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<DIV>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)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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"?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.")</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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?
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>==========<BR><BR><BR><BR>_____________________</B></FONT></DIV></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>