Wyjścia 32:32 Komentarz: Rashi, Chizkuni, Da'at Zekenim & Ramban

ועתה אם תשא חטאתם YET NOW, IF THOU WILT FORGIVE THEIR SIN — well and good: then I do not suggest to You, “Blot me out [of Thy book], ואם אין מחני BUT IF NOT, BLOT ME OUT.” This is an elliptical sentence, the words “Well and good” being omitted; of such there are many in Scripture.

מחני נא מספרך, “please erase my name from Your book;” this is not a reference to the Torah which had not yet been committed to writing. Moses refers to the “Book of life” in which every human being is inscribed on Rosh Hashanah if he was found deserving on the basis of his past record. This is based on the Talmud in tractate Rosh Hashanah folio 16, where the “book” is referred to as “the book of life,” in which the righteous are inscribed.

מחני נא, “please erase me, etc.” according to Rashi, when Moses used the expression מספרך, “from Your book,” he asked to have his name erased from the whole Torah. According to Rash’bam, he only referred to the Book of Life in which people are inscribed on Rosh Hashanah if they will live out the year commencing on that day. (He bases himself on Isaiah 4,3, as well as on what Moses is recorded as having said in Numbers 11,15) This also appears to be the understanding of the Talmud, tractate Rosh Hashanah, folio 16. There the word: מספרך, “from Your Book,” is understood to refer to people who on that day have not yet qualified for a year of life until their merits exceed their demerits before the Day of Atonement, whereas the words: אשר כתבת, “which You have written,” is understood to refer to the righteous who have already been inscribed for another year of life. An alternate interpretation: Moses reminds G–d that His reputation rests on the fact that He does not have favorites. If He will refuse to forgive the people their sin, how could He forgive Moses’ sin since he had smashed His Tablets? G–d explains to him that the comparison is not valid as the people who had committed the sin of the golden calf were the cause that made him smash the Tablets. He would punish those who had, without provocation, committed the sin, not Moses. Nonetheless, we find that Moses’ name did not appear in the portion of Tetzaveh, the first time ever since he had been born. The reason is that the Rabbis have a rule that if a Torah scholar utters an oath, even a conditional oath, such as Yaakov decreeing death for the thief found with Lavan’s teraphim, which had been stolen by his daughter Rachel, though not found in her possession, as was the condition of the oath, such an oath cannot be without consequences. Rachel’s death before Yaakov crossing into the Holy Land is therefore attributed to this oath. Here too, Moses’ oath could not remain without any consequences for him. G–d therefore omitted mention of his name in that portion of the Torah.