Moshe Rabbeinu
Moshe Rabbeinu, son of Amram, the teacher of Klal Yisroel and father of all the prophets, who passed away on Har Nevo on the 7th of Adar.
Biography
Early years
Moshe Rabbeinu a"h was the son of Amram, a man of the house of Levi, and Yocheved, a daughter of Levi. He was born in Egypt in 1392 BCE, on the 7th of Adar (Megillah 13b).
Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the Arizal, writes in Shaar HaGilgulim (Hakdamah 36) that the soul of Moshe was a reincarnation, a gilgul, of Shes (Seth), the third son of Adam, and that Shes was a gilgul of Hevel (Abel). The letters of the name Moshe hint to this: the mem stands for Moshe, the shin for Shes, and the heh for Hevel. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and the Arizal each carried sparks from the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu.
Rav Chaim Vital explains that Yocheved, his mother, was a gilgul of Chava, the wife of Adam. The pasuk tells us that she called him Moshe, saying, "for I drew him from the water," and the order of the letters in this name carries a deep meaning in Kabbalah. Both teachings appear below.
His greatness
Chazal describe Moshe as resembling an angel of Hashem (Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer 48). His face shone like the sun, a sign of his outstanding wisdom in Torah (Maharsha, Bava Basra 75a). He was beautiful, and everyone wished to gaze upon him (Shemos Rabbah 1:26). Moshe and Aharon looked so much alike that whoever saw Moshe thought he was Aharon, and whoever saw Aharon thought he was the father of all the prophets, meaning Moshe. Their sons, too, looked alike (Ginzei Schechter 1:94). Moshe was ten amos (cubits) tall (Berachos 54b).
Chazal also relate that Moshe was mighty (Nedarim 38a) and as strong as a lion (Likkutim of Greenhut 5; Yelamdeinu, Berachah 7). During all seven days of the dedication of the Mishkan, he assembled it and took it apart twice a day without the help of any member of Bnei Yisroel (Bamidbar Rabbah 12:9). When he went up from the plains of Moav to Har Nevo (Devarim 34:1), there were twelve levels, and he climbed them in one step (Yalkut Shimoni, Mishpatim 360). His voice carried the distance of a forty-day walk (Mechilta, Bo 14).
He was diligent in his work, as the pasuk says, "Diligent in his work" (Mishlei 22:29). He tended the sheep in the desert, worked diligently, and made peace between the shepherds and the daughters of Yisro (Pesikta Rabbasi 6:8). Fear of Hashem was a small matter for Moshe, easily attained (Berachos 33b). He called himself a servant of Hashem, and the Holy One, Blessed is He, called him one as well (Sifrei Devarim 27). Moshe was peace-loving (Sifrei Devarim 199). He would say, "Let justice pierce the mountain," and did not ask for mercy (Sanhedrin 6b). Chazal teach that had Moshe been more forbearing, he would have been saved, but Bnei Yisroel provoked and angered him, and he was not forbearing enough (Koheles Rabbah 7:7). Moshe grew wealthy from the remnants of the gem from which he carved the Luchos (Nedarim 38a).
Chazal teach that Moshe was equal to Yisroel, and Yisroel to Moshe (Mechilta, Yisro 1:1), and that he was equivalent to 600,000 of Yisroel (Tikunei Zohar 19:40). He acted in place of a Sanhedrin of seventy-one (Sanhedrin 16b). No generation is without someone like Moshe (Bereishis Rabbah 56:7), and he was the exact image of Adam (Zohar 1:28a).
Torah and leadership
The Holy One, Blessed is He, said to Moshe, "I have appointed you king over Yisroel" (Vayikra Rabbah 31:4). He sat like a king on his throne, and everyone stood before him (Mechilta, Yisro 1:1). The back of the throne of Shlomo was carved at the top like the chair of Moshe (Pesikta d'Rav Kahana 1:131). Moshe requested the kingship, but it was not given to him as something to be passed on to his children (Torah Temimah, Shemos 3:5; Zevachim 102a).
Our teacher Moshe was also a kohen gadol, and he received a share of the korbanos (Zevachim 101b). Moshe served as a kohen only during the seven days of the dedication of the Mishkan. Some say that the priesthood stopped only with his descendants and not with Moshe, who remained a kohen (Zevachim 102a). On two occasions Moshe spoke like Avrohom, but it did not avail him: he did not merit what Avrohom merited, in requesting the kingship and priesthood, and in requesting entry into Eretz Yisroel (Devarim Rabbah 2:7).
Chazal place Moshe among the great leaders. Of the seven shepherds mentioned by the navi Michah (5:4), Dovid is in the middle, with Adam, Shes and Mesushelach on his right, and Avrohom, Yaakov and Moshe on his left (Sukkah 52b). Two good leaders arose for Yisroel, Moshe and Dovid (Sifrei Devarim 26, beginning of Va'eschanan), and three good leaders arose for Yisroel: Moshe, Aharon and Miriam (Taanis 9a). Moshe and Aharon were equal to one another in righteousness (Bereishis Rabbah 1:15, with Eitz Yosef), and Moshe and Eliyahu were alike in all things (Pesikta Rabbasi 4:11). Moshe was the teacher and Dovid the talmid (Shocher Tov 14:6).
Later years and passing
Moshe said, "I am one hundred and twenty years old this day" (Devarim 31:2), and Chazal explain that on that day his years were complete to the day (Sifrei Devarim 2). On the 7th of Adar, Moshe passed away (Megillah 13b), on Har Nevo on the east bank of the Jordan river, in 1272 BCE (2488).
Everything that Moshe asked to see before his death, the Holy One, Blessed is He, showed him (Mechilta, Beshalach 5:2). When Moshe asked to enter Eretz Yisroel, Hashem answered, "You have enough" (Devarim 3:26), and Chazal explain: "Moshe, there is much waiting for you in the World to Come" (Sifrei Va'eschanan 29).
Chazal also teach that Moshe and Aharon fulfilled the entire Torah, yet they died as a result of their sins (Shabbos 55b), and that in a single year three righteous people died: Moshe, Aharon and Miriam (Sifrei Nitzavim 304).
Teachings
Yocheved, Daughter and Woman
The Torah says, "A man went from the house of Levi and he took a daughter of Levi" (Shemos 2:1). Rav Chaim Vital asks a question. When Amram took Yocheved as his wife she is called a daughter, which implies that she was still very young, yet in the very next pasuk she is called a woman, as it says, "and the woman conceived." How did she change in a moment from a young daughter into a mature woman? Rav Chaim answers with the Gemara (Sotah 12a), which teaches that Yocheved was actually 130 years old when she became like a very young girl again. The secret behind this is that Yocheved was a gilgul of Chava, the wife of Adam. Just as Adam separated from Chava for 130 years until Shes was born, so Yocheved, the gilgul of Chava, did not give birth to Moshe Rabbeinu, the gilgul of Shes, until she was 130 years old. She is called a daughter because at that moment the soul of Chava entered her, and immediately afterward she is called a woman, to hint to the presence of Chava in her soul.
Rav Chaim Vital, on Shemos 2:1; Sotah 12a
The Order of the Letters in Moshe's Name
The name Moshe emanates from the Daas of Zeir Anpin, which contains the first level of ChaGaT, the sefiros Chesed, Gevurah and Tiferes. From these come forth ChaBaD, the sefiros Chochmah, Binah and Daas. The letters of Moshe's name stand for the three sefiros of ChaGaT: mem is Chesed, shin is Tiferes, and heh is Gevurah. Their usual order would be MaHaSh, with mem for Chesed, heh for Gevurah and shin for Tiferes. This is one of the 72 triads that come from the pesukim Vayisa, Vayavo and Vayet (Shemos 14:19-21), which together form a Name of ChaGaT, so it would have been fitting to call him Mahash and not Moshe. But the pasuk says that she called him Moshe because "I drew him from the water (m'shisihu)," and the letters there run in the order mem, shin, heh. So he is called Moshe and not Mahash, yet the order of the letters still expresses how the sefiros interact. Chesed, mercy, which corresponds to water, comes first. Had the heh been the second, or middle, letter of his name, then Gevurah would stand in the center column, and everything would be judged by its severe standard. In His mercy, Hashem placed the shin in the middle, both in the sefiros above and in Moshe's name below, so that Tiferes could dispense justice together with grace instead of severity, and the center column would lean toward the right, the side of mercy. In this way we can stand before Hashem, our Creator, knowing that His beneficent grace will forgive our sins and allow us to stand before Him. Had Gevurah been in the center, then if we lacked merit we would find only punishment. Now we have hope.
Kabbalistic commentary on the naming of Moshe (Shemos 2)
Also on 7 Adar
All hilulos on 7 Adar ›Historical sources
- Shaar HaGilgulim (the Arizal)
- Gemara, Midrash Rabbah, Sifrei, Mechilta and Zohar as cited in the text