Kiddushin, Daf Lammed Het, Part 2
Introduction
Our sugya delves deeper into the issue of how long Israel ate the manna and when Moses died and was born, issues brought up in yesterday s sugya.
תניא אידך ובני ישראל אכלו את המן ארבעים שנה
וכי ארבעים שנה אכלו והלא ארבעים שנה חסר שלשים יום אכלו אלא לומר לך עוגות שהוציאו ממצרים טעמו בהם טעם מן
Another [baraita] taught: And the children of Israel ate the manna forty years. Did they really eat [it] forty years: surely they ate it for forty years less thirty days? Rather this is to teach you that they experienced the taste of manna in the cakes which they brought out Egypt.
The manna did not begin to fall until the sixteenth of Iyyar in the first year of the Exodus, but they stopped eating the manna on the sixteenth of Nissan, on the fortieth year after leaving Egypt. So why does the verse say they ate it for a full forty years? Because the cakes they brought out of Egypt already tasted like manna. I don t think that this was a good thing.
תניא אידך בשבעה באדר מת משה ובשבעה באדר נולד
מנין שבשבעה באדר מת שנאמר (דברים לד, ה) וימת שם משה עבד ה’ וכתיב (דברים לד, ח) ויבכו בני ישראל את משה בערבות מואב שלשים יום וכתיב (יהושע א, א) ויהי אחרי מות משה עבד ה’ וכתיב (יהושע א, ב) משה עבדי מת ועתה קום עבור וכתיב (יהושע א, יא) עברו בקרב המחנה וצוו את העם לאמר הכינו לכם צידה כי בעוד שלשת ימים תעברו את הירדן וכתיב (יהושע ד, יט) והעם עלו מן הירדן בעשור לחדש הראשון צא מהן שלשים ושלשה ימים למפרע הא למדת שבשבעה באדר מת משה
Another [baraita] taught: On the seventh of Adar Moses died, and on the seventh of Adar he was born.
How do we know that he died on the seventh of Adar? As it says: And Moses, the servant of the Lord died there (Deuteronomy 34:5); and it is written, And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days (ibid 34:8); and it is written, And it came to pass after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord (Joshua 1:1), and it is written, Moses, my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over [this Jordan] (Joshua 1:2); and it is written, Pass through the midst of the camp, and command the people, saying: Make preparations; for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan (Joshua 1:11); and it is written, And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month (Joshua 4:19); deduct the preceding thirty three days, thus you learn that Moses died on the seventh of Adar.
Israel mourned Moses death for thirty days. It took them three days to make preparations to cross the Jordan. They crossed the Jordan on the tenth of the first month (Nissan). If we subtract 33 days, we can conclude that Moses died on the seventh of the twelfth month Adar.
ומנין שבשבעה באדר נולד משה שנאמר (דברים לא, ב) ויאמר אליהם בן מאה ועשרים שנה אנכי היום לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבא שאין ת"ל היום מה ת"ל היום מלמד שהקב"ה יושב וממלא שנותיהם של צדיקים מיום ליום ומחדש לחדש שנאמר (שמות כג, כו) את מספר ימיך אמלא
And how do we know that he was born on the seventh of Adar? As it is said: And he [Moses] said to them, I am a hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in (Deuteronomy 31:2). For Scripture would not have stated this day. So why then did it state this day ? To teach that the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and completes the years of the righteous [exactly] from day to day and month to month, as it is said, The number of your days I will fulfill (Exodus 23:26).
The midrash derives that Moses was born on seventh of Adar from the word this day. The righteous live a full life they are not cheated out of a single day. Moses life was set at 120 years, and he lived till exactly that amount. To this day, it is considered a good sign when a person dies on his birthday.