“וְעַתָּ֖ה אִם־תִּשָּׂ֣א חַטָּאתָ֑ם וְאִם־אַ֕יִן מְחֵ֣נִי נָ֔א מִֽסִּפְרְךָ֖ אֲשֶׁ֥ר כָּתָֽבְתָּ׃” 32:32
“Now, if You will forgive their sin [well and good]; but if not, erase me from the record which You have written!”
Rashi states that the reason it says “מספרך” is because Moshe wanted his name erased because he didn’t want others to think that he didn’t have the ability to daven efficiently for בני ישראל. What do they commentators say on this pasuk? Where else do we see someone asking for their name erased? Why does this occur specifically if this parsha? Which parsha is moshe name excluded from? Where do we not see the name of hashem and what is the significance?
The sforno says something very similar to rashi. He says that Moshe wants Hashem to erase any merits that he has recieved throughout his lifetime and give them to Bnei yisrael. He says to do this wether or not Hashem forgives the nation.
ReplyDeleteI liek this answer became it shows Moshes true dedication the the Jewish people and he is willing to give up all his zechus and good merits to the people so that they can have some good in their “books” of Hashem. Moshe was a true leader and cared for his people and was willing to do anything for them to help keep them in the ways of the mitzvot and torah!
The Daat zkenim says two very interesting ideas. 1st he says that the record that you have written is not referring to the torah but rather is referring to the book of like written on yom kipur. Moshe is saying do not write Moshe on the side that says you will live this year. another interpretation he gives is that moshe says erase my name because how can you chose favorites B'nei Israel may have sinned but moshe has also my dropping the luchot. i liked the first answer a lot because when it says your book it couldve said torah but chose not to and it would make sense from the book of life because moshe is saying that if you destroy Bnei israel you destroy me too!
ReplyDelete^^ this was Mia
ReplyDeleteThe Or Ha Chaim comments on this pasuk by saying the moshe is the “broker” between hashem and Beni yisrael. One deal he brokered between them was when Beni yisrael excepted hashems mitzvot and the Torah. All these deals are recorded in the Torah, but when hashem didn’t want to forgive Beni yisrael moshe argued that if he didn’t forgive them then he would have to erase all of the “merits” moshes has gotten up till now. Hashem said that his reasoning for this had some faults and he would only erase the previous merit for the Torah. I agree with this opinion because it give background into the reasoning of moshe's name wanting to be erased. It gives us more details that the pasuk haven’t mentioned and gives us a clearer picture of what happened.
ReplyDeleteWhy isn’t Hashem’s name in the Purim story? In the whole story of Purim, in which He performs a countless amount of miracles, why isn’t His name mentioned once? Chanda.org gives a very good explanation to this question. In Purim, many of the miracles performed aren’t openly miraculous, like the Yam Suf. They were events that could easily be falsely labeled as a coincidence. As Purim is the holiday of masks and hiding, Hashem is hiding behind the natural occurrences in nature, therefore His name wasn’t mentioned. I really like this answer because it shows how everything in life is the work of G-d, although like in Megillat Esther, He is hiding.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_cdo/aid/849741/jewish/Why-Isnt-Gds-Name-Mentioned-in-the-Megillah.htm
The Ibn Ezra explains that he’s not saying to erase his name form the Torah which had not yet been written instead he’s referring to the “Book of Life” in which everyone is written in in Rosh Hashana if he was found to be deserving of it.
ReplyDeleteI don’t really like this answer because he doesn’t explain why he wouldn’t want to be in the “book of life” because moshe did so much to deserve to be in it.