That's where we find ourselves in this intriguing little story.

The story unfolds with an unnamed seeker, desperate to find Moses. He believes that God may have commanded Moses to ascend Mount Sinai and that perhaps he might find him there.

So, he sets off for Mount Sinai, that iconic peak where, as we all know, the Torah was given. "Hast thou seen the son of Amram?" he asks the mountain, a direct reference to Moses' lineage. But Sinai replies, "Since the day on which out of God's right hand he received the Torah upon me, I have not seen him." A powerful image, isn't it? Sinai, a witness to divine revelation, hasn't seen Moses since that momentous event.

Undeterred, the seeker turns to the birds, those winged messengers of the sky. "Have ye seen Moses?" he asks. Their response is equally intriguing: "Since the day whereupon he separated the birds into clean and unclean we have not seen him."

He continues his search, now approaching the quadrupeds, the four-legged creatures of the earth. "Have ye seen Moses?" he inquires. And they answer: "Since the day on which he determined which beasts might be eaten, and which might not, we have not seen him."

What's fascinating here is the specific nature of the answers. The birds and beasts aren’t just saying "no." They're referencing a particular moment when Moses made distinctions, when he defined what was permissible and what was forbidden – kashrut, if you will. Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews sheds light on this, explaining that this refers to the day God assembled all the species of animals, led them before Moses, and instructed him on which were clean and which were not.

Why this detail? What are we to make of this? It speaks to Moses' role as a mediator, as someone who not only received divine law but also interpreted and applied it to the natural world. He was the one who defined the boundaries, who brought order and distinction to creation.

It also highlights the interconnectedness of all things. Even the birds and the beasts are aware of Moses' role in defining their place within the divine order. They remember the day when he, acting on God's command, determined their status.

So, where does this leave us? The seeker's quest is unsuccessful, at least in this brief fragment. But the story isn't really about finding Moses, is it? It's about understanding his impact, his legacy, and the way he shaped the world around him. It's a reminder that even when a great leader is gone, their influence continues to resonate through all of creation. And that, perhaps, is a form of immortality.