The tradition paints a powerful picture.
The Legends of the Jews tells us that Moses spent the time from the first day of Shevat (a month in the Jewish calendar, usually falling in January/February) to the sixth of Adar (February/March) expounding the Torah. Not just in Hebrew, mind you, but in seventy languages! Think about the sheer magnitude of that task. Explaining the intricacies of the divine law to sixty myriads (that’s hundreds of thousands) of Israelites, ensuring everyone understood.
Then came the seventh of Adar. A day heavy with destiny. A heavenly voice, a bat kol, echoed, "Take heed to thyself, O Moses, for thou hast only one more day to live." Can you imagine the weight of those words? Knowing your time is so precisely limited?
So, what does Moses do? Panic? Despair? No. He acts. With purpose. According to the legend, on this very day, Moses wrote thirteen scrolls of the Torah. Twelve for the twelve tribes, ensuring each had its own. And a thirteenth… a safeguard. This scroll was placed in the Holy Ark, a kind of "control copy" as it were, so that "if they wished to falsify the Torah, the one in the Ark might remain untouched." A failsafe against future corruption. Pretty smart, right?
And then, Moses thinks, "If I occupy myself with the Torah, which is the tree of life, this day will draw to a close, and the impending doom will be as naught." A beautiful sentiment! As if immersing himself in the divine word could somehow stave off the inevitable.
But time, alas, marches on. God, we're told, even beckoned to the sun, but the sun, in a magnificent act of defiance, refused to set so long as Moses lived! Imagine that – the very cosmos holding its breath.
Even after completing all the scrolls, according to the story, not even half the day had passed. Moses then called the tribes to him, handing each one its scroll, admonishing men and women separately to obey the Torah and its commands. A final, personal plea.
The most excellent of the thirteen scrolls? Well, Gabriel himself fetched that one. Yes, the archangel Gabriel! He brought it to the highest heavenly court to demonstrate Moses' piety, his complete fulfillment of the Torah's commandments. Gabriel then paraded it through all the heavens, so that everyone could witness Moses' devotion.
Midrash Rabbah tells us that this very scroll is the one from which the souls of the pious read on Monday and Thursday, as well as on the Sabbath and holy days. Think about that connection – the Torah written by Moses in his final hours continuing to inspire and guide souls even now.
It's a powerful image, isn't it? Moses, facing his mortality, choosing to dedicate his last moments to preserving and sharing the very essence of his life's work. It leaves you wondering, how would you spend your last day?