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S forno views this blessing as a prayer, an entreaty to Hashem that He grant Shevet Levi the qualities and character of the ideal Torah teacher: one whose piety, virtue and sincerity is such that people will seek him out and listen to what he has to say, as though he is Hashem’s messenger. This is consistent with the well-known statement of Chazal in the Talmud Moed Katan 17a, “If the rav is like an angel/messenger of Hashem, they will seek Torah from his mouth.” Sforno seems to be telling us that, despite the virtue of Shevet Levi, regardless of…

M uch has been written by the commentators to explain the meaning of the above pasuk. The Talmud Sotah 14a states that the word ish, man, is a reference to Moshe Rabbeinu himself, who is referred to as ish haElokim, man of G-d. Thus, the pasuk is teaching us that even Moshe did not know where he was buried. The Ben Yehoyada explains this based upon the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos 5:6, which lists Moshe’s grave as one of the ten things created during bein ha’shemashos, twilight of the sixth day of Creation. The grave is included among other preeminent…

Sforno views this blessing as a prayer, an entreaty to Hashem that He grant Shevet Levi the qualities and character of the ideal Torah teacher: One whose piety, virtue and sincerity is such that people will seek him out and listen to what he has to say, as though he is Hashem’s messenger. This is consistent with the well-known statement of Chazal in the Talmud Moed Katan 17a, “If the rav is like an angel/messenger of Hashem, they will seek Torah from his mouth.” Sforno seems to be telling us that despite the virtue of Shevet Levi – regardless of…