Study Shabbat folio 55B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מיתיבי: אמרו מלאכי השרת לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא: רבונו של עולם! מפני מה קנסת מיתה על אדם הראשון? אמר להם: מצוה קלה צויתיו ועבר עליה. אמרו לו: והלא משה ואהרן שקימו כל התורה כלה, ומתו! אמר להם: ״מקרה אחד לצדיק ולרשע לטוב וגו׳״!
The Talmud raises an objection from the following baraita: The ministering angels said before God: God! why did You penalize Adam, the first man, with the death penalty? He said to them: I gave him a simple mitzva, and he violated it. They said to Him: Didn’t Moses and Aaron, who observed the whole Torah in its entirety, nevertheless die? God said to them, citing the verse: “All things come alike to all; there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him who sacrifices, and to him who does not sacrifice; as is the good, so is the sinner; and he who swears, as he who fears an oath” (Ecclesiastes 9:2). Apparently, death is not dependent upon one’s actions. Everyone dies.
הוא דאמר כי האי תנא, דתניא, רבי שמעון בן אלעזר אומר: אף משה ואהרן בחטאם מתו, שנאמר: ״יען לא האמנתם בי״. הא האמנתם בי — עדין לא הגיע זמנכם ליפטר מן העולם.
The Talmud answers: Rav Ami stated his position in accordance with this tanna, as it was taught in a baraita: R' Shimon ben Elazar said: Even Moses and Aaron died due to their sin, as it is stated: “And YHWH spoke to Moses and Aaron: Because you did not believe in Me, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you should not bring this congregation in to the land which I have given them” (Numbers 20:12). Had you believed in Me and spoken to the rock as commanded, your time would not yet have come to leave the world. Apparently, even Moses and Aaron died due to their sins.