Musar על שמות 32:16

And the levels of repentance and their stature is based on the greatness of the bitterness and the power of the grief. And that is repentance that comes by way of the purification of the soul and the purity of its intellect. For according to his intellect and according to that which he opens his eyes will be the grief of his thoughts about his great poverty. As it is stated (Isaiah 57:16), "For I will not always contend, I will not be angry forever; nay, when spirits in front of Me cover themselves, I who create the souls." Its explanation is that according to that which the spirit - which is in front of me - covers itself and is distressed, and the souls which I have made cover themselves; I will not contend and I will not be angry. For how can I not have grace and mercy upon the precious soul that is in front of Me? Therefore the sin will be light according to the weightiness of the service of the sighing about it. For grief comes from the purification of the highest soul. And it is accepted through this more than it would be accepted by many afflictions and aches of the body. And the parable for this is that a king has mercy on his attendants that were born in his household that are close to him and from the respected nobles of the land - and he gives them grace - more than on the distant and smaller ones. And it states, "I who create the souls," due to their closeness to the higher ones, even though the body and everything [else] are the work of His hands. And like this is (Exodus 32:16), "The tablets were God’s work." And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, also said (Kiddushin 30a), "There are three partners in a man: His father, his mother and the Holy One, blessed be He." But because the father and mother have no partnership in the soul - therefore, it stated, "I who create the souls," That the matter is as I have explained it, is shown from its stating, "when spirits in front of Me."

The reason that the Midrash quoted the verse from Proverbs 3,15, was to substantiate the value that we accord to a natural firstborn. It interprets the word "פנינים," as derived from "פנים," front, or face. The question arises why is it not spelled פנים then? Why do we need the letter "נ" twice in that word? Another question is how do we prove that Gershon had not lost his rank as a firstborn? After all, the fact remains that the Torah gave precedence to Kehat counting him first! This question is answered by the Midrash quoting this verse which had the double "נ" in the word פנים. It is just like saying that in this case two families both ranked as panim, first. We must remember that G–d's original plan was that the Torah should be given to Adam, and this was the whole reason why he had been created. We have explained all this when we discussed the verse in Genesis 1,26, "נעשה אדם" Adam had been the "firstborn" of all mankind, since he was the first human being ever. We also have Israel being called "אדם." This in turn means that Israel is called "firstborn" as we know from Exodus 4,22: "My firstborn son Israel." Here, however, the rank of the Levites as firstborn outranks that of Israel as a whole, since the Levites represent the רוח אדם, whereas the remainder of the tribes of Israel only represent the נפש אדם. We have discussed this concept previously. To make certain that we appreciate this point, the Torah writes concerning the tribe of Levi in Deut. 33,10: יורו משפטיך ליעקב ותורתך לישראל, "They will teach Your laws to Jacob, and Your instructions to Israel." This refers to the revealed Torah, the תורת האדם, the practical Torah, the commandments that either have to be fulfilled, or the transgressions that have to be avoided. However, the spiritual Torah is the true "firstborn," having been created two thousand years before the universe; it is the Torah alluded to on the tablets that the Kehatites were carrying in the Holy Ark. The tablets after all, were מעשה אלוקים המה, "were the handiwork of the Almighty," (Exodus 32,16) just like the "spiritual Torah" which had preceded the written Torah. This Torah then must be viewed as the real בכור, "firstborn." It preceded the Torah that was given to אדם to perform. The Kehatites were mentioned first because they carried the Holy Ark containing the tablets, i.e. the spiritual essence of the Torah. From that aspect the Kehatites deserved to be considered as the בכור. It now is clear why they were counted first. We view Gershon as the "firstborn" in matters that have to be performed in this material world, and Kehat as the "firstborn" in matters that are exclusively the domain of the spiritual world. The very concept of the distinction of being the firstborn is enhanced by our understanding these nuances in the way the Torah is written.

And how fitting is the homily of our sages of blessed memory on the verse (Shemoth 32:16): "And the tablets [luchoth] are the work of G-d.": "'Luchoth' is written [without the vav] to show that they [the tablets] were both the same; that is, they looked like one tablet. For it is known that on one tablet, on the right, there were written those things between man and his Maker, and on the second tablet, that begins (Ibid. 20:13): "You shall not kill," "You shall not commit adultery," until the end of that tablet, there were written those things between man and his neighbor. That is, one should not think about any one of them that it is only superficial, to "beautify" a man. For this reason they are written in great proximity, to show that one is not superior to the other. And they also looked like one tablet, to intimate that just as one is considered a "man among men" only when he is whole in his limbs; but if he is missing any part of his body, he is lowered in the eyes of men and also in his own eyes, so is it with the soul. When is he the "complete man"? When all the words of the L-rd are beloved of him, which is not the case, G-d forbid, if he belittles any of the words of the L-rd, whether in the area of man and his Maker or in that of man and his neighbor. Then he is not a "man."