וישמע משה ויפול על פניו. ואמרו חכמינו ז"ל (סנהדרין דק"י ע"א) מה שמועה שמע, אמר רשב"נ אמר ר"י שחשדוהו מאשת איש, שמעתי מן אדוני אבי זקיני זללה"ה, על הא דאמר (בבכורות ד"ה ע"א) משה רבכם קביוסטוס היה או גונב נפשות, להבין זה גם להבין ענין (פ' תשא) והביטו אחרי משה [ע"ש במדרש תנחומא תשא סי' כ"ז למאן דדרש לגנאי] ובפרט שיחשדו אותו באשת איש, ופירש הוא ז"ל, כי מרע"ה נולד שיהיה רשע גמור ויהיה לו כל המדות הרעות, אך שהוא היפך ושיבר כל המדות רעות, והשתדל רק להכניס עצמו במדות טובות, ע"כ, ויש לפרש דבריו הקדושים, כי ידוע בכוונת הקטורת כי מה"ש במילואו הוא מספר מו"ת, ונמתק ונעשה האמ"ת ע"ש, ולכך משה היה כלול בו שני בחינות, טוב, שהוא האמת, ורע גמור שהוא מות, ולכך הם לא הבינו ולא הסתכלו אל האמת, וראו רק הבחינה הרע שהיה בו, והיינו הצירוף של מות המרומז בשמו, ולכך והביטו אחרי משה, היינו שלא הסתכלו רק בחינת אחוריים של משה וחשדוהו גם באשת איש כנ"ל, שהיה נולד בבחינת כל המדות רעות: (דגל מחנה אפרים פ' תשא ד"ה וראו).
And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face. (Numbers 16:4) What did he hear? Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan, he heard that they suspected him of adultery.1Sanhedrin 110a. I heard from my grandfather (the Baal Shem Tov) an explanation of the Talmud's statement: “Your rabbi, Moses, was either a thief or a swindler,”2Bechoros 5a. According to the tally of the silver donated toward the building of the Tabernacle (Exodus 38), it seems that only half the amount collected was actually used. Moses was suspected of theft, until it became known that the weight-unit used in building the Tabernacle was double that used in the tally of the donations. and of the verse: “And it came to pass, when Moses went out to the Tent, that all the people rose up and stood, every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses” (Exodus 33:8).3Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Sisa 27: “Rabbi Yitzchok interpreted this disparagingly. They looked after him and said, ‘Look at that neck! Look at those thighs! It is because of our food and drink that he is consuming!’” And especially, that they suspected him of adultery. He explained it as follows. Moses was born [with the inclination] to be totally wicked, with every possible vice. However, he transformed and broke all of these bad character traits, and worked to acquire only good ones. This is all that [the Baal Shem Tov] said, yet his holy words can be explained as follows. It is known from the mystical intentions of the incense offering that the letters mem hey shin,4One of the Divine Names that comprise the seventy-two letter Name of G-d. When arranged differently, they spell out the name Moshe (Moses) – מה"ש, משה. when spelled out in full, have the numerical value of ma’ves – death. [But when] they are rectified5Literally, “sweetened,” a Kabbalistic term for the amelioration of the Strict Judgments. they become ha’emes – “the truth.”6The name Moshe, when spelled out in full, מם הא שין, has the numerical value of 446, the same as the words ma’ves, מות and ha’emes, האמת. Moses embodied both aspects – goodness, which is the truth, and complete evil, which is death. However, the people did not grasp or perceive the truth. They saw only his aspect of evil; that is, the letter combination alluded to in his name that spelled out death. This is why “they looked after Moses.” They looked only at the aspect of his backside,7Kabbalistic texts often use the terms “Face” and “Back” (Panim, Achor) to describe states of revelation and concealment. Perceiving the “Back” means grasping only the external aspect of a situation, not its internal nature. The people saw only Moses’ potential for evil, but not how he had transformed it and overcome it. and thus they suspected him of adultery, for he was indeed born with all the worse character traits. Degel Machane Ephraim, Ki Sisa
וישמע משה ויפול על פניו. ואמרו חכמינו ז"ל (סנהדרין דק"י ע"א) מה שמועה שמע, אמר רשב"נ אמר ר"י שחשדוהו מאשת איש, שמעתי מן אדוני אבי זקיני זללה"ה, על הא דאמר (בבכורות ד"ה ע"א) משה רבכם קביוסטוס היה או גונב נפשות, להבין זה גם להבין ענין (פ' תשא) והביטו אחרי משה [ע"ש במדרש תנחומא תשא סי' כ"ז למאן דדרש לגנאי] ובפרט שיחשדו אותו באשת איש, ופירש הוא ז"ל, כי מרע"ה נולד שיהיה רשע גמור ויהיה לו כל המדות הרעות, אך שהוא היפך ושיבר כל המדות רעות, והשתדל רק להכניס עצמו במדות טובות, ע"כ, ויש לפרש דבריו הקדושים, כי ידוע בכוונת הקטורת כי מה"ש במילואו הוא מספר מו"ת, ונמתק ונעשה האמ"ת ע"ש, ולכך משה היה כלול בו שני בחינות, טוב, שהוא האמת, ורע גמור שהוא מות, ולכך הם לא הבינו ולא הסתכלו אל האמת, וראו רק הבחינה הרע שהיה בו, והיינו הצירוף של מות המרומז בשמו, ולכך והביטו אחרי משה, היינו שלא הסתכלו רק בחינת אחוריים של משה וחשדוהו גם באשת איש כנ"ל, שהיה נולד בבחינת כל המדות רעות:
(דגל מחנה אפרים פ' תשא ד"ה וראו).
And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face. (Numbers 16:4)
What did he hear? Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan, he heard that they suspected him of adultery.1Sanhedrin 110a.
I heard from my grandfather (the Baal Shem Tov) an explanation of the Talmud's statement: “Your rabbi, Moses, was either a thief or a swindler,”2Bechoros 5a. According to the tally of the silver donated toward the building of the Tabernacle (Exodus 38), it seems that only half the amount collected was actually used. Moses was suspected of theft, until it became known that the weight-unit used in building the Tabernacle was double that used in the tally of the donations. and of the verse: “And it came to pass, when Moses went out to the Tent, that all the people rose up and stood, every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses” (Exodus 33:8).3Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Sisa 27: “Rabbi Yitzchok interpreted this disparagingly. They looked after him and said, ‘Look at that neck! Look at those thighs! It is because of our food and drink that he is consuming!’” And especially, that they suspected him of adultery.
He explained it as follows. Moses was born [with the inclination] to be totally wicked, with every possible vice. However, he transformed and broke all of these bad character traits, and worked to acquire only good ones.
This is all that [the Baal Shem Tov] said, yet his holy words can be explained as follows. It is known from the mystical intentions of the incense offering that the letters mem hey shin,4One of the Divine Names that comprise the seventy-two letter Name of G-d. When arranged differently, they spell out the name Moshe (Moses) – מה"ש, משה. when spelled out in full, have the numerical value of ma’ves – death. [But when] they are rectified5Literally, “sweetened,” a Kabbalistic term for the amelioration of the Strict Judgments. they become ha’emes – “the truth.”6The name Moshe, when spelled out in full, מם הא שין, has the numerical value of 446, the same as the words ma’ves, מות and ha’emes, האמת. Moses embodied both aspects – goodness, which is the truth, and complete evil, which is death. However, the people did not grasp or perceive the truth. They saw only his aspect of evil; that is, the letter combination alluded to in his name that spelled out death. This is why “they looked after Moses.” They looked only at the aspect of his backside,7Kabbalistic texts often use the terms “Face” and “Back” (Panim, Achor) to describe states of revelation and concealment. Perceiving the “Back” means grasping only the external aspect of a situation, not its internal nature. The people saw only Moses’ potential for evil, but not how he had transformed it and overcome it. and thus they suspected him of adultery, for he was indeed born with all the worse character traits.
Degel Machane Ephraim, Ki Sisa