Another matter: “At that time saying” – what is “saying [lemor]”?7The term “saying [lemor],” which literally means “to say,” generally implies that the speaker asks the listener to repeat what he says to others. This meaning is not relevant in this verse. Rabbi Azarya said: It is to say [lemor] to [all future] generations that they should pray in times of trouble. As Moses, although it was stated to him: “You will not cross this Jordan” (Deuteronomy 3:27), he began pleading.
Another matter: What is “saying”? Rabbi Akiva said: Moses said: ‘Master of the universe, answer me regarding my words, whether I will be entering the Land of Israel or I will not be entering.’ Another matter: What is “saying”? He said before Him: ‘Master of the universe, write my sin for the generations.’
Rabbi Shmuel said: To what is the matter comparable? It is to a king who decreed that anyone who gathers and eats Sabbatical Year produce8The reference is to unripe produce. During the Sabbatical Year, it is forbidden to pick produce until it ripens (see Etz Yosef). will be circulated [in disgrace] before a public assembly. A certain woman went, gathered, and ate.
They began circulating her around the public assembly. She said to him: ‘My lord the king, if you please, let these unripe fruits be suspended from my neck, so the residents of the city will not say: They discovered that she had performed an act of sorcery or adultery. From the fact that they see the unripe fruit around my neck, they will know that it is due to them that I am being circulated around the public assembly.’
So, Moses said: ‘Master of the universe, let my sin be written for the generations, so Israel will not say: Moses falsified the Torah or said something that he was not commanded, and they will know that it was for nothing other than the water.’9The reference is to Moses’ sin at the incident of the waters of dispute [Mei Meriva] (see Numbers 20:7–13). That is, “at that time saying.”