פירוש על במדבר 8:24

זאת אשר ללוים THIS IS THAT WHICH BELONGETH TO THE LEVITES [FROM TWENTY FIVE YEARS etc.] — This suggests: years (the question of age) can disqualify them for the service (i.e. if they are younger than 25 and older than 50 years), but bodily blemishes cannot disqualify them, [as in the case of priests] (Sifrei Bamidbar 62; Chullin 24a).

זאת אשר ללוים, this is a new commandment which had not been mentioned elsewhere. Both in Bamidbar and in Nasso G’d had instructed to appoint the Levites to their respective tasks of carrying, etc. from the age of thirty. The number 25 had not been mentioned at all. Here we are told that even though Levites below the age of 30 were not considered as mature enough physically for “active duty,” they were enlisted for “passive duty,” i.e. guard duty which did not require physical exertion, already from the age of twenty-five. This will be spelled out a little later.

מבן חמש ועשרים שנה ומעלה יבוא לצבא צבא, “from 25 years of age and up he shall join the legion of service.” Rashi, in commenting on the apparent contradiction in Numbers 4,3 where the Torah gives this age as 30, says that the Levites are to commence training for their duties from the age of 25 and to assume those duties once they have attained the age of 30. Nachmanides commenting on Rashi, says that if so, the meaning of the words לצבא צבא have to be understood as the Levites joining the community of their older colleagues from that age and stand there observing how their senior colleagues performed their duties and to familarise themselves with the details of all the laws governing their activities. This would also explain the absence of the words לעבוד עבודה, “to perform service,” as we are used to reading in connection with this. According to the plain meaning of the text, the people counted by Moses and Aaron were indeed the thirty year olds, whereas here the Torah calls upon those who knew that they were at least 25 years old to come forward on their own. Such relatively young men were allowed to perform duties although they were not promoted to the status of supervisors over other Levites. In those days, while people did not necessarily keep track of each year they had lived, they did keep track of decades they had lived, as it was commonly known that certain changes in one’s body are experienced with the passing of every decade. Turning 25 did not leave a noticeable impression on their bodies, so that there was no point in counting 25 year olds. Everybody knew when he turned 30. Ibn Ezra claims that the Levites were employed to perform heavy duties from the age of 30 and up, whereas until that age they were allowed to perform only duties carried out within the confines of the Tabernacle. Nachmanides does not accept this, as the Torah uses the term לצבא צבא both for the 25 year olds and for the ones above 30 years of age.

זאת אשר ללוים, ”this shall apply to the Levites, etc.” according to the plain meaning of the text the word זאת refers to the limitation (in age) when they are on active duty.

Favorable indications in his studies for five years. The expectation is that the Torah only gave him these five years in order to study [the laws of the service] because this is the maximum time that one needs to engage in his studies. If so, one who does not see a favorable sign in all of these years will never see them.

V. 24. זאת וגו׳. Oben Kap. 4, 2 ist für den Dienstantritt der Kehatiden das zurückgelegte dreißigste Jahr bestimmt, und wenn hier allgemein, für alle Leviten das zurückgelegte fünfundzwanzigste Jahr angeordnet ist, so wird dies (Chulin 24 a) dahin erläutert: חמש ועשרים ללמוד ושלשים לעבודה, dass nach zurückgelegtem fünfundzwanzigsten Jahre sie in die Lehre des Dienstes eintreten, aber erst nach zurückgelegtem dreißigsten Jahre zur Ausübung des Dienstes zugelassen werden. Zweifelhaft ist die Scheidung zwischen שרת und עבודה im V. 26. Nach dem Wortlaute des מלמד שחוזר לנעילת שערים ולעבודת בני גרשון ספרי)) scheint unter עבודה nur der schwerere Dienst der Kehatiden, die lediglich mit ihrer eigenen Körperkraft zu tragen, und der Dienst der Merariden, die die schweren Gerüstteile des משכן aufzuladen hatten, zu verstehen zu sein, dagegen alles, was die Gerschoniden zu leisten hatten, also, der allen obliegende Sängerund Wachedienst und das Aufladen der Teppiche usw. wäre von allen selbst nach dem fünfzigsten Jahre zu leisten gewesen. Es gehen jedoch hierüber die Auffassungen der Kommentatoren auseinander (siehe Misrachi z. St.). Es hat übrigens diese Beschränkung des Levitendienstes auf bestimmte Jahre nur für die Zeit ihre Geltung, so lange das Heiligtum, wie in der Wüste, aufzustellen, abzubrechen und zu transportieren war, בשילה ובית עולמים אין נפסלין אלא בקול, in Schilo und Jerusalem werden Leviten nur durch Verlust ihrer Stimme untauglich (Chulin daselbst).

זאת אשר ללוים, ”this is what pertains to the Levites:” Levites are disqualified from performing their tasks if either too young or too old. They are not disqualified if afflicted by physical blemishes as are the priests. (Talmud, tractate Chulin, folio 24.) Priests are not disqualified by age limitations, (if otherwise healthy and fit.) This paragraph was only written (or taught) for use in the desert, as we learned on that same folio in the Talmud. We read there as follows: “a Levite from the age of thirty until the age of fifty, is fit to perform all the tasks that he is designated to perform. After that he is unfit regardless of his physical condition.”Under what circumstances does this rule apply? During the period of the Tabernacle in the desert, seeing that as long as the people had not yet settled, parts of the service that had to be performed involved carrying the furnishings of the Tabernacle on their shoulders, like the Kehatites who had to carry the Holy Ark on their shoulders. This could only be done by people who had attained the age of thirty, which is generally understood as the age of maximum physical strength. Once the Tabernacle was stationary (for 369 years) at Shiloh, and the people were settled, according to the opinion of Rabbi Yossi, the Levites would become disqualified only if their voices revealed that they had aged. Wherefrom did he derive such a rule? He quoted Chronicles II 5,13, where we read: ויהי כאחד למחצצרים ומשוררים להשמיע קול אחד, “their singing became as if they all sang with one voice (choir) as the sound of the trumpets and the cymbals; which sounded as if of one voice.” In other words, if the voice of a Levite had changed due to aging, he was no longer capable of being part of this choir. This is how Rashi explains the text in the chapter called הכל שוחטים in the first chapter of the Talmud, tractate Chulin.

From the age of twenty-five. The Torah spoke here of the times of the obligation. The Levite is obligated at age 25 and over to study the laws of the Divine service. Beforehand, he is not obligated but he may come to learn if he wants.

מבן חמש ועשרים FROM TWENTY AND FIVE [YEARS] AND UPWARD [THEY SHALL GO IN TO WAIT UPON THE SERVICE] — But in another passage, it states, (Numbers 4:3) “from thirty years old [and upwards … all that enter into the host to do the work in the tabernacle]”! How are these apparently contradictory passages to be reconciled? In the following way: From twenty five years on he (the Levite) comes to learn the laws regulating the service, and he studies for five years, and at the age of thirty he may actually do the service. — From here we may derive the principle that a pupil who does not see an auspicious omen (i. e. success) in his study during five years will never see it. (Sifrei Bamidbar 62; Chullin 24a.)

מבן עשרים שנה ומעלה יבא לצבא בעבודת אהל מועד; guard duty, as will be explained immediately. ושרת את אחיו לשמר משמרת.

A Midrashic approach (based on Vayikra Rabbah 21,8): Whenever the word זאת appears it refers to the Torah. Compare Deut. 4,44 וזאת התורה. “זאת“ is the Torah.” The Levites were the teachers of the Torah. This has been made clear already by Moses in his blessing in Deut. 33,10 where he said: “They shall teach Your ordinances to Yaakov and Your Torah to Israel.”

מבן חמש ועשרים שנה, “from twenty five years of age and up;” this appears to contradict the statement in Numbers 4,3, where the Torah speaks of “from thirty years and up;” according to the plain meaning all the Levites were mobilised from the age of 25 years and up, at which time they began to perform tasks, such as standing guard and to sing in the choir; in other words, to perform the relatively easy tasks. By the time they reached the age of thirty, they were also required to perform the physically difficult tasks. The Kehatites began then to carry the Ark on their shoulders, and the members of the family of Gersonides and Merari then began to load the wagons with the parts of the Tabernacle each had been assigned to, and to the dismantling and reerecting the structure.

A kabbalistic approach: The words זאת אשר ללוים are to be understood in the same vein as Psalms 118,23 מאת ה' היתה זאת, “This (covenant) emanated from Hashem.” We know this from Genesis 17,10: זאת בריתי, “This is My covenant.” In connection with the tribe of Levi the Torah writes ובריתך ינצורו, “they have observed Your covenant meticulously” (Deut. 33, 9). When the Levites were counted the Torah wrote the words על פי ה' (Numbers 3,16), an expression we do not find in connection with the census of the other tribes. The idea is that the מדה, the particular attribute applicable to the Levites is that they are the transmitters of the פי ה', the word of G’d, the Torah.

מבן חמש ועשרים שנה ומעלה יבא לצבא צבא בעבודת אהל מועד, “from twenty-five years old and up he shall join the legion of the service of the Tent of Meeting.” In Numbers 4,23 the Torah had described the years when a Levite serves as between 30-50. How do we reconcile this?

According to the plain meaning we could make a distinction between two kinds of service. The service within the Tent he may commence at the age of 25, whereas he does not qualify for the labour of carrying the parts of the Tabernacle until he reaches the age of 30, traditionally the age at which the body reaches full strength.

According to the Talmud (Chulin 24a), what is written here refers to when the Levite enrolls in the training program, i.e. at the age of 25. He does not qualify for active service, however, until he reaches the age of 30. This arrangement prompted our sages to say that when a Torah student does not seem to make proper progress by the time he has studied for five years, he is not likely to accomplish much by remaining in the academy.