NUM243 See [[NUM152]] Numbers 15:2 speak OXFORD 13-4

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NUM244 Observe the laws of the red heifer. As to this mitzvah, my hands are weak and I am afraid to say a word of explanation, even on a simple level, for our Sages spoke at length about the depth of its secrets and its great importance. They also said that due to his formidable wisdom and powers of comprehension, Shlomo HaMelech [i.e., King Solomon–AJL] understood what all of the reasons for the Torah’s mitzvos, except for this one. The mitzvah of the red heifer is supremely important, for through this mitzvah a person becomes cleansed of the high degree of spiritual impurity that he contracts from the dead. Without this mitzvah, someone who was defiled by such impurity cannot bring a Pesach offering, which is a central mitzvah for the Jewish faith. For this reason, the custom is to read the Torah parashah about the red heifer immediately before the parashah about Rosh Chodesh Nisan and the Pesach offering.

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NUM246 Ben Bag-Bag said: Turn and turn about in it [the Torah] for ... there is no better portion for you than this. Pirkei Avot, Perek V, mishnah 25. ... From eighty to one hundred, says the earlier mishnah [24], man deteriorates and declines, on his way to his ultimate passing. Says Ben Bag-Bag, ובלה בה -- literally, "disintegrate in it." Even in these last decades, when health wains and fails, remain immersed in Torah. Said R. Jonathan: "Never should a man keep away from the beth midrash and the words of Torah, not even about the time of death; for it stated: This is the Torah, should a man die in a tent… Even at the time of death, be occupied with the Torah" [this verse, T.B. Shabbath 83b].

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NUM247 Observe the laws of impurity associated with a corpse. Basic ideas about this type of spiritual impurity are discussed in: See [[LEV867]] Leviticus 21:1 impurity CHINUCH 167-8

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NUM248 R. Yonathan said: Let a man never keep himself from words of Torah, even at the time of death, it being written: "This is the Torah: A man, if he died in a tent." Let him occupy himself with Torah even at the time of death (Shabbath 84b)

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NUM249 See [[DEUT1731]] Deuteronomy 34:5 mouth AGUS 146-7

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NUM250 R. Simeon b. El'azar said: … do not question [your fellow] at the time he makes a vow. Pirkei Avot, Perek IV, mishnah 23. Whence do you learn this?--From Moses. When he said to the Israelites, "Listen now, you rebels," [this verse] the Holy One vowed that he would not enter the [promised] land.… Said Moses, "This is a time of oath – taking; I have no need to speak now." Forty years he waited, and then he began to plead before Him. Said the Holy One to him, "Because you waited, go up to the top of Pisgah [and behold it with your eyes]" (Deuteronomy 3:27). This much his patience availed.

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NUM252 It is a grave sin to speak against the Jewish people as a whole. The Midrash states that whoever serves as a leader of the Jewish people must be very careful how he addresses them. According to one opinion because Moshe said, "Hear now you rebels," he was told," therefore you shall not bring the assembly into the land which I have given them" (verse 12). Yeshayahu said to God, "I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of the people of unclean lips" (Yeshayahu 6:5). For this statement he was severely punished. Eliyahu said to God, "I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant" (I Melochim 18:10). He was severely punished for his statement. (Yalkut Shimoni 764).

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NUM253 See [[LEV95]] Leviticus 10:16 angry TZADIK 241-3

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NUM251 (Continued from [[LEV585]] Leviticus 19:17 rebuke WAGS 74-5). Rambam is of the opinion that this was Moshe Rabbeinu's sin at the mei merivah--he addressed the Jewish people in an angry manner, as the verse says, "Listen, rebellious ones…" [this verse]. Rambam explains that the simplest Jew of Moshe Rabbeinu's generation reached the same level of spiritual awareness as Yechezkel Ben Buzi the prophet. Thus, it was wrong of Moshe to express anger to people of such stature. Furthermore, the Jewish people understandably concluded that Moshe's anger was a manifestation of Hashem's anger toward them; in actuality, Hashem was not angry with them. Thus, in a certain sense, Moshe Rabbeinu was guilty of desecrating the name of Hashem.

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