ספר דברים

Yet another way of interpreting the line ‎ואתחנן אל ה' בעת ההיא ‏לאמור‎, is based on the discussion of the Rabbis in Eyruvin 13 ‎concerning whether it would have been more comfortable for the ‎human race if it had not been born to live on this earth. The ‎debate concluded with a vote by the majority of the participants ‎that indeed it would have been more comfortable (‎נוח לו לאדם‎) ‎not to have been born, but seeing that this was G’d’s will we ‎must, of course, respect His decision. The debate sounds difficult ‎to understand, seeing that G’d is presumed to primarily represent ‎the attribute of Love, ‎חסד‎, so how could the scholars even dare ‎discuss if, seeing that He had seen fit to create man, this might ‎not have been “good” for man?‎[the author refers to the discussion having centered ‎around the word ‎טוב‎ “good,” i.e. an objective term. A look at the ‎text of the Talmud shows that the word ‎טוב‎ does not appear; ‎instead the scholars referred to a relative term, the word ‎נוח לו‎, “is ‎it comfortable for man.” In light of this the author’s question is ‎out of place. Ed.]‎The author proceeds from the premise that the tzaddik ‎does not wish to enter the lower universe, i.e. our world. He does ‎so only in order to fulfill G’d’s will, i.e. the commandments of the ‎Torah. Seeing that through being born into this part of the ‎universe the tzaddik has been given the opportunity to ‎fulfill the commandments that he could not have fulfilled in the ‎celestial spheres with the angels, G’d did indeed practice the ‎attribute of ‎חסד‎ when He decided to create the human race. ‎When the Torah reports Moses as using the words ‎ואתחנן בעת ‏ההיא‎, it wishes to convey that Moses did not pray for an extension ‎of his life nor for enjoying his stay on earth longer, but only to ‎have the chance to fulfill commandments that could not be ‎fulfilled except through his crossing the Jordan and serving G’d in ‎the Holy Land.‎