Second Sunday of Lent (February 25, 2018)
Gospel (Mar 9:2-10)
The Transfiguration
2 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them;
Exo 34:29-35
The Radiant Face of Moses
29 And it was, when Moses was coming down [with the second tablets, on the Day of Atonement] from Mount Sinai and the two tablets of the testimony were in hand of Moses, when he was coming down from the mountain, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone [the light projecting like horns] because of his speaking with him.
Rashi’s Commentary
And it was, when Moses was coming down—When he brought the second tablets on the Day of Atonement.
30 So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses and behold! the skin of his face had become radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.
31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the community returned to him, and Moses would speak to them [the behest of the Lord].
Rashi’s Commentary
The leaders of the community—Is the same as the more usual expression נְשִׂיאֵי הָעֵדָה, the leaders of the community.
And Moses would speak to them the message of the Almighty. This whole section (i. e. all the verbs in it) denotes frequentative action.
32 Afterward [i.e., after he had taught the elders] all the children of Israel came near, and he commanded them to do everything that the Lord had spoken to him on Mount Sinai.
33 When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face [in deference to the rays of splendor, that not all “feast their eyes on them”].
Rashi’s Commentary
He put a veil over his face—Render it (מַסְוֶה) as the Targum does: בֵּיתאַפֵּי is an Aramaic expression. It occurs in the Talmud (Ketubot 62b) “her heart perceived,” and again in Ketubot 60a “יְהַוָה קָא מַסְוֶה לְאַפָּה,” an expression for looking: “he looked into her face,” i. e. he gazed at her. Here, too, מַסְוֶה denotes a cloth that was put in front of the face and of the region of the eyes. And out of reverence for the “rays of glory”—that not everybody should feast himself on them—Moses used to put the veil in front of them (the eyes), but took it off during the time when he spoke to Israel, and during the time when the Omnipresent conversed with him until the moment when he was going out and also when he went out he went out without the veil.
34 But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with with him, he would remove the veil until he came out; and whenever he came out and spoke to the children of Israel what he had been commanded.
Rashi’s Commentary
And spoke to the children of Israel—And they would see the rays of glory on his face; and when he moved away from them.
35 Then the children of Israel would see Moses’ face, that the skin of Moses’ face had become radiant. And then [when he took leave of them] Moses would put the veil back over his face until he came again to speak with him [when he would doff it].
Rashi’s Commentary
Moses would put the veil back over his face until he came again to speak with him—But when he came in to speak with him he took it off his face.
3 and his clothes became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them.
4 Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus.
Deu 34:5-6
5 [Up to this point, Moses wrote; from this point on, Joshua wrote.] And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, by the word of the Lord.
Bava Batra 15a:4
The Gemara elaborates on the particulars of this baraita: The Master said above that Joshua wrote his own book and eight verses of the Law. The Gemara comments: This baraita is taught in accordance with the one who says that it was Joshua who wrote the last eight verses in the Law. This point is subject to a tannaitic dispute, as it is taught in another baraita: “And Moses the servant of the Lord died there” (Deu 34:5); is it possible that after Moses died, he himself wrote “And Moses died there?” Rather, Moses wrote the entire Law until this point, and Joshua wrote from this point forward; this is the statement of Rabbi Yehuda. And some say that Rabbi Neḥemya stated this opinion.
readied there from the six days of creation to atone for the sin of Peor], but no man knows his grave to this day.
Sotah 13b:26
The verse describing the burial of Moses states: “And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor, but no man knows his grave to this day” (Deu 34:6). Rabbi Berekhya says: This verse provides a sign within a sign, i.e., a very precise description of the location of his burial, and even with this the verse concludes: “But no man knows his grave to this day” (Deu 34:6).
Sotah 14a:1
the garrison of Beth Peor and said to them: Show us where Moses is buried. As the men stood above on the upper section of the mountain, it appeared to them as if the grave was below in the lower section. As they stood below, it appeared to them to be above. They divided into two groups, one above and one below. To those who were standing above, the grave appeared to them to be below; to those who were standing below, the grave appeared to them to be above, to fulfill that which is stated: “But no man knows his grave to this day” (Deu 34:6).
5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three shelters—one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
Exo 33:17-23
17 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in my eyes and I have known you by name.”
18 Then [sensing it to be an opportune moment] Moses said, “Show me, now, your glory.”
Rashi’s Commentary
Then Moses said, “Show me, now, your glory”—Moses saw that the hour was a time of God’s good will and that his petitions were being favourably received, he therefore made a further request—that God show him a reflection of his glory.
19 And he said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass before you [when you are concealed in the cave], and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you [to teach you the order of imploring mercy even when the merit of the fathers no longer obtains. And you teach Israel to pray according to that order (“the Thirteen Attributes”) and their prayers for mercy will thereby be granted]; and I will be gracious when I wish to be gracious, and I will have compassion when I wish to have compassion.
Moed Katan 28a:3
With regard to that same verse Rabbi Elazar said further: Miriam also died by the divine kiss, just like her brother Moses. What is the source for this? This is derived through a verbal analogy between the word “there” stated with regard to Miriam and the word “there” mentioned with regard to Moses. With regard to Moses it says: “And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, by the mouth of the Lord” (Deu 34:5). For what reason was it not explicitly stated with regard to her, as it is stated with regard to Moses, that she died “by the mouth of the Lord?” It is because it would be unseemly to say such a thing, that a woman died by way of a divine kiss, and therefore it is not said explicitly.
Rashi’s Commentary
By the word (lit., mouth) of the Lord—By the Divine kiss (Moed Katan 28a; cf. Rashi on Num 20:1).
6 And he [himself] buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor [his grave had been
Rashi’s Commentary
He said, “I will cause . . . pass before you”—The time has arrived when you shall see of my glory so much as I will allow you to see according as I wish, and therefore I find it necessary to teach you a set form of prayer. Just now when you felt the need to pray for mercy on Israel’s behalf you besought me to remember the merits of the patriarchs and you thought that if the merits of the patriarchs are exhausted there is no more hope—I will therefore cause all the attribute of my goodness to pass before you on the rock whilst you are placed in the cave.
I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you, to teach you the formula when praying for mercy even though the merits of the patriarchs should be exhausted. And according to the manner in which you see me doing this, cloaked and proclaiming the thirteen attributes of mercy, teach Israel to do likewise. And because that they will make mention before me of the attributes: “Merciful”, “Gracious!” thereby proclaiming that my mercies do not fail (even though the merits of the patriarchs are exhausted) (Rosh Hashanah 17b).
And I will be gracious when I wish to be gracious i. e. in times when I shall be disposed to be gracious.
20 But,” he said, “you will not be able to see my face [even when I pass all my good before you], for no man may see me and live.”
Rashi’s Commentary
“But,” he said, “you will not be able . . .”—And even when I make all my goodness pass before you I shall not allow you to see my face.
21 Then the Lord said, “Behold [in the mountain where I am continually speaking with you], there is a place with me [i.e., set aside for me for your needs (so that you not be harmed), where you will see what you shall see], and you may stand there on a rock.
22 And it shall be that when my glory passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.
Rashi’s Commentary
When my glory passes by—i. e. when I shall pass before you.
And cover you with my hand—Hence it is evident that permission has been given to the destructive agencies to wound. Its Aramaic translation is וְאָגֵין בְּמֵימְרִי, and I will protect with My word. This is merely a circumlocution in a manner more respectful to the Most High God and the Targum did not translate it literally because he (God) does not need to cover a person with the hand actually in order to protect him.
23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
Rashi’s Commentary
Then I will remove my hand—The Targum renders: I will remove the guidance of my glory; it means: when the guidance of my glory passes by from opposite your face—to go right away from that place.
This work is a derivative of "The Rashi Chumash" and "The Rashi Ketuvim" by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein used under CC BY 3.0
5 Your lamb must be without defect, a one-year-old male [i.e., in its first year]; you may take it either from the sheep or from the goats [a (young) goat, too, being regarded as a “lamb”].
Chizkuni
Lamb . . . without defect—AJew could not take an animal that was not in perfect physical condition and be considered as having fulfilled his duty. He might have been tempted to do so in order to escape the wrath of the Egyptian from whom he had purchased it by saying that he had not taken an Egyptian deity, since surely the Egyptians do not worship blemished animals, nor female animals or overage, weak animals, so that he had not committed blasphemy in their eyes. The law spells all this out by writing: “without defect, male, less than a year old.” The Egyptians would raise the price of these animals when aware that the Israelites would use it in the service of their God. The law wanted the Jews to pay the price of such animals, although at that stage, they could have simply taken the animal without paying for it, as they no longer were afraid of their former masters. These had realised that they were not able to save their animals from the Israelites as long as these were still in their city. If they could not save their animals from the Israelites while in their own cities, how much less would they be able to do so outside their own domains.
Rashi’s Commentary
Without defect i. e. without blemish (Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael 13:5:1).
One-year-old—The whole of its first year it is termed בֶּן-שָׁנָה, as much as to say, that it was born during this year (it does not mean that it is one year old—in its second year) (cf. Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael 13:5:2).
Either from the sheep or from the goats—i. e. either from these (a lamb) or from these (a goat); for a goat, also, is called שֶׂה, as it is said, (Deu 14:4) “a goat (שֶׂה עִזִים)” (Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael 13:5:1).
6 (For he did not know what to say; for they became frightened.)
7 Then a cloud appeared, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him!”
8 All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.
9 As they were coming down from the mountain, he gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man rose from the dead.
10 They seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what “rising from the dead” meant.