פירוש על במדבר 12:11

נואלנו — Understand this as the Targum does: (we have acted foolishly); it is associated in meaning with אויל “a fool”.

בי אדני אל נא תשת עלינו תטאת, "please my lord, do not lay a sin upon us, etc." It is clear from Aaron's words that he believed Moses had felt slighted by their comments. This is why he pleaded with him to forgive them their sin. It appears that Aaron reasoned that Moses would view himself as a חכם, merely a wise man who is legally entitled to waive his honour so that those who slighted it could be forgiven. Aaron presumed that forgiveness by Moses would result in the Tzoraat being cured. Accordingly, Aaron said: "though you have been offended by our words so much that we have been punished on their account, now that we have suffered the punishment please forgive us so that we will no longer be guilty of this sin." The truth of the matter was that Moses had not felt offended at all. The Torah demonstrated this by writing how humble a person Moses was specifically at this juncture. This was to show that Aaron had been wrong in his whole assumption.