Komentarz do Powtórzonego Prawa 32:49

וראה את הארץ, to extend your blessing there.

אל הר העברים הזה הר נבו, “to this mount of Avarim, known as Har Nevo.” The reason this mountain was known as הר העברים was because it was open in two directions, both in the direction of Kadesh and the direction of Hor Hahar (i.e. in the direction of where both the brothers Moses and Aaron were buried.) I explained this already in connection with Numbers 20,28.

V. 49. אשר בארץ מואב אשר על פי ירחו. Dieser doppelte Relativsatz spricht die beiden Momente aus, welche der Örtlichkeit ihren Charakter erteilt: Mosche soll außer Landes im Anblick des Landes sterben, welches als Ziel seiner ganzen bisherigen Volksleitung vorschwebte.

אשר על פני יריחו, “facing Jericho, with only the river Jordan intervening in between.

אשר על פני יריחו, “which is facing Jericho.” We find the word ירחו spelled with the vowel tzeyre in the Torah without the letter י, whereas in the Book of Joshua it is spelled with the letter י as יריחו. Perhaps the reason for this discrepancy is that the word ירחו when spelled with the vowel tzeyre and without the letter י is derived from ירח, moon, suggesting that Moses’ level of prophecy was of a higher calibre than that of Joshua who had access only to the emanation מלכות (the tenth, i.e. lowest emanation, hence the letter י) Moses, on the other hand, had access to the emanations כבוד and תפארת, [the word ירח is a כנוי for the Shechinah, according to the Remak. [Rabbi Moshe Cordovero. The combined lower 6 emanations are known as ירחים . Ed.] Whenever the town of Jericho is mentioned in connection with other prophets (in the Books of Prophets) it is always spelled the same as in the Book of Joshua. The author speculates on the word ריח, “odor, fragrance” and the additional letter ו, meaning that Joshua’s prophetic inspiration was “drawn” from the letter י representing the lowest (10th) emanation which itself derives its inspiration from the higher emanations, i.e. the ones symbolized by the letter ו.