Chasidut sur Les Nombres 3:53
Kedushat Levi
In his comment on the words ודתן ואבירם, Rashi adds that whereas these members of the tribe of Reuven had been angry that their tribe had not been accorded the privileges due to the first born, i.e. their founding father Reuven, Korach was angry at not having been appointed as the leader of Kehatites, rather than Elitzafan ben Uzziel whom Moses had appointed at G’d’s instruction. (Compare Numbers 3,30). Rashi explains that Korach felt slighted, feeling that since he was the first born son of Yitzhar who was the second son of Amram, this position was rightfully his, seeing that Elitzafan son of Uzziel was the son of someone junior to his father.
Our author wonders that if Korach’s dissatisfaction had dated back to these appointments described by the Torah in the third chapter of Parshat Bamidbar, why had he not complained at that time?
Our author answers this by reminding us that at that time, before the episode with the spies, when it was assumed by the people that they would all enter the Holy Land and secure their ancestral heritage there, the position of tribal head or even that of head of one of the three sections of the Levites, would prove to have been a very temporary position, as entry into the land of Israel was expected to take place within less than a year. Now that they were condemned to spend 40 years wandering in the desert this position carried with it far more importance. Korach’s jealousy therefore had been aroused at this time.
Our author wonders that if Korach’s dissatisfaction had dated back to these appointments described by the Torah in the third chapter of Parshat Bamidbar, why had he not complained at that time?
Our author answers this by reminding us that at that time, before the episode with the spies, when it was assumed by the people that they would all enter the Holy Land and secure their ancestral heritage there, the position of tribal head or even that of head of one of the three sections of the Levites, would prove to have been a very temporary position, as entry into the land of Israel was expected to take place within less than a year. Now that they were condemned to spend 40 years wandering in the desert this position carried with it far more importance. Korach’s jealousy therefore had been aroused at this time.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Kedushat Levi
Exouds 28,5. “whereas they will take (receive) the gold, the blue wool, the purple wool, the crimson yarns and the fine linen.” Compare Rashi according to whom the subject of the word: והם, are the חכמי לב, people endowed with skill, who received the materials required from the Israelites who had donated it. Keeping all this in mind, even the reversal of the letters דג to read גד does not need to indicate something negative as it does elsewhere, but is an allusion to the well known concept of G’d sending the cure before He activates the disease, or expressed differently: גומל דלים “He renders good to the poor.” (in that order).
We need to understand why the priestly vestments should have been constructed from public funds, seeing that although the priest would perform the service in the Tabernacle, presenting the offerings on behalf of the people, unless he “dressed himself” personally, indicating that he loved the people on behalf of whom he performed these services, he was not considered as having performed his duties. [According to the Zohar in Parshat Nasso, even nowadays when the priests have pronounced the blessing on the people, and the members of the congregation thank them for this, they do not thank the priests for the blessing, but for the love with which this blessing had been dispensed. This is why the benediction preceding the blessing mentions that it is to be performed with love, something that is unique in all such benedictions preceding fulfillment of a commandment. Ed.]
G’d has demonstrated His love for the Jewish people when He chose them from among all the other nations to be His “firstborn” son. (Exodus 4,22) Seeing that G’d loves us, He must hate those who hate us. When He chose the priests for special status among the Israelites He did not thereby remove them from the people at large, but was at pains that this elevation was only within the beloved Jewish people, i.e. מתוך בני ישראל, as is clear from Exodus 28,1 as well as regarding the Levites themselves in Numbers 3,12. It is because He loved us collectively, that He appointed the priests to act as means to achieve atonement for our sins.
We need to understand why the priestly vestments should have been constructed from public funds, seeing that although the priest would perform the service in the Tabernacle, presenting the offerings on behalf of the people, unless he “dressed himself” personally, indicating that he loved the people on behalf of whom he performed these services, he was not considered as having performed his duties. [According to the Zohar in Parshat Nasso, even nowadays when the priests have pronounced the blessing on the people, and the members of the congregation thank them for this, they do not thank the priests for the blessing, but for the love with which this blessing had been dispensed. This is why the benediction preceding the blessing mentions that it is to be performed with love, something that is unique in all such benedictions preceding fulfillment of a commandment. Ed.]
G’d has demonstrated His love for the Jewish people when He chose them from among all the other nations to be His “firstborn” son. (Exodus 4,22) Seeing that G’d loves us, He must hate those who hate us. When He chose the priests for special status among the Israelites He did not thereby remove them from the people at large, but was at pains that this elevation was only within the beloved Jewish people, i.e. מתוך בני ישראל, as is clear from Exodus 28,1 as well as regarding the Levites themselves in Numbers 3,12. It is because He loved us collectively, that He appointed the priests to act as means to achieve atonement for our sins.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Kedushat Levi
It is important to realize that the tribe of Levi who was singled out by G’d to perform special religious duties on behalf of the whole nation, was appointed twice. The male members of this tribe became distinctive at the time they had completed the first month of their lives. (Numbers 3,15) They were included in the census already at that tender age, whereas the other Israelites had to await their 20th birthday before they could be included in the census. (Numbers 1,3).
The concept of 12 tribes [excluding the Levites, Ed.] alluded to the commandments of the Creator handed down in the Torah, and that is why they had been given the collective name מטות, “staffs,” as the commandments by which Israelites guide themselves, and which are their main support during their lifetime on earth serve as their support, [in the sense of a walking cane.] They draw on this support to maintain and reinforce their faith in G’d. Performance of the commandments refines our intellect. The tribe of Levi is a special example of this as pointed out in Bamidbar Rabbah 1,12 where the author of the Midrash draws our attention to the fact that this tribe had to be counted in the proximity of the Tabernacle, as it had proven during the episode of the golden calf that it had absolute faith in G’d, and although a tiny minority (about 5%) of the nation, had risked their lives on behalf of G’d, by executing idol worshipping members of the nation. (Exodus 32,27-28).
We already explained that there are two levels of faith in G’d, and corresponding to that the Levites were counted on two levels. (at 30 days, and again when they reached the age of 30 years, (compare Numbers 4,23 et al) By that time their intellects had matured to the extent that they could be described as their faith in G’d reflecting the higher level. Their duties in and around the Tabernacle made it mandatory that they had spiritually matured enough to carry them out while thinking the appropriate religious thoughts.
Initially, G’d had commanded Moses to teach the Jewish people first about the Tabernacle, i.e. to instruct them in the ways to have faith in G’d on the basic level, i.e. to believe that He is the Creator of all phenomena perceived by the senses. The visible symbol of that faith was the structure called משכן. Only afterwards was Moses to teach them about the furnishings in the Tabernacle, the variety of attributes of the Creator, as symbolized in the Tabernacle by the various vessels and furnishings, or in the Torah by the various commandments. Moses, believing that the Jewish people as a whole had already attained the second and higher level of faith, considered it appropriate to acquaint them immediately with the details of the vessels to be used in the Tabernacle. Betzalel, having a more realistic view of the spiritual level of his peers, considered that they should first become familiar with more basic aspects of faith in the Lord as symbolized by the structure called משכן, Tabernacle.
Having said this we can also solve the problem raised by Nachmanides in connection with Exodus 19,4 where the Torah writes: אתם ראיתם אשר עשיתי למצרים....ואביא אתכם אלי, “you have seen what I have done to Egypt……. and I have brought you to Me.” Nachmanides questions the wording there as at that point the Jewish people had not yet experienced the revelation at Mount Sinai and had not yet been given the Torah. We may best understand this by remembering that while in Egypt the Jewish people (the generation experiencing the redemption, not the Israelites who had come to Egypt with Yaakov and their children) had not believed in the G’d of Avraham at all, -to wit their failure to circumcise their male children- so that the redemption was the starting point from which their faith in G’d as the Creator and as the G’d of Israel must be counted. True faith of the whole people did not commence until the first day of the month of Sivan, when for the first time, the Torah describes the Jewish people as united, i.e. ויחן ישראל , “Israel encamped,” (singular mode) as opposed to all previous encampments when the Torah always writes: ויחנו ישראל, Israel encamped, (plural mode). At that time they did not know yet how to serve the G’d Whom they all believed in as the Creator and as the G’d of their forefathers. This nuance is also evident in Onkelos’ rendering the end of Exodus 19,4 ואביא אתכם אלי, usually translated as “I have brought you to Me,” as: וקרבית יתכון לפולחני, “I have brought you near to perform service for Me.”
The concept of 12 tribes [excluding the Levites, Ed.] alluded to the commandments of the Creator handed down in the Torah, and that is why they had been given the collective name מטות, “staffs,” as the commandments by which Israelites guide themselves, and which are their main support during their lifetime on earth serve as their support, [in the sense of a walking cane.] They draw on this support to maintain and reinforce their faith in G’d. Performance of the commandments refines our intellect. The tribe of Levi is a special example of this as pointed out in Bamidbar Rabbah 1,12 where the author of the Midrash draws our attention to the fact that this tribe had to be counted in the proximity of the Tabernacle, as it had proven during the episode of the golden calf that it had absolute faith in G’d, and although a tiny minority (about 5%) of the nation, had risked their lives on behalf of G’d, by executing idol worshipping members of the nation. (Exodus 32,27-28).
We already explained that there are two levels of faith in G’d, and corresponding to that the Levites were counted on two levels. (at 30 days, and again when they reached the age of 30 years, (compare Numbers 4,23 et al) By that time their intellects had matured to the extent that they could be described as their faith in G’d reflecting the higher level. Their duties in and around the Tabernacle made it mandatory that they had spiritually matured enough to carry them out while thinking the appropriate religious thoughts.
Initially, G’d had commanded Moses to teach the Jewish people first about the Tabernacle, i.e. to instruct them in the ways to have faith in G’d on the basic level, i.e. to believe that He is the Creator of all phenomena perceived by the senses. The visible symbol of that faith was the structure called משכן. Only afterwards was Moses to teach them about the furnishings in the Tabernacle, the variety of attributes of the Creator, as symbolized in the Tabernacle by the various vessels and furnishings, or in the Torah by the various commandments. Moses, believing that the Jewish people as a whole had already attained the second and higher level of faith, considered it appropriate to acquaint them immediately with the details of the vessels to be used in the Tabernacle. Betzalel, having a more realistic view of the spiritual level of his peers, considered that they should first become familiar with more basic aspects of faith in the Lord as symbolized by the structure called משכן, Tabernacle.
Having said this we can also solve the problem raised by Nachmanides in connection with Exodus 19,4 where the Torah writes: אתם ראיתם אשר עשיתי למצרים....ואביא אתכם אלי, “you have seen what I have done to Egypt……. and I have brought you to Me.” Nachmanides questions the wording there as at that point the Jewish people had not yet experienced the revelation at Mount Sinai and had not yet been given the Torah. We may best understand this by remembering that while in Egypt the Jewish people (the generation experiencing the redemption, not the Israelites who had come to Egypt with Yaakov and their children) had not believed in the G’d of Avraham at all, -to wit their failure to circumcise their male children- so that the redemption was the starting point from which their faith in G’d as the Creator and as the G’d of Israel must be counted. True faith of the whole people did not commence until the first day of the month of Sivan, when for the first time, the Torah describes the Jewish people as united, i.e. ויחן ישראל , “Israel encamped,” (singular mode) as opposed to all previous encampments when the Torah always writes: ויחנו ישראל, Israel encamped, (plural mode). At that time they did not know yet how to serve the G’d Whom they all believed in as the Creator and as the G’d of their forefathers. This nuance is also evident in Onkelos’ rendering the end of Exodus 19,4 ואביא אתכם אלי, usually translated as “I have brought you to Me,” as: וקרבית יתכון לפולחני, “I have brought you near to perform service for Me.”
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy