A Year And A Day
‘Hashem…Completes The Years Of The Righteous’
(Kiddushin 38a)
Our daf states that Moshe Rabbeinu passed away on his birthday, the 7th of Adar, in accordance with the principle that Hashem “completes the years of the righteous [exactly].” Some Rishonim contend that Moshe Rabbeinu passed away on Shabbos at Minchah time, which is why we say Tzidkas’cha Tzedek after Minchah on Shabbos (as an expression of tzidduk ha’din, accepting the harsher manifestations of Heaven’s justice). However, since tradition has it that Moshe Rabbeinu wrote 13 sifrei Torah on the day he passed away, that day could not possibly have been Shabbos (Tosafos, Menachos 31a, s.v. “Mikani”).
Which Adar Was It?
Some people, particularly Chevra Kaddisha members, have the custom to fast on Moshe Rabbeinu‘s yahrzeit (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 580:2). But in which Adar was Moshe niftar? According to some opinions, he died during a leap year in the first month of Adar. Rabbi Yaakov Emden (Ya’avetz), however, uses our sugya to prove that his death occurred in the month of Adar immediately preceding Passover.
Our sugya informs us that the manna stopped falling on the day of Moshe’s passing. During the following 38 days, until the 16th of Nissan when they entered the Land of Israel and ate of its fruits, the Children of Israel ate the manna remaining in their vessels. Moshe, therefore, could not have passed away during the first month of Adar in a leap year; if he had, there would have been 68 days between the date of his death and the 16th of Nissan (see She’ilath Yaavetz 1:117 and Siddur Ya’avetz; Responsa Chasam Sofer, Orach Chayim 163). The Mishnah Berurah notes that the accepted custom is to fast during the first month of Adar (Orach Chayim. 163:15).
She Died On Her First Wedding Anniversary
The following case was brought before Rabbi Meir Eisenstadt, zt”l (1670-1744), author of Panim Me’iros (2:174): A woman tragically died exactly one year after her wedding. Following her passing, a bitter dispute broke out between the widower and his late wife’s relatives. They claimed that according to a takanah instituted by Rabbeinu Tam and the French Tosafists, a widower cannot inherit his wife’s estate within a year of their wedding (see Rema, Even HaEzer 52:4). The husband, however, argued that they were indeed married for a year.
Rabbi Eisenstadt examines both sides of the issue. One of his proofs he advances for the husband’s position is based on the statement in our sugya, in connection with Moshe Rabbeinu’s passing, that “Hashem completes the years of the righteous [exactly] from day to day and month to month.” If the anniversary date of an event marked not the end of a year but the beginning of a new one, though, Moshe Rabbeinu should have died on the 6th of Adar, not the 7th. Evidently, then, the anniversary date of an event marks the end of the previous year.
Nonetheless, despite this proof, the Panim Me’iros rules that the inheritance should be left to the husband since the question of when a year ends is not clear cut, and without solid proof the estate should not be taken away from the husband once it is already in his hands.