Unlike most of us, Moshe had a handle on life’s greatest uncertainty—death. Once God decreed that Moshe would not enter the Land, he knew, more or less, when his life would end. For the rest of us, death remains an uncertainty whose timing we can never know.

The Lord said to Moshe: “Behold, your days [yamekha] to die have drawn near…” (Deuteronomy 31:14).

The sages, renowned for their fastidious reading of Scripture, paid close attention to the unusual wording of this verse. From the phrase “your days” [yamekha], they inferred that Moshe was privy to a knowledge of the timing of his death that is denied to the rest of us. This insight led to a contemplative story:

Our Rabbis said: A story which happened during the days of Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta, who went to a brit milah. The father of the baby made a feast and gave them to drink wine that was aged seven years. He said to them: “I am aging this wine for the wedding feast of my son.” They were feasting until midnight. Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta, who was confident in his strength, departed at midnight to go to his city.

On the way, he encountered the angel of death and saw that he looked strange. He said to him: “Who are you?” He replied: “The emissary of the Omnipresent.” Rabbi Shimon asked him: “Why do you look strange?” The angel answered: “It is because of the conversations of human beings. They........

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