פרשת פינחס תשי"ד - עלה אל הר העברים

עלה אל הר העברים GO UP INTO [THIS] MOUNT ABARIM — Why does this follow immediately here? Because when the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, (v. 17) “Thou shalt surely give them an inheritance in the land” he (Moses) said, “It is me that the Omnipresent has commanded to apportion the inheritance. Perhaps then the decree that I must die in the wilderness is annulled and I shall enter the Promised Land!” Whereupon God said to him, “My decree remains exactly as it was” (Midrash Tanchuma, Pinchas 9). — Another explanation: As soon as Moses entered into the territory of the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben (the eastern side of the Jordan, which, having been assigned to these tribes, might be regarded as part of the Promised Land), he rejoiced, saying, “It seems to me that the vow regarding me has been annulled in my favour”. God, therefore, said to him, My decree remains exactly as it was. A parable! It may be compared to the case of a king who decreed against his son that he should not enter the door of his palace. He (the king) entered within the gate, and he (the son) went after him (without the father raising any objection); to the audience chamber, and he after him. But as soon as he was about to enter his sleeping-chamber (his private room) he said to him, “My son, from here and further on you may not go” (Sifrei Bamidbar 134:4).

Go up this Mount "Eivarim." The name of this mountain is "Mount Nevo," as it is explained in [the Torah portions] Ha'azinu and V'zot Haberachah, but it is called "Mount Eivarim"--"Mount of the Crossings"--because it is at the crossing of the [River] Jordan. And, there is where they will cross into the Land of Canaan, as it said there (in Ha'azinu and V'zot Haberachah), "...which is on the banks of the Jordan...," and there they crossed the Jordan, as it is said, (Joshua 4:19) "...And the people went up from the Jordan and camped in Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho...." And, it was not a mitzvah that the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded him (Moses) to do now, because if so, he would have been required to go up there immediately. But rather, the reason for "go up Mount Eivarim and see the Land..." was because He (God) commanded him, "To these the Land is to be allotted..." (Numbers 26:53). Let it be known that you will not apportion the Land with your own hand, but rather you will go up to the top of Mount Eivarim before the people Israel travels from the land of Moab, and you will die upon it and nothing of the Land will reach you but the sight [of it]. And similarly, "Take Joshua..." (Numbers 27:18): When your day comes, you will take Joshua and fulfill that which is written [in Numbers 27:22] that tells that Moses did so with a full heart - and this is the action that will be recalled (Deuteronomy 31:7) at the time of Moses' death, when the poem was said, "he and Hoshea son of Nun."

And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Get thee up into this mountain of Abarim, and behold the land which I have given unto the children of Israel.

Go up this Mount "Eivarim." The name of this mountain is "Mount Nevo," as it is explained in [the Torah portions] Ha'azinu and V'zot Haberachah, but it is called "Mount Eivarim"--"Mount of the Crossings"--because it is at the crossing of the [River] Jordan. And, there is where they will cross into the Land of Canaan, as it said there (in Ha'azinu and V'zot Haberachah), "...which is on the banks of the Jordan...," and there they crossed the Jordan, as it is said, (Joshua 4:19) "...And the people went up from the Jordan and camped in Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho...." And, it was not a mitzvah that the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded him (Moses) to do now, because if so, he would have been required to go up there immediately. But rather, the reason for "go up Mount Eivarim and see the Land..." was because He (God) commanded him, "To these the Land is to be allotted..." (Numbers 26:53). Let it be known that you will not apportion the Land with your own hand, but rather you will go up to the top of Mount Eivarim before the people Israel travels from the land of Moab, and you will die upon it and nothing of the Land will reach you but the sight [of it]. And similarly, "Take Joshua..." (Numbers 27:18): When your day comes, you will take Joshua and fulfill that which is written [in Numbers 27:22] that tells that Moses did so with a full heart - and this is the action that will be recalled (Deuteronomy 31:7) at the time of Moses' death, when the poem was said, "he and Hoshea son of Nun."

And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Get thee up into this mountain of Abarim, and behold the land which I have given unto the children of Israel.

And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered;

עלה אל הר העברים GO UP INTO [THIS] MOUNT ABARIM — Why does this follow immediately here? Because when the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, (v. 17) “Thou shalt surely give them an inheritance in the land” he (Moses) said, “It is me that the Omnipresent has commanded to apportion the inheritance. Perhaps then the decree that I must die in the wilderness is annulled and I shall enter the Promised Land!” Whereupon God said to him, “My decree remains exactly as it was” (Midrash Tanchuma, Pinchas 9). — Another explanation: As soon as Moses entered into the territory of the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben (the eastern side of the Jordan, which, having been assigned to these tribes, might be regarded as part of the Promised Land), he rejoiced, saying, “It seems to me that the vow regarding me has been annulled in my favour”. God, therefore, said to him, My decree remains exactly as it was. A parable! It may be compared to the case of a king who decreed against his son that he should not enter the door of his palace. He (the king) entered within the gate, and he (the son) went after him (without the father raising any objection); to the audience chamber, and he after him. But as soon as he was about to enter his sleeping-chamber (his private room) he said to him, “My son, from here and further on you may not go” (Sifrei Bamidbar 134:4).

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).