Komentarz do Liczb 27:13

כאשר נאסף אהרן אחיך [THOU SHALT BE GATHERED TO THY PEOPLE] AS AARON THY BROTHER WAS GATHERED — From this it is evident that Moses longed for a death similar to that of Aaron (cf. Rashi on Numbers 20:26). — Another explanation: you will die as he died (in the wilderness) because you are no better than he (Midrash Tanchuma, Pinchas 9). — Such indeed is suggested by (Deuteronomy 32:50. 51): “[and die … as Aaron thy brother died …] because you sanctified me not”. Thus it follows, if ye (both of you) had sanctified me your time would not have yet come to depart this life and you would not have died in the wilderness (Sifrei Bamidbar 137:1). In every passage where it writes about their death you will find that it writes about their offence. Because a decree had been made against the generation of the wilderness (those who left Egypt) that they should die in the wilderness on account of the sin that they did not have faith in God, therefore Moses requested that the nature of his offence should be stated in the Torah, so that people might not say, “He, too, was one of those “rebels”. A parable: It may be compared to the case of two women who were punished by the Court; one was an immoral woman and one had merely eaten unripe figs of the sabbatical year’s growth. The latter, therefore, requested that the nature of her offence might be made public, and they did so by proclamation. So, too, here: wherever it mentions their death it mentions also their misdeed, in order to make it known that there was only this single sin in them (Tanchuma 4:6:10 on חקת; Yoma 86b; cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 137:2).

וראיתה אתה "and when you have seen it, etc." G'd did not limit Himself to the previous words וראה את הארץ, "and view the land, etc," in verse 12. The Torah wanted to indicate that Moses was enabled to see the land by means of a miracle, i.e. his power of vision was expanded. What Moses beheld could not be seen by ordinary man who is equipped to see only with the help of sunlight; rather it was required that G'd put at Moses' disposal the light which G'd had hidden after Adam had sinned, the light created on the first day of creation (compare Sifri volume 1 item 136). This is also the light G'd put at Moses' disposal in Deut. 34,1. where He showed him the whole of the land of Israel.

From here we derive that Moshe yearned… [Rashi knows this] because it is not written, “As Avraham was gathered” or as any one of the other righteous people [were gathered].

V. 13. וראיתה. Durch das ה paragogicon dürfte dieses Sehen für jetzt noch nicht als augenblicklich zu erfüllendes Gebot ausgesprochen, sondern hinsichtlich der Zeit der Erfüllung noch seiner Wahl überlassen sein. ונאספת אל עמיך (siehe Bereschit 25, 8).

כאשר נאסף אהרן אחיך, “just as your brother Aaron has been gathered.” G-d refers to the reason of their dying before entering the Holy Land, not to the manner of their death, seeing that Moses had buried his brother Aaron, whereas no none was present at his own death. Their “premature” death had been due to their having failed to exploit an opportunity to sanctify the Holy Name of Hashem. (Numbers 20,12). This is what Rashi comments on our verse. He adds that this verse is really not at the place where we would have expected it. It really belonged to the portion of Haazinu, where the Torah describes the sin of Moses and Aaron in different terms, i.e. violating a negative commandment not just failing to observe a positive commandment. (Compare Deuteronomy 32,51) According to the commentary in Sifri, the verse is appropriate here as the sin Moses and Aaron had been guilty of occurred in the desert of Tzin, immediately after Miriam had died and been buried, not in the fields of Moav where Moses made his final speech to the nation. Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar is on record as saying that both Moses and Aaron died prematurely as a result of failing to sanctify the name of G-d as stated in Numbers 20. It is possible that out of deference to the image of Moses and Aaron, Rashi preferred not to mention the statement of Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar. He only quoted the last item in that comment by Sifri.

Another interpretation: You are no better than he. That is to say, that just as he died because of this sin, so too will you die. [One might ask why] Rashi brings the other interpretation here? He does not [mention it] later in Parshas Haazinu (Devarim 32:50) where he only explains “that he yearned.” Similarly, [why he did not bring it] above in Parshas Chukas (Bamidbar 20:26)? It appears that usually the Torah writes, “As was gathered … על אשר מריתם ["because you disobeyed"]" but here it writes, “As was gathered … כאשר מריתם [lit. "like you (pl.) disobeyed"]” which implies that the reason why he would be gathered in like Aharon was because he sinned like him. Therefore Rashi also explains the other interpretation that “You are no better than he.” R. Yaakov Triosh.

גם אתה כאשר נאסף אהרון, "also you, just as Aaron was gathered in, etc." This is best explained by reference to Yalkut Shimoni at the beginning of Parshat Massay. We are told there that when Aaron was about to die he told Moses that had he known death was something so pleasant he would have wanted to die even sooner. The Torah wrote גם אתה "also you" immediately next to the word ונאספת, "you will die," in order for Moses to understand that his own death would be just as pleasant as that of his brother Aaron had been. When Moses would realise the nature of his death he too would wish that he had died even sooner. An additional meaning of these words is that G'd wanted Moses to do what all righteous people are supposed to do before they die, namely to acknowledge that G'd's justice as applied to them was fair. The person who is about to die should welcome G'd's decision that he die at that time. By saying: "also you will be gathered up to your people," G'd hinted that Moses should acknowledge the justice of G'd's decree in letting him die at this time and at this place. The classic example for this type of attitude is King David in Psalms 31,6 where he said: "I place my spirit in Your hand."

Your time would not yet have arrived… You might ask: Surely in this Parshah it is not written על אשר לא קדשתם ["because you did not sanctify"]. The answer is that according to the other interpretation where Rashi explained that "You are no better than he” it implies that just as Aharon died though his time had not yet arrived, so too Moshe would die even though his time had not yet arrived. However, where do we find that he died before his time? Rashi answers that regarding the death of Moshe it is written, “Because you did not sanctify…” (Devarim 32:51). The other interpretation is necessary because according to the first reason there is the difficulty that Moshe’s death was not like that of Aharon, for in his lifetime Aharon saw that his position of leadership had been passed to his children, however this was not so regarding Moshe, therefore Rashi brings the other interpretation. But, according to other interpretation there is the difficulty that that the phrase כאשר מת אהרן ["just as Aharon died"] implies that Aharon died before his time had come, but this is not explicitly said regarding Aharon. Therefore, the first reason is also necessary. (Gur Aryeh) Though it is stated in the first Perek of Rosh Hashanah (11a): “I am one hundred and twenty years of age today” (Devarim 31:2), why does the Torah say “today”? Rather, [it means]: “Today I am completing my days and my years” teaching that Hashem sits and completes the years of the righteous, from day to day and from month to month. The answer is that it is certainly true that he completed his [natural] years, however he should have lived [longer] due to his righteousness, since the fear of Hashem adds to one's years. However, now that he had sinned he was left with this natural lifespan and nothing was added.

The Torah continues "just as Aaron was gathered in," to reflect a further comment by the Yalkut there who quotes Moses as having asked his brother Aaron at the time if he accepted the need to die. When Aaron had replied in the affirmative, Moses said to him: "let us ascend the mountain. Immediately following this suggestion Moses and Aaron (and Eleazar) ascended the mountain. Thus far the Yalkut. This is what the Torah alludes to with the words: "as your brother Aaron was gathered in." The reason for all this was that G'd did not want to let a righteous person die without first gaining his consent. This will also afford the person about to die to fulfil the commandment in Deut. 6.5 to love G'd "with all your soul."

One for degenerate behavior. She was adulterous, [but did so] without warning.

The other for eating unripe Shmittah produce. Meaning Shmittah produce that had not yet ripened completely, for the Torah writes, “To eat” (Vayikra 25:6). [From here we derive] "But not to squander" (Pesachim 52b). The one who ate the Shmittah produce requested from the court that they publicize why she was being punished, so that people would not say that she too was [punished for] degenerate behavior; here too…