Moshe’s recounting of his days in Heaven are interrupted so that we should recognize and mourn the loss of a tzaddik to the same extent that we mourn the breaking of the Luchos. The loss of a righteous person should generate within us a sense of loss and despair which is commensurate to the tragedy of losing the Luchos. Chazal offer a number of interpretations for this parallel. The Kesav Sofer explains that despite the loss of the Luchos, albeit intense, they still had the new Luchos. These second Luchos, however, although sublime, paled in comparison to its predecessors. Likewise, when a tzaddik passes away, there may indeed be another great leader waiting to succeed him, but he is not as great as the tzaddik whom he follows. In both cases, the loss for the individual Jew is immense. Each tzaddik has his own unique attributes which are an intrinsic part of his personality and character. With his demise, these virtues become extinct. The tzaddik’s demise is an irreparable loss for the entire Jewish community.
