learned Torah from Joshua and Moses sat at the right hand of Joshua and Eliezer on his left side, and Joshua taught Torah before Moses. Afterwards, when all of Israel left the house of study, all of Israel came to Moses and said to him: teach us and explain what Joshua had said. Moses responded: I cannot do it. That hour, Moses said: Lord of the Universe, it is time; I will die. They said to Moses: there is still an hour to your death. Moses said: let us wait a while; I will first bless Israel. He blessed each tribe separately. Then he saw that it was almost time to die; he blessed all of Israel together. Then they said to him: Moses, there is still a half hour before your death. He began to ask forgiveness of all of Israel and said: I have troubled you many times to study Torah, forgive me. Then they said: Moses there is still a minute to your death. Immediately, he said: blessed be His name, who lives and exists forever. He said to Israel: when you will come to the land of Israel, remember me. They said: how should we not remember you? You have done everything good for us. Immediately they said: Moses, there is still half a minute before your death. Moses immediately put both hands on his heart and said to Israel. These hands that received the Torah will be buried in the earth. His soul immediately left him. No man and no angel buried him, but the Holy One himself. He died on the seventh day of the month of Adar, the same day that he was born. The Holy One counts the days of the righteous.³Tanhuma, Veethanan, 6.

ויתעבר ה׳ This means, GOD WAS FILLED WITH WRATH (Sifrei Bamidbar 135).

ויתעבר ה' בי למענכם, “but the Lord was angry at me for your sakes;” G-d had said to Moses: “if you cross the Jordan into the Holy Land, people will say that the decree against the generation which had come out of Egypt to die in the desert was because they had forfeited their claim on an afterlife. If I now allow you to enter the Holy Land in response to your prayer, they will say that Moses was not concerned with anyone but himself. Therefore you will be buried where they are buried, and both you and they will rise at the time of the resurrection and live in the Holy Land.” This is the meaning of: ויתא ראשי עם in Deuteronomy 33,21: “they (the tribe of Gad) positioned himself at the head of the fighting men of the people”, i.e. as the pioneers. Moses, by agreeing to be buried in the fields of Moab displayed his total identification with the fate of his people.