Musar sobre Números 18:33

Commandment 388 imposes the duty on the Priests and Levites to guard the Tabernacle and its courtyards, etc., by day and night. This is due to considerations of respect and reverence for its sacred nature, not because of fear of intruders. The Torah writes: "They shall discharge their duties towards the Tent of Appointment" (Numbers 18,4). The Sifri interprets the words "you and your sons with you in front of the Tent of Meeting," as instructing the Priests to perform this guard duty inside the structure, whereas the Levites were to mount guard outside of it and to walk around it (18,2).

כל חלב יצהר וכל חלב תירוש ודגן . "All the best of the new oil, wine, grain, etc." We have the Torah on record here that he who gives the Priests his dues should give them of the best of his respective produce to show that he wishes to fulfill that commandment sincerely. Similarly, when giving charity, [at a time when the coins in circulation sometimes had worn off and their value was somewhat questionable] he should give only coins which are in mint condition.

The commentary of Rashi above that the amount of Isaac's harvest is described in order to enable one to "correctly estimate" the tithes, appears to contradict the Halachah. We know that tithing must never be based on an estimate, but must be measured exactly (Maimonides Hilchot Maaser 1,14). Even if the amount tithed exceeds ten percent of the harvest, one did not fulfil the commandment if one has estimated instead of measured the required amount. We must therefore assume that Isaac measured the tithe, but added the תרומה גדולה by estimating the amount, and this is what the Midrash refers to. Similarly, the Mishna Terumot 1,7 says that one does not give תרומה by measure but by estimate from the total amount. The quantity of תרומה to be given as per our sages serves only as a guideline, not as absolute measurement. The scriptural allusion for this procedure is Numbers 18,27: ונחשב לכם תרומתכם, "your gift will be 'considered' for you." This means that the process depends on מחשבה, thought, rather than measure. Although the verse mentioned is written in connection with תרומת מעשר, we have a principle that if a statement is not needed where it appears we may apply it elsewhere, in this case we apply it to תרומה גדולה.

[And, in truth, just as we find that the Holy One Blessed be He sanctified the tribe of Levi and exhorted Israel not to forsake it, as it is written (Devarim 16:19): "Take heed unto yourself lest you forsake the Levite all of your days upon your land," so, it is, likewise, the will of the Blessed L-rd that we support men who separate themselves from the affairs of the world in order to serve the L-rd. For this is certainly not inferior to supporting the Levite in this regard. As Rambam writes (Hilchoth Shemitah Veyovel, Chapter 13 Halachah 12 and 13): "Why did the Levite not merit inheritance in Eretz Yisrael and in its spoils with his brothers? For he was singled out to serve the L-rd, to minister unto Him and to teach His just ways and righteous judgments to the people, as it is written (Devarim 33:10): 'They shall teach Your judgments to Jacob and Your Torah to Israel.' Therefore, they were separated from the ways of the world. They do not wage war, as do the rest of Israel, they do not inherit, and they do not merit things for themselves with the strength of their bodies, but they are "the army of the L-rd," as it is written (Ibid. 11): 'The L-rd bless his [Levi's] strength.' And the Holy One Blessed be He bequeaths [things] on them, as it is written (Numbers 18:20): 'I am your [Levi's] portion and your inheritance.' And [this applies] not only to the tribe of Levi alone, but to every man of all those who enter the world, whose spirit moves him, and who understands of himself to be separate, to stand before the L-rd, to minister unto Him and to serve Him, to know the L-rd and to walk justly, as G-d made him. And he divests himself of the many "accountings" that men seek, he is sanctified as "holy of holies," and the L-rd becomes his portion and his inheritance for ever and ever. And He bequeaths to him in this world what suffices him, as He did to the Cohanim and the Levites. As David, may peace be upon him said (Psalms 16:5): 'The L-rd is the portion of my inheritance.'" Until here, his (Rambam's) beautiful language.]

Commandment 392 deals with redeeming firstborn male human beings, since the Torah writes: אך פדה תפדה את בכור אדם, "But you must redeem the firstborn person" (18,15).

When we appreciate this relationship, we understand that when David said in Psalms 104,1: ברכי נפשי את ה', "Bless the Lord, O my soul," he indicated that ברכה is connected to נפש. This נפש needs to pronounce one hundred benedictions, which correspond to the level of ישראל. Of these hundred, ten i.e. מעשר, penetrate up to the level of רוח, which corresponds to the levels of the Levites. Of these remaining ten per cent, one, i.e. 1% of the original total penetrates to the level of נשמה, corresponding to the level כהן. As a result, if the ordinary soul, נפש, does not pronounce the one hundred daily benedictions every day, then the higher soul נשמה, will not benefit from even a single blessing, seeing that the next lower level, רוח, did not receive its share of blessings which it should have received as a result of the Israelites pronouncing the one hundred blessings. The Priests and Levites are viewed as recipients of blessings bestowed by the Israelites. This is the deeper meaning of the whole legislation of the respective tithes for the Priests and Levites. Israel and the Levites respectively fulfilling their obligations will trigger G–d's blessings to filter down to the nation from Heaven. The meaning of אי"ק, בכ"ר is now clear. When there is no ק i.e. 100, there cannot be a י i.e. 10; when there is no י i.e. 10, there cannot be an א i.e. 1. The one hundred benedictions are like the one hundred silver sockets in the Tabernacle which serve as receptacles for G–d's bounty. Thus far the Shaarey Orah.

Commandment 395 is the duty of the Israelites to give a tithe of ten per cent of their harvests to the Levites, since the Torah states: "For the tithe of the Israelites which they are to give as a gift to G–d, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; this is why I have said to them that they shall not inherit amongst the children of Israel" (18,24).

The instruction in 12,19: השמר לך פן תעזוב את הלוי כל ימיך על אדמתיך, "Be careful not to neglect the Levite as long as you live on your land," is similarly based on the perception of the Levite as the sacrifice. We know that Isaac represents the מדת הדין, the attribute of Justice, i.e. a person whom G–d could deal with on the basis of his near-perfection. We know that the Levite was not allowed to offer the sacrifices on the altar; yet he is repeatedly referred to as performing עבודה. In connection with the sacrifices the Torah always uses the Ineffable four-lettered Name, an allusion to the attribute of Mercy. There is the further fact that the Torah describes the Levites as put at the disposal of Aaron the Priest and his sons (Numbers 8,19); the latter represented the מדת החסד, the attribute of Mercy. However, this is an indication that in this instance the attribute of Justice is used to "sweeten" the attribute of Mercy by uniting with it. עבודה and תורה go hand in hand; we know this from Deut. 33,10 where the task of the Levites to teach Israel the Torah is outlined. In practical terms, the sacrificial service, עבודה, was always accompanied by readings from the מעשה בראשית (Taanit 27). The members of the tribe of Levi were the principal teachers of Torah amongst the people. The gifts the Torah sets aside for the Levites are designed to free the Levites from the burden of having to earn a living. They then can devote themselves to their principal task of disseminating Torah knowledge. We have explained two of the three "pillars" on which the continued existence of the universe depends, i.e. תורה ועבודה.

I already mentioned that a man is unable to do this on his own. He can only rouse himself in the matter and strive towards it. And this is after he has already acquired all of the previous virtuous traits we mentioned, from the beginning of Watchfulness until the Fear of Sin. Only with this will he approach the Holy and succeed. For if he lacks the previous traits, he will be like an outsider or a blemished [Kohen] of which it is stated: "an outsider (non-Kohen) shall not come near" (Bamidbar 18:4).

The reason that the wine saved from גן עדן is called משומר, is that its dregs, its yeast has been removed. When Eve squeezed the grapes and gave her husband to drink she had not removed those dregs first. The Torah (Numbers 18,8) writes of Aaron, who was the rehabilitation of Adam, that he was to be the recipient of what G–d calls משמרת תרומתי, "The residue of My gifts." It is also said of Abraham (Genesis 26,5) וישמר משמרתי. Some of our sages interpret the repetition of the expression שמר in this verse as meaning that Abraham introduced "fences," preventive measures around G–d's laws so as to ensure that the laws themselves could not easily be violated. This would be similar to the Mishnah in Shabbat 20,1 permitting the suspension of a sieve i.e. meshameret on the holiday in order to catch the shemarim, sediments, yeast, of the wine.

The mystical dimension of all this is that ever since the pollutant of the serpent, i.e. the negative fall-out of the sin, infected man it has become necessary to build "fences" around G–d's laws to make it almost impossible to transgress an actual Biblical injunction. When someone is guilty of being פורץ גדר, demolishing such a fence, the serpent will bite him. In other words, if someone does not construct a משמרת he is liable to transgress the essence of G–ds commandments. In the future, when G–d will remove the pollutant of the serpent there will no longer be a need for these fences; this need stems from the power of the Sig, dross, introduced into our bodies by the serpent. It is significant that in the parlance of our sages the fence is not called גדר, but rather Se\yag, i.e. the same word as Sig. Our Rabbis in Avot 1,1 wanted to make sure that we appreciate the reason for the need to construct such "fences." Aaron came close to G–d in lieu of Adam. He was the Meshameret. This is the meaning of G–d saying in Numbers 18,8 that he would be the משמרת תרומתי.

When that time comes, the תיקון, "repair work" will have been completed and the world will be as good as at the time it was created when both body and soul were on an equally elevated level. It was said of Adam in Psalms 49, 13: אדם ביקר בל ילין; נמשל כבהמות נדמו, "Man does not even spend a single night on his pedestal; he is like the beasts that perish." This was the Psalmist's description of Adam's spiritual descent to the level of the ox. Our sages have said that the ox that Adam sacrificed had his horns protruding in front of his legs (Avodah Zarah 8). Had Adam not sinned, he could have lived up to the ideal described in Leviticus 1, 2: אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן לשם, "when you Adam will offer yourself as an offering to G–d." Adam, endowed with everlasting life, would then have cleaved to G–d in the same manner as the righteous nowadays are described as doing after their death. We are told that the angel Michael, in his capacity as the High Priest in the Celestial Sanctuary, "sacrifices" the souls of the צדיקים. The repair-work was begun by the "ox" as an extension of Joseph whom the Torah describes as בכור שור, firstling ox (Deut. 33,19). The repair will be completed by the "lion," i.e. Yehudah. When that has been accomplished, Israel will be transported "on wings of eagles," in contrast to the time of the destruction, when the prophecy of Deut. 28,49: "G–d will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, etc.," was fulfilled. In the future the blessing of Deut. 32,11 in which G–d is described as taking Israel under His wing like an eagle, will come true. We observe that the different גלגולים, wanderings of the Jewish people, follow the pattern of the animals Ezekiel saw in his vision of the מעשה מרכבה, in Ezekiel 1, where the Chashmal is described as equipped with the features of man, ox, lion and eagle. At that time Israel will achieve an unparalleled degree of unity and not only the Lord will be One, but His name will be One. The last letters in the words אחד ושמו אחד combine to make the name דוד. When that has come to pass all the participants will have achieved ever-lasting life as had been intended by the Creator from the beginning.