tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7898782635470765614.post4815717682500766568..comments2023-09-11T17:58:13.764-04:00Comments on The Rebbetzin's Husband: Which Rock is your Gd? (Derashah: Haazinu 5769)The Rebbetzin's Husbandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14977193945074906534noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7898782635470765614.post-48850847036875930432008-10-16T20:34:00.000-04:002008-10-16T20:34:00.000-04:00Hello Michael,Yes, the idea of bitul, combined wit...Hello Michael,<BR/><BR/>Yes, the idea of bitul, combined with the distant Gd, could lead him to a rejection of mechilah. I could see that - although I find it difficult, in general, to posit Moshe seeing Gd as distant and simultaneously being the בן בית with פה אל פה אדבר בו. Then again - if I were Moshe, I would likely understand that perfectly.The Rebbetzin's Husbandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14977193945074906534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7898782635470765614.post-65960639400989925912008-10-12T11:32:00.000-04:002008-10-12T11:32:00.000-04:00The last comment was very interesting.However, alt...The last comment was very interesting.<BR/>However, although it may be true, I see another possiblity. This possiblity does not necessarily contradict the other one, it actually fits together with it. (mishtalev ito)<BR/><BR/>The whole generation had a problem with asking G-d when they had problems. The purpose of much of what happened in the midbar was likely to teach them that G-d cares about and interacts with humanity. They had come from Egypt, where the "gods" where seen as powerful, supreme forces that were almost completely above and unconcerned with everyday man. If H' was uplifted and supreme above all elohim-(in the sense of heavenly forces/forces of nature, note: it is possible to state that G-d is above all elohim, in fact we do, durring kabbalat shabbat, in one of the tehillim-"meod na'alaita al kol elohim.") then so too according to His greatness the people would have difficulty understanding that He could also be close to and care about "insignificant" individuals.<BR/><BR/>I think that Moshe was perhaps also slightly affected by this general view of G-d of Am Yisrael at that point of history.<BR/><BR/>Furthermore, man is supposed to be in a state of balance between negation of self before G-d, like the angels who have very little separate identity, and having a sense of self-identity (like the animals, who almost only have that.) However, different people in different times in history would have had different standings in the continuum from one end to the other. Also, during different times in a person's life that person would go back and forth. (There is also a kabbalistic idea similar to this.) Moshe's role meant that he was supposed to be closer to the end of negation of self than any other person in history. This, in order that he could receive the Torah completely, without distorting it with any amount of distortion/reflection of or by himself within his prophecies. Because of this, "mechila would have been a strange idea." Much more could be expanded on this. I am not a great writer, but I would be immensely happy to find out that you had written something on this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7898782635470765614.post-38624855926948454872008-10-12T01:04:00.000-04:002008-10-12T01:04:00.000-04:00Jack-Yes, and someone asked me the question, too. ...Jack-<BR/>Yes, and someone asked me the question, too. I told him it was just the most easily recognized berachah-ending. (Of course, it could be the bear also had a hoagie roll with him in the bag with the yarmulka...)<BR/><BR/>Muse-<BR/>Very interesting point; I hadn't thought of that angle.<BR/><BR/>Alex-<BR/>The Rosh Yeshiva zt"l in KBY used to say that Moshe's death was a consequence rather than a punishment, and I've proposed that idea myself, but it doesn't address the other cases in which he was punished.<BR/>Over Shabbos I started to contemplate it from a different angle: Moshe never <I>asks</I> for mechilah. Dovid certainly does - he throws himself on the ground, fasts, the whole nine yards. But Moshe, although he pleads to enter Israel, never asks for forgiveness.<BR/>It reminds me of Moshe's role, along with Eliyahu (who has many similiarities to Moshe) and Yonah, as a navi emet, a prophet of Truth, for whom mechilah is an entirely odd idea. ואכמ"ל.The Rebbetzin's Husbandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14977193945074906534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7898782635470765614.post-62259116357954374082008-10-12T00:17:00.000-04:002008-10-12T00:17:00.000-04:00Jack, maybe it's related to Moshe's role as teache...Jack, maybe it's related to Moshe's role as teacher of Torah and judge.<BR/><BR/>In capital cases under Torah law, the accused's regret for his actions doesn't mitigate his punishment - the court has to go based on the evidence in front of them, and if necessary, Hashem will redress the balance in the World to Come.<BR/><BR/>Maybe, then, by the same token Moshe had to be denied Hashem's forgiveness in order to teach the Jewish People this lesson - that sometimes there are inescapable consequences to one's actions.<BR/><BR/>[That would also fit well with Moshe's original offense, which the Torah repeatedly (including in the instructions to Moshe at the end of our parshah) characterizes as a failure to "sanctify Hashem's name" in public. His death, then, demonstrates most clearly that Hashem's decisions are irrevocable, which is the ultimate Kiddush Hashem.]Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7898782635470765614.post-59614267226880322882008-10-11T13:40:00.000-04:002008-10-11T13:40:00.000-04:00I like it.Another difference between Moshe and Dav...I like it.<BR/>Another difference between Moshe and David is that Moshe is from Levi and David from Yehuda. Levi participated in the Shimon-Levi revenge and Yehuda apologized to Tamar and then was a true leader of the tribes when confronting the disguised Yosef.Batyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09402874037427009327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7898782635470765614.post-34355755230268887442008-10-10T20:31:00.000-04:002008-10-10T20:31:00.000-04:00Every time I tell that joke about the bear someone...Every time I tell that joke about the bear someone asks/says shouldn't the bear be saying "shehakol"?<BR/><BR/><I>Moshe was never forgiven.</I><BR/><BR/>That bothers me. After all that Moshe did, it seems to be unjust and unfair that he should be denied this.Jack Steinerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16625864271071630940noreply@blogger.com