Teens Question, Ha'azinu 2025

Question

What command does Hashem give that's physically impossible to fulfill?

Answer

Hashem gives a lot of commands that are hard to fulfill. In fact, the מצוות are so hard to fulfill that Shlomo Hamelech said

כי אדם אין צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב ולא יחטא

For there is no righteous person (tzadik) in the world who does only good and does not sin

Koheles 7:20

And again similarly in Mishlei

כי שבע יפול צדיק וקם

 A righteous person (tzadik) falls seven times and gets up

 Mishlei 24:16

The gemara even tells us that yiras shomayim is so rare and so precious to Hashem that he considers it to be his greatest treasure!

א"ר חנינא משום ר' שמעון בן יוחי אין לו להקב"ה בבית גנזיו אלא אוצר של יראת שמים שנאמר יראת ה' היא אוצרו

R' Chanina said in the name of R' Shimon Ben Yochai, "Hakadosh Baruch Hu does not keep anything in his treasure house except for yiros shomayim, as it says, 'Yiros Hashem is his treasure'"

Berachos 33:2

But while those are all difficult to keep, they're not impossible. In fact, the same gemara that tells us how rare yiras shomayim is also tells us that Moshe Rabeinu had so much that he thought it was no big deal

לגבי משה מילתא זוטרתא היא דאמר ר' חנינא משל לאדם שמבקשים ממנו כלי גדול ויש לו דומה עליו ככלי קטן קטן ואין לו דומה עליו ככלי גדול

For Moshe, it was a small thing, as R' Chanina said, "It's like if you ask a person for a large dish. If he has one, it seems like a small request. If he doesn't, it seems like a huge request."

Berachos 33:2 

So what command could Hashem give that's actually physically impossible to keep?

 ומת בהר אשר אתה עלה שמה והאסף אל עמיך כאשר מת אהרן אחיך בהר ההר ויאסף אל עמיו

And die on the mountain that you climb up on and be collected to your people just as Aharon your brother died on Hor Hahar and was collected to his people.

Devarim 32:50

Hashem commanded Moshe to die. He did not say "kill yourself". That would be וממית עצמך - and kill yourself. He did not reveal a prophecy to Moshe of what would happen. That would be ותמות בהר - and you will die on the mountain. He used the ציווי form of the verb. He commanded Moshe Rabeinu to die.

And that's the heart of our question. How could Hashem command Moshe Rabeinu to die? Death is a passive action from a person's perspective. Rabeinu Bachaya explains this clearly in his biur on the pasuk

כי המיתה איננה ביד האדם, ולכך לא תמצא בסוד לשון הקדש מלה בלשון צווי בדבר שאין יכולת ביד האדם לעשותו מיד, כגון השינה והמיתה, כי המדבר עם חברו אין לו לומר לו ישן ולא מות, שהרי אי אפשר לו לישן ולא למות מיד

Death is not in a person's control. That is why, we do not find in the secrets of loshon hakodesh a single word in the צווי (command) form that is not in a person's control to do it immediately. For example sleep and death. A man speaking with his friend can neither say to him "sleep" nor "die", for it would be impossible for him to sleep or to die immediately.

 Rabbeinu Bachaya Al Hatorah, Devarim 32:50

In a certain sense, we've answered the question. We found an impossible command that Hashem gave Moshe Rabeinu. But, in another much deeper sense, all we've done is open a new question. Why did Hashem give a command he knew was impossible to keep? The gemara teaches us

אין הקב''ה בא בטרוניא עם בריותיו

Hakadosh baruch hu does not plot against his creations (translated al pi Rashi)

Avodah Zara, 3:1

Hashem does not plot against us. He does not create tests we cannot pass. He doesn't give us mitzvos that are too difficult to do, let alone mitzvos that are physically impossible to do! And yet, as we see here, Hashem gave exactly such a miztva to Moshe Rabeinu! Die! Do something you physically cannot do!

Rabbeinu Bachaya (and many other mefarshim) give a simple לאו דווקא answer to this question.

ומת. פירש החכם רבי אברהם ז"ל לשון ומות שיתקן עצמו בכך

The Chochom Avraham Z'l explained the words "and die" mean that he [Moshe] should prepare himself for his death

Rabeinu Bachaya Al Hatorah

ומת. לתקן עצמו כי הוא יקבור את עצמו כאשר אפרש

He should prepare himself. He should bury himself as I will explain.

Ibn Ezra

אמר לו משה, אהרן אחי עלה למטה ועלה, פשט ידך ופשט, פשט רגלך ופשט, עצם עיניך ועצם, קמץ פיך וקמץ, והלך לו

Moshe said to him, Aharon my brother, climb on to the bed, and he climbed on. Extend your hand, and he extended it. Extend your foot and he extended it. Close your eyes and he closed them. Close your mouth, and he closed it, and he died.

Rashi

In other words, we can understand the command "die" to refer to all the actions leading up to Moshe's death. Prepare yourself to die.

We can understand it that way. But Rabeinu Bachaya gives a beautiful second option. An option that keeps the words דווקא, exactly as they're written, and highlights an amazing yesod in hashkafa.

כי המדבר עם חברו אין לו לומר לו ישן ולא מות, שהרי אי אפשר לו לישן ולא למות מיד, וכשהזכיר בכאן ומות דבר ה' הוא והוא יתעלה הגוזר ולו השלטון והיכולת

A man speaking with his friend cannot say to him neither "sleep" nor "die", for it is impossible for him to sleep or die immediately. But when the pasuk says the command "and die" here, it is the word of Hashem. He says it, and He in his glory is the one who establishes, and he has total power and control.

Rabbeinu Bachaya Al Hatorah

The reason we cannot command someone to perform a passive action is because they're not capable of doing it. But Hashem is. When he commanded Moshe "and die," he was designating the moment of Moshe's actual death. It's as if he informed the neshama of the moment it would depart Moshe's body and return to its Creator in Heaven.

What an incredible thing Rabbeinu Bachaya teaches us here! A gezeira from Hashem literally establishes reality. When he says the words "and die," that is the new reality! You can't claim "how could Moshe fulfill this commandment" like you would with a command from a man. When a man commands, he's telling you to do something. When Hakadosh Baruch Hu commands, he's redefining reality. "Moshe," he's saying, "go up to the mountain, and die." That's the new reality. That's what's going to happen.