[Avodah] r reisman's question

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R"n Toby Katz wrote:
 
> How can it  be that a person is born on 7 Adar and also dies on
> 7 Adar and we call that a  full year? (Or in Moshe Rabbeinu's
> case, 120 full years.) Isn't that a year plus a day?  The answer
> is no, it's just one full year, not a year and a day.

That's not how I read the Mishneh Berurah 55:42 --

> "And one day": Not neccessarily a day, but rather once he has
> entered the beginning of a day of his 14th year, and even one
> hour, and even one moment, it is sufficient.

It is clear to me that the MB is focusing on the title words "one day". He is stressing that we should not take the word "day" too strongly, for this extra day need not be a complete one -- even a tiny part of that day is sufficient. And he never suggests that this (partial) day is unnecessary or superfluous. It can be very short, but it is a real requirement, above and beyond the 13 years.

If so, then the "13 years" had elapsed even before the extra day began. A person born on 7 Adar would become Bar Mitzvah on 7 Adar, but he would become 13 years old on *6* Adar. This seems to be the main thrust of Rav Reisman's question about Moshe Rabenu -- that he became 120 years old on 6 Adar, not 7 Adar.

However, that same Mishneh Brurah continues:

> Even if he was born at the end of the day on Rosh Hashana, then -
> since it is definitely still daytime - he becomes 13 years old at
> the beginning of the night of Rosh Hashana of the 14th year.

According to this, he does indeed become 13 years old on the same calendar day as he was born. The boy of which the MB speaks did not become 13 years old on 29 Elul, but rather "he becomes 13 years old at the beginning of the night of Rosh Hashana", i.e., on 1 Tishre.

This could be an answer to Rav Reisman's question: Moshe Rabenu did indeed become 120 years old on 7 Adar.

It is unfortunate that the same Chofetz Chayim made both comments. I'd like to say that the second one was a slip of the pen, and what he really meant was not "he becomes 13 years old at the beginning of the night of Rosh Hashana", but rather "he becomes Bar Mitzvah at the beginning of the night of Rosh Hashana". This would be consistent with the first part of that MB. But Who knows what he really meant?

Akiva Miller

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