[Avodah] how many died in the Midbar each year?

[Micha Berger]

I do not understand any of these counts, as they exclude woman and elderly men.

Tosafos BB 121a "yom shekalu", writes that Moshe got his nevu'ah back on Tu
beAv of year 39 because it was the end of shiv'ah for the last year in which
people died for the cheit. While the onesh was in effect, they lacked the joy
necessary for Moshe to acheive that kind of nevu'ah.

This is not consistant with the Y-mi, quoted by Rashi, which says they dug
graves in the 40th year and were surprised when no one was left in them.
Because that implies that they didn't know the qelalah was over to be joyous
about it.

Rabbeinu Tam cites a medrash that each year, whomever turned 60 died. The last
year, the only ones who were alive would be those who entered the midbar as 20
yr olds. Hashem anulled the decree a year early, retroactively changing it to
only be those who were above 20, rather than 20 or above.

This rules out assuming a consistent number of people died each year.

Tir'u baTov!
-mi

PS: In the future, Avodah posters are expected to identify themselves once in
a while.

-- 
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