Mount Avarim - The Ultimate Transition

Parshat Matot-Masei 

by Rabbi Avi Billet

The listing of the travels of the Israelites in the wilderness finishes with these verses: “They left Almon Divlathaymah and camped in the Avarim mountains in front of Nebo. They left the Avarim mountains and camped in the West Plains of Moab on the Jericho Jordan.” (33:47-48)

The problem here is that the presentation does not seem to follow the order of the Torah. Go back a few chapters in the Torah and we find that they came to “Arvot Moav” (west plains of Moav) in 22:1, and a number of things took place there, as noted in 26:3, 63 (census), 31:12 (post-Midian war), and of course Devarim 34:1 (Moshe’s ascent up Mt. Nebo to die), which follows the order that Arvot Moav was the last stop.

The events on Mount Avarim are described in Chapter 27:12, when Moshe is told, “Climb up to the Avarim Mountain where you will be able to see the land that I am giving to the Israelites.” Shortly after this he is told to appoint Yehoshua in his stead to be the leader.

One might argue, following the viewpoint of Rashi in the book of Bereishit, that there is no chronological order in the Torah. Whether they got to Arvot Moav first, or Mount Avarim first does not really matter. Except that here, the Torah’s listing of the travels very clearly delineates how this is the order of travel!

To answer the seeming discrepancy, one might argue that Mount Avarim is within Arvot Moav – they stopped at the mountain first, and then settled in the plains of Moav. More succinctly, they had specific business at the mountain – Moshe’s reminder of his pending death – while the nation had general business which could not take place on the mountain but needed to take place in the plains.

But perhaps a better question to address is what is the purpose of Mount Avarim?

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan explains: “This is the mountain range to the east of the Dead Sea, particularly at its northern end. They are in front of Mount Nebo. Some say that they were called Avarim because they were opposite the crossing point to Jericho (Tur; cf. Josephus, Antiquities 4:8:48). This would indicate that Mount Nebo was on the site of the present Mount Sh'anab, some 8 miles north of its traditional site. However, the stream Abu Arabeh flows into the Jordan almost exactly west of the traditional site of Mount Nebo. Some say that it was called Avarim because from its peak one could see the burial places of Aaron and Miriam (Zohar3:183b; Bachya on 20:28).

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains the mountain’s name to mean “Mount of Transition” – “This is the mountain through which the people will cross the Jordan in order to enter the Promised Land.” Of course, the transition from Moshe as leader to Yehoshua as leader also seems to be put in motion over here. Hirsch also notes that the event which is described here is not supposed to actually happen now. Moshe was not meant to die yet; that would happen at the end of the Torah’s narrative.

More strikingly is the words of Sifrei (which is quoted by Ramban as well) that equates Mount Avarim, Mount Nebo, Mount Hor, and Rosh Hapisgah.

If it is indeed true that the mountain has four names (Sifrei notes how multiple names given to one place is not unique, as we see in Devarim 3:9 Hermon is referred to by some are Siryon and by others as Snir) the question is not so difficult. Nebo and Avarim are the same place, and it is alongside the plains of Moav, the final encampment before crossing the Jordan River. (Though we can ask if Aharon and Moshe are buried on the same mountain!)

But I think there is a more important message that can be extracted from this Mount of Transition. The most important lesson that all of us need to remember is that there will come a time when we will face the reality of our mortality. This is what Avarim was meant to represent for Moshe. When we come to this realization - do we ignore it and just let things ride, not caring about what kind of mess we leave behind when we depart? Or do we responsibly set our house in order, so that when that moment does come, the transition is clear?

Most people do not like to think about these things before they see the Angel of Death knocking. But the truth is that despite Moshe’s never-ending yearning to get to the Promised Land, he was the one who opened the conversation with God that the people should not be “like a flock of sheep without a shepherd.”

I have heard of people who have bought cemetery plots (mostly in Israel) who have gone to the site to “look at the view.” Maybe Moshe went up Mount Avarim at that stop, maybe he did not. Malbim notes that Moshe “wasn’t commanded to die at that time because he needed to lead the fight against Midian, and deal with a few more items” before his time came to transition to the next world.

But he got the message and left a lesson for all time. Be wise, anticipate what is inevitably coming, make plans, and hopefully we are successful in the transitions of our lives, in leaving a lasting legacy and a clean house for those who are left to put together the pieces when we each go through our own final transition.