פירוש על במדבר 4:27

על פי אהרן ובניו AT THE APPOINTMENT OF AARON AND HIS SONS [SHALL BE ALL THE SERVICE OF THE SONS OF THE GERSHONITES] — and which of his sons shall be appointed over them? Everything was (v. 28) “under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest”.

AT THE COMMANDMENT OF AARON AND HIS SONS SHALL BE ALL THE SERVICE OF THE SONS OF THE GERSHONITES — “and which of Aaron’s sons shall be appointed over them? Ithamar” [as is stated in the following verse]. This is Rashi’s language. But it is not correct for [if only Ithamar was appointed], why mention Aaron [at all — at the commandment of Aaron etc.]? Rather, the meaning of [the expression] at the commandment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service is that the services of the Gershonites shall be at their command. They are to appoint the Gershonites to their work, saying: “This particular Gershonite shall be the overseer for such-and-such a matter” — “This one shall sing [at the services] in such-and-such a way, or attend to the gates³See further Note 31. and for Scriptural basis see my translation of Sefer Hamitzvoth (“The Commandments,” Vol. I, pp. 32-33). in a certain manner, or shall carry a certain number of the curtains.” At the time of journeying they were also not permitted to dismantle the Tabernacle or to begin loading it until Aaron and his sons commanded them to do so. Thus all of them [Aaron and his sons] were needed for the appointed charge, Eleazar being the chief over the three princes [of the three main families of the Levites],⁴See in Seder Bamidbar Note 204. and Ithamar being the overseer over the sons of Gershon⁵Verse 28. and Merari.⁶Verse 33.
Scripture states and ‘ye’ shall appoint unto them in charge [all which they have to carry]⁷Verse 27. because Moses was to be with them at the time of the appointments, when the charges were given to them; but their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar,⁵Verse 28. meaning that each one was to return the vessels to his control when the Tabernacle came to rest, saying to him: “Here you have the vessels that were handed over to me.”

לכל משאם, at the time of the journey,

על פי אהרן ובניו תהיה כל עבודת בני הגרשוני, “all the work of the Gershonides is to be performed according to the instructions of Aaron and his sons.” Rashi writes that Ittamar was the son of Aaron who was in overall charge of all these activities. [Rashi, based on Midrash Rabbah explains that there is no contradiction with the verse following, which names Ittamar, exclusively, as the executive supervisor. Ed.] Nachmanides disagrees with Rashi, saying that if it were so why would Aaron and his other son be referred to in our verse at all? He therefore explains the words in our verse to mean that Aaron and sons appointed different members of Gershon and Merari to be responsible for specific functions, say the loading of the beams on to the wagons, etc., Ittamar was supervisor of all of the Merari’s activities, whereas Aaron and Eleazar supervised the activities of the Kehatites and Gershonites.

Appointed over them. Rashi is answering the question: The verses contradict each other, because here it says “by the instruction of Aharon and his sons” and afterwards it writes (v.28) “under the supervision of Isamar son of Aharon the Kohein.” He answers that the second verse explains the previous one — which of his sons was appointed over them? [the second verse] explains that it was Isamar son of Aharon. You might ask: Since only Isamar was appointed, why did it write ובניו (lit. and his sons) in the plural. However this is not a question because in many places we see the plural used for a single son, for example “ובני (lit. and the sons) of Don is Chushim” (Bereishis 46:23) and “ובני (lit. and the sons) of Palu is Eliav” (Bamidbar 26:8).

V. 27. את כל משאם :ופקדתם עליהם במשמרת וגו׳. Alles, was sie zu tragen erhalten, haben sie nicht als bloß mechanische Lastträger zu übernehmen, sondern es wird dabei ihre Intelligenz und ihr Bewusstsein in Anspruch genommen, es ist ihnen ein mit Hüterpflicht zu erfüllendes Amt. מ׳׳ר) שיהיו מצווים עליהם שיהיו שומרים על כל מה שנושאים).

ופקדתם עליהם במשמרת, “you shall appoint their entire burden as their charge.” This is an instruction that we do not find in connection with the duties of the house of Kehat. The reason is that everything that the Kehatites carried was covered and not visible to anyone else, as we have read in 4,15: וכלה אהרן ובניו לכסות את הקדש ואת כל כלי הקדש בנסוע המחנה ואחרי כן יבואו בני קהת, “and when Aaron and his sons had completed to cover the holy furnishings and the holy vessels when the camp was ready to move. Then the sons of Kehat shall approach, etc.”

ולכל עבודתם, when the people would be encamped.

ופקדתם עליהם במשמרת, “you are to appoint their entire burden as their charge.” From these words we learn that Moses was present at the time when Aaron and sons made these various appointments. However, once these appointments had been ratified by Moses, Ittamar was the supervisor on site, the one to whom any queries would be directed if doubts about anything arose. His task was in particular to ensure that all of the many items that had been moved from the Tabernacle would be replaced in good order as soon as the people made camp.