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AFIK, Tana"ch rarely mentions the date of someone's death. Moshe death date is not mentioned in Tana"ch.

I gather that we infer this from the fact that he died exactly 120 years after he was born. I think this is directly inferred from a key word or phrase in a verse (don't recall which one.) Yet, we also don't know the date of his birth as that is not mentioned in Tana"ch, either. So how did Chachamim determine this?

DanF
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  • Aharon died on 1 Av. Bamidbar 33:38 – Double AA Feb 26 '15 at 16:04
  • http://tinyurl.com/traditionsong – Double AA Feb 26 '15 at 16:05
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    Source: A b'raisa in Kiddushin (38a): "תניא אידך בשבעה באדר מת משה ובשבעה באדר נולד מנין שבשבעה באדר מת שנאמר וימת שם משה עבד ה' וכתיב ויבכו... שלשים יום וכתיב... משה עבדי מת ועתה קום עבור וכתיב... כי בעוד שלשת ימים תעברו את הירדן וכתיב והעם עלו מן הירדן בעשור לחדש הראשון צא מהן שלשים ושלשה ימים למפרע הא למדת שבשבעה באדר מת משה ומנין שבשבעה באדר נולד משה שנאמר ויאמר אליהם בן מאה ועשרים שנה אנכי היום לא אוכל עוד לצאת ולבא... מה ת"ל היום מלמד שהקב"ה יושב וממלא שנותיהם של צדיקים מיום ליום ומחדש לחדש שנאמר את מספר ימיך אמלא". – Fred Feb 26 '15 at 16:16
  • @Fred - This makes for an excellent and sufficient answer, esp. since the Gemarrah has sourced verses. What does become a challenge (which I may place as a follow up question) is that in the calculation, it assumes Adar had 30 days and not 29! Either way, I think you should move this to an answer. – DanF Feb 26 '15 at 16:21
  • @DanF Why is that a challenge? – Double AA Feb 26 '15 at 16:32
  • @DoubleAA - perhaps a "challenge" for our readers to explain the calculation, here. Offhand, I think that whenever the Gemarah makes such date calculations, it assumes a straight 30 day month for all months. Just a hunch. I could be wrong. – DanF Feb 26 '15 at 16:35
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    http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/3717/moshe-rabeinus-yarzheit – Gershon Gold Feb 26 '15 at 16:40
  • @DanF Actually, Alex's answer (to the question linked above by Gershon) already answers your question. Should this then be closed as a duplicate? – Fred Feb 26 '15 at 16:52
  • @Fred - OMG! Not only does it answer the Yahrtzeit question but it possibly answers a follow up I thought of regarding how these dates were calculated. Yes, you can close as duplicate. Thanks much – DanF Feb 26 '15 at 17:12
  • @DanF In addition to what Alex wrote there, see Pischei Olam by R' Dov Ber Karasik (OC 580:7) who discusses different views among the acharonim regarding when a person should fast for Moshe Rabbeinu's yarhtzeit in a leap year (assuming a person has the custom to fast). – Fred Feb 26 '15 at 17:50

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