פירוש על במדבר 8:25

ולא יעבד עוד [AND FROM THE AGE OF FIFTY YEARS HE SHALL CEASE WAITING UPON THE SERVICE] AND SHALL DO NO MORE SERVICE — the service of bearing loads on the shoulder, but he still returns (i. e. may be called upon) for closing the Temple gates, for the service of singing and for loading sacred articles upon the wagons; for this is the meaning of (v. 26) “But he shall serve את אחיו” i. e. together with his brethren, just as the Targum renders it (not, “he shall serve his brethren, i. e. wait upon them) (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 63).

AND FROM THE AGE OF FIFTY YEARS HE SHALL RETURN FROM THE SERVICE OF THE WORK, AND HE SHALL SERVE NO MORE — “the service of carrying loads upon the shoulders, but he returns [i.e., he may still serve] to close the gates, or to sing, or to load the wagons.” This is Rashi’s language. But in the Sifre⁴⁸Sifre Beha’alothcha 63. the Rabbis mentioned only that “he returns to close the gates or to the work of the sons of Gershon”⁴⁹The reference is also to the work of the sons of Merari, since the work of both of them [the sons of Gershon and Merari] consisted only of loading the wagons during transport, and serving as gate-keepers when the Tabernacle was in its place. The Sifre, however, speaks only of “the sons of Gershon” since they are mentioned (above, in Chapter 4, where the work was assigned to each of the three main families of the Levites) next to the sons of Kohath, whose work consisted of carrying the loads on their shoulders. [but they did not say that he may return to the service of singing]! And this indeed appears correct [that a Levite above the age of fifty was not allowed to take part in the singing] — for if it were as the Rabbi [Rashi] has written, why were the twenty-year old Levites not appointed to sing, to close the gates and to load the wagons until they reached the required age,⁵⁰In other words, since the maximum age of fifty applied to the bearing of burdens, which was the specific work of the Kohathites — see above, Chapter 4 — but not to the service of singing, the minimum age of twenty-five likewise does not refer to the service of singing, and the same reasoning applies to serving as gate-keepers and loading the wagons. If so, why were the Levites [including the Kohathites] not counted from the age of twenty, and with no upper age limit? and why were they counted from thirty to fifty years old and only for the work of bearing burdens [since both before and after these two age-limits they could still serve by singing etc., therefore they should have been counted from twenty years, with no upper limit]? Moreover, why were the sons of Gershon and Merari counted in this way [from thirty to fifty] since all their work [i.e., singing, closing the gates and loading the wagons] could be done when they were older?
We must rather say that since they were appointed to carry the ark at the age from thirty to fifty, they [therefore] were not appointed to sing, which was the main function of the Levites, unless they were also qualified to carry the ark, for all those who were appointed to sing were qualified to perform all the services [including the carrying of the ark]. And since the Kohathites [who were the only ones permitted to carry the ark] were counted from thirty to fifty years old, even for singing, they were all counted in this manner, in order that the sons of Gershon and Merari should not be qualified to sing during these years [i.e., below the age of thirty and above the age of fifty] and the sons of Kohath be disqualified. [Hence the age limits of thirty and fifty applied to the Kohathites’ singing, which was their main function, as well as to their carrying of the parts of the Tabernacle, and therefore these age limits applied to the function of singing of the sons of Gershon and Merari as well, and they could not, as Rashi wrote, return to the singing.] But for closing the gates or loading the wagons all of them were qualified [even after the age of fifty, as quoted in the Sifre above]. Furthermore it is written, from thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entered in to do the work of the service, and the work of bearing burdens in the Tent of Meeting,⁵¹Above, 4:47. “This is the song [of the Levites] accompanied with cymbals and harp, this being ‘the service’ attached to another ‘service’” [i.e., the Service of the Offerings] (Rashi). and the Rabbis interpreted in the Tractate of Shechitath Chullin:⁵²Literally: “The Slaughtering of Ordinary Animals,” now generally called Chullin (Ordinary Animals). The text quoted is found there on 24a. — The name Shechitath Chullin is in contrast to the Tractate Schechitath Kodashim (The Slaughtering of Hallowed Animals), now generally called Zebachim (Offerings). “I might think that in Shiloh and in the Eternal House [at Jerusalem,⁵³See Vol. II, p. 335, Note 598, and Vol. III, p. 123, Note 122. when the services of the Levites were limited to gatekeeping and singing] it was also so [that the Levites were disqualified after the age of fifty]; Scripture therefore says, to do the work of service, and the work of bearing burdens.⁵¹Above, 4:47. “This is the song [of the Levites] accompanied with cymbals and harp, this being ‘the service’ attached to another ‘service’” [i.e., the Service of the Offerings] (Rashi). I have only said so with respect to a time when there is bearing burdens upon the shoulders.” Now [the expression] ‘avodath avodah’⁵¹Above, 4:47. “This is the song [of the Levites] accompanied with cymbals and harp, this being ‘the service’ attached to another ‘service’” [i.e., the Service of the Offerings] (Rashi). [the work of service, but literally “a service of a service”] is a reference to singing, as Rashi has written above in Seder Naso;⁵¹Above, 4:47. “This is the song [of the Levites] accompanied with cymbals and harp, this being ‘the service’ attached to another ‘service’” [i.e., the Service of the Offerings] (Rashi). if so [it is clear that] when there was [the duty of] bearing the burdens upon the shoulders, the Levites were disqualified from singing as well [after the age of fifty]. And so it is said in the words of David, And the Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward,⁵⁴I Chronicles 23:3. and it is further written there, Of these twenty and four thousand were to oversee the work of the House of the Eternal etc.,⁵⁵Ibid., Verse 4. and four thousand praised the Eternal with the instruments which I made to praise therewith.⁵⁶Ibid., Verse 5. For until the House [of G-d in Jerusalem] was built, when they still had to carry [the ark and the Tabernacle] on their shoulders, they only appointed Levites to sing who were also fit to carry [i.e., from the age of thirty to fifty]; but David counted them again from twenty years old⁵⁷Ibid., Verse 27. to meet the requirements of the House [of G-d] when it was built, as has been explained [above at the end of Verse 4].

ומבן חמשים שנה ישוב מצבא העבודה של משא, as soon as he has attained the age of fifty he will retire from the duties of carrying parts of the Tabernacle.