We often think of praise as purely positive, a gift freely given. But what if even our most sincere compliments could carry a hidden cost?
Devarim Rabbah, a collection of homiletic interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, explores this very idea through the lens of Moses' death. Why, after a lifetime of unparalleled service, was he denied entry into the Promised Land? One explanation offered is… complicated.
Rabbi Avin asks, "What is hen?" Hen, in this context, refers to the praise Moses offers to God. According to Devarim Rabbah 9, it's like a noblewoman who crafts a magnificent purple garment for the king. The king, deeply appreciative, stores it away. But when the noblewoman’s time comes to pass, the king says, "Let her take that purple garment with which she honored me."
In other words, Moses lauded God with hen, and with that very hen, God decreed his death. It’s a strange, almost unsettling image. How can praise be a cause for punishment? What’s going on here?
The text offers another parable: a pregnant woman imprisoned, giving birth and raising her child in captivity. One day, the king passes by, and the child cries out, "My lord the king, why am I incarcerated?" The king replies, "It is due to the sin of your mother."
Moses, in this analogy, is like that child. He pleads with God, "Master of the universe, there are thirty-six instances of karet—spiritual excision—for which a person who violates one of them incurs liability to die. Did I violate one? Why are You decreeing death upon me?"
God's response is equally intriguing: "Due to the sin of Adam, the first man, you are dying, as he brought death to the world."
But the connection to hen doesn't end there. The text then asks again, "Hen, what is hen?" The answer: "Due to the iniquity of the one in whose regard hen is written: 'Behold [hen], the man has become as one of us…'" (Genesis 3:22).
This is a direct reference to Adam and Eve after eating from the Tree of Knowledge. God says, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil." The word "behold" in this verse is hen. So, the very word associated with Adam's transgression, his acquisition of knowledge and subsequent mortality, is the same word used to describe Moses' praise.
What does it all mean? We find ourselves pondering the nature of mortality itself. Adam's sin brought death into the world, a universal decree. Was Moses’ death simply a consequence of this original sin, a fate shared by all humanity? Or, as the first parable suggests, was there something unique about Moses’ praise, his hen, that somehow sealed his fate?
Perhaps it’s a reminder that even the most righteous among us are not immune to the human condition. Perhaps it's a lesson about the complex relationship between action and consequence, praise and mortality. Or perhaps, it’s simply a poignant reflection on the limitations of even the greatest leaders, reminding us that even Moses, in the end, was mortal. Whatever the answer, Devarim Rabbah invites us to contemplate the profound mysteries woven into the fabric of our existence.