Musar su Deuteronomio 34:1

The following Midrash will illustrate what I have in mind: "Moses said to G–d that the man who would be appointed his successor should "possess" the mind of all six hundred thousand Jews, since each one of them must be ready to accept him as his personal leader, seeing that no two Jews are of the same mind. G–d said to Moses: "Since you have spoken thus, I will show you all the future leaders of the Jewish people, all the Judges and Prophets I shall appoint for them from this time until the time of the Resurrection. Rabbi Simon said that this is the meaning of Deut.34,1: ויראהו ה' את כל הארץ, "G–d showed him the whole earth." He showed him Joshua who stood beneath him, Othniel who took over leadership of the Jewish people from Joshua, etc. G–d told Moses that all those people were of one mind and one spirit. Concerning what Moses had demanded at the very beginning however, namely, a man whose mind would evoke a 100% positive response from every Jew, such a man would not arise until the arrival of the Messiah of whom Isaiah (11,1) has written: "But a shoot shall grow out of Yishai, a twig shall sprout from his stock. The spirit of the Lord shall alight upon him, a spirit of wisdom and insight." This is also what is referred to in Job 28,25: לעשות לרוח משקל, "who can determine the weight of the spirit" (evaluate correctly the mind of every person). The Midrash describes Moses as saying to G–d that only He knows the minds of all His creatures. Since G–d is aware that each Jew has a mind of his own, seeing that he, Moses, is about to depart from the scene, he asks G–d to appoint someone who is able to put up with all these opinions represented by the Jewish nation. It is puzzling why such a well-meant request should be answered by G–d in the manner described by the Midrash. Why did G–d post-pone fulfilling Moses' request until the coming of the Messiah?

In view of the fact that Moses had acted with good intentions, and G–d does not withhold His goodness from people who act with pure motives, He does not deny such צדיקים the spiritual achievements they are entitled to at the time they die. This is what the Torah (Deuteronomy 34,1) alludes to when it reports Moses' death in these words: ויעל משה מערבות מואב אל הר נבו, "Moses went up from the steppes of Moav to Mount Nebo." We may divide the name of the Mountain into נ-בו, suggesting that at this point in his life Moses regained the fiftieth level of בינה. We may also understand this as if the letter נ from the word נבו detached itself and joined the letters in the name of משה, making his name equivalent to נשמה, soul. The word נשמה is usually understood as being equivalent to בינה. [Compare Pardes Rimonim in his chapter 14 under the heading of שערי ערכי הכנוים. Ed] Moses prayed many times not to be involved in this עיבור in every generation, all to no avail. He referred to this when he said: ויתעבר ה' בי למענכם, "G-d made me become involved in this סוד העיבור for your sake." He blamed the Jewish people for his predicament of becoming involved in this mystical aspect of becoming part of every generation. The word למענכם, means "for your sake," i.e. in order to help you attain your תקון, your rehabilitation. The word בי which has a numerical value of 12, refers to the need to consider leap months or leap years every 12 months. [In that connection the word עיבור may also refer to pregnancy, as per Yevamot 80 where Rabba Tosaphoa is reported to have declared a baby born 12 months after the husband's departure as being legitimate, not a bastard, i.e. the result of an infidelity by the mother. Ed.]

Now to the subject of the Hereafter. Israel had been afraid that if they were to continue to acquire greater insights, i.e. over and beyond what they were spiritually and intellectually equipped to digest, they would surely die. They therefore had asked Moses that he should approach G–d and serve as their intermediary. They did this because, since Moses had already experienced the insights other people achieve only in the Hereafter, he had no reason to fear premature death. They realized that Moses had attained the fiftieth of the שערי בינה. When you take the letter ה which symbolizes the 5 Books of Moses and the letter י which symbolizes the Ten Commandments and you multiply them which each other the result is 50, an allusion to the fact that between the Ten Commandments and the five Books of the Torah you have the wisdom contained in the fifty שערי בינה. When Israel sinned at the golden calf, G–d told Moses: לך רד, "go and descend from the lofty platform of לך=50," as we have outlined earlier. Now G–d said: אל תוסף (3,26). The message was that during one's lifetime on earth the fiftieth level of בינה would not again be attained. This had to await a person's death. Only when separated from his body would one's soul-personality be able to attain that level of insights. To demonstrate that Moses did attain this level again when he died, the Torah describes his death as an ascent, i.e. ויעל משה … אל הר נבו (34,1). I have already mentioned that the name of the Mountain can be read as נ-בו, "50 is attainable through this Mountain." The choice of the word ויעל here is, of course, the reverse of the word רד G–d used when He told Moses about the sin of the golden calf. Moses attained during his lifetime what other צדיקים achieve only after their death. Once their bodies are left behind on earth their souls may behold what the Psalmist describes in Psalms 17,15: אשבעה בהקיץ תמונתך, "When I awake I will behold a vision of You." Concerning Moses, the Torah has testified that already during his lifetime: ותמונת ה' יביט, Moses was able to behold visions of G–d at will (Numbers 12,8). No one has an idea of the quality of עולם הבא in store for Moses; it is beyond anything we can imagine seeing that only G–d knows where even his body is buried.