Rabbi Daniel Siegel – Head of jewish Life

May you live until…

There is a Jewish tradition to bless someone upon his/her birthday with the words:
עד מאה ועשרים /Ad me’ah ve-esrim – “Until 120 (years)”.

Antediluvian humans, as presented by the Bible, lived for hundreds of years. Metushelach, the grandad of all, reaching 969 years! However, approaching the onset of the Flood, God declares “My breath shall not abide in the human forever, since he too is flesh his days shall be 120 years”.

Thereafter, the only biblical personality who is recorded as living until 120 years is Moshe (though some lived longer). In our parashah, Moshe tells the people:

“Today, I am 120 years…and the Lord has said to me ‘You shall not cross the Jordan (into the Promised Land)’ “.

Perhaps, it is from our parashah that the joke originated: “What do you say to someone on their 120^th birthday”? – “Have a nice day!” Not long thereafter, we are told: “And Moshe was 120 years old when he died”.

120 years appears to represent having attained the fulness of years. When the Bible tells us that Moshe died at 120, it adds “his eyes were undimmed and his vigour unabated”. Why then could he not exceed 120 years?

A little-known midrash says that the word “too” (בשגם/be-shagam) in the phrase “he too is flesh” is the numerical equivalent of the word Moshe. The Rabbis, like the biblical author(s) were concerned lest Moshe be deified. The greatest of men cannot outlive his humanity.

But, as Moshe stood upon the summit of Mount Pisgah, surveying the entirety of the promised Land, he understood that his vision would live on in his legacy. 120 years and yet millenia.