[Avodah] Where did Moshe die?

[T613K at aol.com]

In Vezos Habracha, it says that Moshe Rabbeinu went "from the plains of  
Moav to Har Nevo" (Devarim 34:1), where Hashem showed him the whole of Eretz  
Yisrael.  Then it says "Moshe died there...in the land of Moav." (34:5) and  
then it says "He buried him in the gorge (valley? Vayikbor oso baGay), in  
the land of Moav." (34:6)
 
A straightforward reading of the pesukim would indicate that Moshe died on  
Mount Nevo but was buried in the valley.  However, when it says "he died  
there" does "there" in fact mean "on Har Nevo" or does it just mean 
"[somewhere]  in Moav"?
 
On the words "He buried him," Rashi indicates two possibilities.  One  
possibility, Hashem buried Moshe.  If so, did He transport Moshe's body  from 
the mountain to the valley?  No miracle is beyond Him, of course, but  if 
that's what He did, why don't we hear more about this miraculous  burial?  Did 
Moshe's body fly through the air or did it dematerialize in  one spot and 
miraculously rematerialize in another?  ("Beam me up,  Scotty.")
 
The second possibility:  Moshe buried himself.  Rashi says  nothing more 
about /how/  he did it, but think about it.  He  could have dug his grave and 
lain down in his grave, the way the men did in the  midbar.  If he died in 
the grave he dug for himself, then you could say "he  buried himself."   But 
if he died on the mountain and was buried in  the valley, how could he have 
buried himself?  

If Moshe went down from the mountain after seeing all of Eretz Yisrael, and 
 died in the valley, then he could have buried himself easily.  If Hashem  
buried him where he died, that would also make more sense than having him 
die in  one place and be buried in another.  Does "he died there" mean "he 
died in  Moav" -- not necessarily on Mt Nevo?
 
--Toby  Katz
==========



_____________________

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20091012/1f3a6bab/attachment-0001.htm>