Comentario sobre Números 3:1

ואלה תולדת אהרן ומשה AND THESE ARE THE OFFSPRING OF AARON AND MOSES — But it mentions only the sons of Aaron! But they also are called the sons of Moses because he taught them the Torah. This tells us that whoever teaches the Torah to the son of his fellow man Scripture regards it to him as though he had begotten him (Sanhedrin 19b).

NOW THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF AARON AND MOSES IN THE DAY THAT THE ETERNAL SPOKE WITH MOSES IN MOUNT SINAI. “And yet [in the following verse] Scripture only enumerates the sons of Aaron, [as it is said, And these are the names of the sons of Aaron! If so, why does it say here and Moses?] They [were indeed the sons of Aaron, but] they are called the generations of Moses because he taught them Torah. This establishes the principle that if one teaches the Torah to one’s fellow man,¹⁴³In our Rashi: “the son of his fellow man.” Scripture accounts it to him as though he had begotten him. In the day that the Eternal spoke to Moses did these children [of Aaron] become his [Moses’], because he taught them then what he learned from the mouth of the Almighty.” This is Rashi’s language.
However, the expression in the day that the Eternal spoke to Moses is intended [not to convey the idea mentioned by Rashi, but] only to say that these were [Aaron’s four] sons [namely, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, as mentioned in Verse 2] in the day that the Eternal spoke with Moses in Mount Sinai, and then Scripture states [in the following verses] that Nadab and Abihu died, and that therefore they¹⁴⁴I.e., Aaron and Moses. — Ramban is following the verse which speaks of the children as the generations of Aaron and Moses, for the reason that Rashi explained, but he is of course referring to Aaron’s sons. have no children now except Eleazar and Ithamar. Now Scripture mentions this in order to state that in the day that the Eternal spoke with Moses in Mount Sinai these [sons of Aaron] were chosen to be anointed, and their anointing shall be to them for an everlasting priesthood,¹⁴⁵Exodus 40:15. but as for the rest of the tribe [of Levi], Moses was not commanded that they be chosen [for service in the Tabernacle] until now. And the reason why He mentioned the generations of Aaron and Moses at this place is that since He had completed the census of all Israel by their generations and by their fathers’ houses,⁵⁸Verses 20, 22, etc. and He now wanted to mention the generations of the tribe of Levi, He began with the leaders of that tribe.
According to the plain meaning of Scripture, the sense of [the expression] the generations of Aaron and Moses is that the sons of Aaron were anointed priests separated from [the rest of] the tribe [of Levi] so that they be most holy,¹⁴⁶I Chronicles 23:13. and the generations of Moses were the family of the Amramites which He mentions further on, since of the Amramites there were only the children of Moses,¹⁴⁷Further, Verse 27. Of Amram’s two sons, the sons of the first, Aaron, are already mentioned above; thus the verse must be speaking of Moses’ children only. and they are counted among the Levites. This [verse] is thus similar to that which it is written, The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was separated, that he should be sanctified as most holy.¹⁴⁶I Chronicles 23:13. But as for Moses the man of G-d, his sons are named among the tribe of Levi.¹⁴⁸I Chronicles 23:14. And the homiletic interpretation [which Rashi mentioned, that the generations of Aaron are also attributed to Moses because he taught them Torah], the Rabbis based upon [the fact that] Scripture does not state “and these are the names of the sons of Moses,” as it does with the sons of Aaron [stating in Verse 3: These are the names of the sons of Aaron — therefore the Rabbis explained that the verse says: Now these are the generations of Aaron and Moses] to allude to [the principle that] the sons of Aaron are also the generations of Moses because he taught them Torah, for it is the way of the Torah to explain and to allude [to spiritual truths].

ואלה תולדות אהרן ומשה ביום דבר ה' אל משה. At the time when G’d set the tribe of Levi apart from the other tribes, some of them having to transport the Tabernacle on its journeys, some to perform service in and around the Tabernacle and to pronounce blessings in G’d’s name. Nadav and Avihu were included in the people described as Levites.

תולדות אהרן ומשה, descendants of Aaron and Moses, etc. Curiously, the Torah enumerates only Aaron's descendants. This is to tell us that they were considered as if they had been Moses' descendants seeing he had prayed on their behalf as we know from Deuteronomy 9,20 where G'd is reported as having been angry at Aaron, ready to exterminate him. This would have resulted in his remaining two sons dying. Our sages in Vayikra Rabbah 7,1 say that Moses' prayer helped to keep Eleazar and Ittamar alive.

ואלה תולדות אהרן ומשה, first the Torah counted the descendants of the people at large, followed by that of the priests, and finally the Levites. Now the Torah enumerates the personal offspring of Aaron. The offspring of Moses is lumped together with that of the Levites, as we know from verse 27 “and as for Kehat, the family of Amram, the family of Yitzhar, etc., etc.” Amram had only two sons, Aaron and Moses. Both were included in the list of the members of the tribe of Levi. Aaron’s sons had the additional distinction of being sanctified.

ואלה תולדות אהרן ומשה....בהר סיני, “And these are Aaron’s and Moses’ immediate biological offspring…at Mount Sinai.” Nachmanides explains the apparently irrelevant mention of the words: “at Mount Sinai,” as well as the absence of any names of Moses’ children, by saying that Aaron’s children were also considered as if they were Moses’ children seeing that they learned the Torah from their uncle Moses, and we have it on the authority of our sages that anyone teaching someone else’s children Torah is accorded the merit of being the (spiritual) father of such a youngster. Moreover, the Torah hints by the wording of this verse that although these children of Aaron had not been anointed as priests until over nine months later, from the day, G’d in His mind, had already designated them to become priests at the time of the revelation at Mount Sinai. These appointments had not only been for life, but hereditary, whereas the other appointments, such as the leaders of the tribes, did not have their root already at the time of the revelation at Mount Sinai, nor were those appointments hereditary. One of the reasons why the chapter commences with the descendants of Aaron is that seeing that we will be reading about the count of the Levites shortly, it is appropriate to commence with the children of the leader of the tribe of Levi. Looking at the plain meaning of the text the meaning of the words “the descendants of Aaron and Moses,” is simply that seeing that Aaron’s sons had been especially anointed to become priests, they were in a category all by themselves compared to the other members of the tribe of Levi. If the tribe of Levi was considered “holy,” then the priests so anointed were considered “holiest of the holy.” The allegorical commentaries, drush, support this approach, seeing that Moses’ own children have not even been mentioned, the Torah failing to add: “and these were the offspring of Moses, etc,” especially in view of the fact that the Midrash told us that even Aaron’s sons were considered as if they had been Moses’ own, how is it then that Moses’ own have not even been mentioned? Some commentators hold that inasmuch as in connection with the count of the other tribes the Torah speaks of “in the desert of Sinai,” whereas when the sons of Aaron are mentioned these are referred to in conjunction with Mount Sinai, the reason is that their father had already been chosen by G’d to be the High Priest even before the people left Egypt, whereas the other Levites had only been chosen as special in the desert. [After the firstborn had participated in the sin of the golden calf. Ed.]

Since he taught them what he had learned. Otherwise [i.e. if the Torah did not say this], what relevance does this point have here. Thus Rashi explains that ביום דיבר (lit. on the day that He spoke) means “from the day that He spoke,” and that the letter beis is like the beis in והנותר בבשר ובלחם (that which is left from the meat and from the bread) (Vayikro 8:32). It was not on the day that Hashem spoke to Moshe on Har Sinai that he taught them, rather from that day onwards he taught them and thus they became his descendants. One might ask: Surely all of Israel learned Torah from Moshe, so why were they not [also] called his descendants? The answer is: When he taught Torah to the whole of Yisroel it was at the command of Hashem, as it is written “Hashem said to Moshe come up to me … that I wrote to instruct them” (Shemos 24:12). This implies that the main reason for Hashem teaching Moshe was for [Moshe to teach] the people of Yisroel. Therefore it is not correct to say that [regarding them that] “one who teaches another’s son…” However regarding Aharon’s sons, Moshe was not obligated to teach them, given that only a father is obligated to teach his son Torah, therefore they were called the descendants of Moshe. This appears to the precise meaning of the wording “anyone who teaches another’s son Torah…”

Kap. 3. V. 1. Die Söhne Israels als עדה, als die Gemeinde, waren gezählt, die Leviten als die Wächter des עדות sollen gezählt werden, zuvor jedoch Moses und Aharons gedacht werden, die nicht zu den Gezählten zählten, sondern die Zählenden waren, und zugleich die Familie des einen, Aharons, festgestellt werden, dessen Nachkommen ja nicht zu den Leviten im eigentlichen Sinne gehörten, sondern eine nationale Gruppe für sich, כהנים, die Priester, bildeten. Es war niederzulegen, dass nur zwei Söhne, Elasar und Itamar, nach Aharon das Priestertum weitertragen, somit nur diejenigen für alle Zukunft כהונה-fähig sind, die ihrer Abstammung nach entweder zu Elasar oder Itamar gehörten. Bedeutsam wird auch von תולדות משה gesprochen und gleichwohl werden Mosches Söhne nicht genannt. Genannt werden ja in allen diesen Zählungskapiteln von den Verstorbenen nur diejenigen, die eine öffentliche Stellung in der Nation einnahmen, כהנים ,נשיאים waren. Unser "Mosche" ließ aber seine Söhne ganz auszeichnungslos in die Menge aufgehen und hatte nicht einmal ein Ämtchen, ein Titelchen, ein Bändchen für seine Kinder.

ואלה תולדות אהרן ומשה, “and these are the descendants of Aaron and Moses.” In other words, “these are the priests and their descendants and the Levites and their descendants.” The descendants of Aaron are listed separately at first, just as they have been in Chronicles I 23,13. Seeing that the sons of Moses were not separated in any way from the other Levites, they are included in the Levites described as the descendants of Moses’ father Amram, although Aaron was also a son of Amram.

ביום דבר ה' אל משה בהר סיני, “as long as G-d wasspeaking with Moses at Mount Sinai,” Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu were still alive. They died in the Tabernacle in the desert of Sinai, at the beginning of the second year.

These are the descendants. [Scripture] calls only the sons of Aharon the descendants of Moshe [because he taught them Torah] but not all of Israel, although Moshe taught them, because Hashem commanded him to teach them Torah, and if not for them Hashem would not have given him the Torah. However, Moshe taught the sons of Aharon more than the others, and that was from Moshe alone; in this he is considered as having procreated them.

ביום דבר ה׳ את משה IN THE DAY THAT THE LORD SPAKE TO MOSES did these children (these of Aaron) become his (Moses’) children, because then for the first time he taught them what he heard from the Almighty.

ביום דבר ה' את משה בהר סיני, these words are added as the conversation occurred before the Tabernacle had been erected when Aaron still had four sons as opposed to the second year (mentioned in 1,1) when the Tabernacle had already been erected and Aaron had only two sons left, Eleazar and Ittamar, as I have explained already at the beginning of our portion. Once the Tabernacle had been erected, G’d is no longer referred to as speaking to Moses at Mount Sinai.

Our verse continues ביום דבר ה׳, to tell us precisely when Moses prayed on their behalf. There is also a hint here of the reason that his prayer was effective as the Torah's mention of Mount Sinai is a reminder that he was such a loyal representative of G'd that he had been found worthy to receive the Torah on Mount Sinai.

ביום דבר וגו׳. Da auch Nadab und Abihu zu nennen waren, um zu sagen, dass von ihnen keine Priesterfamilien abstammten, sie aber zur Zeit der Zählung bereits gestorben waren, so musste hier auf eine frühere Zeit zurückgegangen werden. Als Gott das Gesetz erteilte und Aharon und seine Söhne zu Priestern bestellte, da hatte Aharon vier Söhne, die auch alle vier zu Priestern geweiht und bestellt wurden.

ביום דבר ה' את משה, “on the day on which the Lord had spoken to Moses.” This will be dealt with further on.