Commento su Deuteronomio 33:9

האמר לאביו ולאמו לא ראיתיו WHO SAID TO HIS FATHER AND TO HIS MOTHER, I HAVE NOT SEEN HIM — When they sinned in the matter of the golden calf and I said, “Who is on the Lord’s side, let him come to me” (Exodus 32:26), all the sons of Levi gathered themselves unto me, and I ordered them each to kill his mother’s father, he being an ordinary Israelite, or his brother on the mother’s side, or the son of his daughter whose husband was an ordinary Israelite, and thus did they do. — It is impossible to explain the term “his father” literally, and “his brothers” as being those on his father's side, and similarly to understand “his sons” literally, for really all these are Levites, and of the tribe of Levi no one sinned., as it is said, “[And there gathered unto me) all the tribe of Levi” (Sifrei Devarim 350:1, Yoma 66b).

האומר לאביו, during the episode of the golden calf,

האומר…יורו משפטיך ליעקב. "Who says ….they shall teach Your laws to Jacob." We may explain this verse best according to Baba Batra 60 where the Talmud relates that Rabbi Yannai had a tree the branches of which overhung the adjoining street causing inconvenience to the passers-by. He was called upon to expound the law in a similar situation and asked to be given until the morrow before presiding over this litigation. During the intervening night he gave instructions to cut down the branches of his tree which overhung the street so as not to be accused of being himself guilty of an offence which he was supposed to adjudicate. [The Talmud explains that originally Rabbi Yannai had thought that the shade provided by his tree for the passers-by outweighed any damage it could cause to the passers-by who failed to look where they were going. Ed.] The word האומר is an allusion to the kind of judge qualified to sit in judgment of others, i.e. only people who ensure that their own house is in order may judge others. In order to face one's parents and criticise them one must first be free from guilt himself.

האומר לאביו ולאמו לא ראיתיו, “who says of his father and his mother : ‘I have no regard for them.’” Moses speaks of the tribe of Levi as a whole here, just as at the time of the sin of the golden calf he had simply called out: “whoever is for Hashem, to me!” (Exodus 32,26) In response to that call all the members of the tribe of Levi responded with alacrity (same verse) Moses had then instructed them to execute all those who had actively worshipped the golden calf, and not to spare even family members if there were such who were guilty. Just as in that instance, although Moses mentioned ‘his son and brother,” this was not meant literally, so here too the words ‘his father and mother,” are not meant literally, as there never had been a father or mother of a Levite who had been guilty of that sin so that their son could have demonstrated that he was prepared even to kill father or mother in response to that call. If even a single Levite had been guilty of worshipping the golden calf, how could the Torah have testified that “the entire tribe of Levi assembled around Moses in response to his call?” The meaning of the words: “father, mother, brother, etc.,” in the verses mentioned referred to such relations who were not from the tribe of Levi. If a Levite had married a woman from the tribe of, say, Zevulun, and the son of that woman found his maternal grandfather worshipping the golden calf, then her son would have had the duty to execute his grandfather seeing he was not a Levite and was guilty of execution. In other words, Moses referred to a possible grandfather, calling him “father,” something not unusual in those days. [the Torah constantly calls the ancestors ‘your fathers’, not your grandfathers or your great-grandfathers.”

You must not have other Gods. Meaning that which You told them Yourself, because they heard I am Hashem, your God, and You must not have any other gods from Hashem’s mouth. [Rashi says this] because otherwise the verse should have said They observed your Torah.

V. 9. האמר וגו׳. Der Stamm Levi hatte bei seinem Auftreten gegen die zum Egel Abgefallenen sich von keiner Rücksicht für Verwandtschaften, wie nahe auch immer, zurückhalten lassen, der Aufforderung getreu: הרגו איש את אחיו ואיש את רעהו ואיש את קרובן (Schmot 32, 27) und daselbst V. 29 כי איש בבנו ובאחיו (siehe daselbst). Da es jedoch daselbst V. 26 heißt, dass ausnahmslos כל בני לוי sich zu Gesetzesrettern im Volke erhoben hatten, so können, wie ספרי z. St, bemerkt, die hier genannten Verwandten nur aus mütterlicher, einem nicht levitischen Stamme angehöriger Verwandtschaft gemeint sein. Bemerkenswert erscheint die Stufenfolge des Wahrnehmens: Sehen, Erkennen, Kennen, לא ידע ,לא הכיר ,לא ראיתיו. Vielleicht liegt der Wahl und der Verwendung dieser Ausdrücke die Feinheit zu Grunde: Bei Eltern hätte schon das bloße "Sehen" genügen können, um ihre für die Rettung des Nationalganzen erhobene Hand zu lähmen, bei Brüdern das "Erkennen", bei Kindern jedenfalls das volle Gefühl der Zugehörigkeit, wie dies in ידע liegt. Aber im Drange der Begeisterung für die Rettung des Ganzen übersahen sie unter den von ihrer Richterhand Getroffenen Eltern, ließen es bei Brüdern nicht bis zum Erkennen und bei Kindern nicht bis zum Wachwerden des vollen Gefühles kommen. Dass demnach die Erfüllung ihrer harten Aufgabe an Kindern leichter als an anderen Verwandten erscheint, dürfte sich daraus motivieren, dass Kinder schon ihrer natürlichen Stellung nach der Zucht und der Verantwortung Eltern gegenüber unterliegen.

כי שמרו אמרתיך, “for the Levites observed Your commandments not to defile the sanctity of the Tabernacle/Temple.” (Leviticus 21,12) None of the Levites committed the error of worshipping the golden calf, and they were prepared to execute family members whom they found doing so. (Sifri and Rashi)

כי שמרו אמרתך BECAUSE THEY KEPT THY WORD, viz., Thou shalt have no other gods,

ואת בניו לא ידע כי שמרו אמרתך, he showed no personal consideration for his closest family members when it involved carrying out G’d’s commandment. When speaking of the Levites’ children, Moses refers to their performing the rite of circumcision on their sons even in the desert, though many babies died through infections contracted after they had been circumcised, so that the other tribes did not perform this rite in the desert. Our sages in Yevamot 72 claim that the northerly wind did not blow during those 40 years [except at midnight according to some, Ed] and that without the therapeutic effect of the northerly wind the babies would have been at risk.

כי שמרו אמרתך, “for they have carefully observed Your words;” a reference to the second of the Ten Commandments: ‘you shall not have any other gods.’
ובריתך ינצורו, “and Your covenant they have preserved.” This is a reference to the covenant of circumcision. We have a tradition according to which the Israelites did not circumcise their male children while in the desert, whereas the tribe of Levi did perform this commandment also in the desert (Sifri Behaalotcha 67). Even though Moses speaks here of the tribe of Levi in general, there is also a specific allusion to the prophet Samuel (a Levite himself) concerning whom Moses said that he did not see his father or his mother seeing that as soon as he had been weaned, his mother took him to the Tabernacle and entrusted him to the High Priest Eli to raise and train in the service of the Lord. The words: “and he did not recognize his brothers nor knew his sons,” also apply to the prophet Samuel; the idea is that he sired children for the service of the Lord rather than in order for them to be his personal convenience [as many fathers considered their children then. Ed.]

For, of those born in the wilderness, etc. Rashi is answering the question: It is written (Yechezkel 16:6), And I saw you wallowing in your bloods, and the sages expound, Two bloods, the blood of Pesach [offering] and the blood of circumcision, which indicates that all of Yisroel were circumcised in Egypt and in the wilderness. If so, what is the meaning of [The Levi’im] kept your covenant? Rashi therefore explains that it is referring to those born in the wilderness. (Re”m). But regarding those who went out of Egypt, they were all circumcised. This is an explicit verse (Yehoshua 5:5), For all those who went out were circumcised, but all those who were born in the wilderness, on the road when they went out of Egypt, they did not circumcise. Therefore Rashi [specifically] mentions the wilderness.

Another message contained in this verse refers to the Torah's injunction in Deut. 16,18 that the judges should be from the respective tribes. Moses adds here that inasmuch as the tribe of Levi had demonstrated during the episode of the golden calf that they did not show favouritism even to their closest family members if the latter were guilty, that they could preside in judgment even over litigations involving members of other tribes. This is the meaning of יורו משפטיך ליעקב, i.e. they can judge any descendant of Jacob.

.כי שמרו וגו׳Wir haben schon zu V. 32, 2 angemerkt, dass אמירה den Ausspruch eines Gesetzes, als vielmehr eine Verheißung, eine Zusage bedeutet. Ebenso daselbst V. 10, dass נצר mehr ein pflegendes Überwachen und Sorgen für eine innere Entwicklung als ein Schützen vor äußerer Gefährdung bedeutet. Ohnehin kann כי שמרו אמרתך nicht füglich heißen: sie haben dein Gebot gehütet in dem Sinne, dass sie es selbst nicht übertreten haben. Denn in dieser Beziehung standen sie nicht allein, teilten vielmehr das Verdienst mit der großen Mehrzahl. Nur dreitausend im Volke hatten sich zur Anbetung des Götterkalbes hinreißen lassen. שמרו אמרתך kann vielmehr nur die Bedeutung des von ihnen an den Schuldigen vollzogenen Aktes aussprechen. Durch diesen Rächerakt ward אמרת ד׳ erhalten, ohne ihn wäre das ganze Volk der Vernichtung verfallen und damit die göttliche Verheißung an Abraham für die damalige Gegenwart wenigstens und für noch lange Zeit hinaus vereitelt gewesen. (Siehe Schmot 32, 10 und 14.)

ובריתך ינצורו, “and they kept Your covenant.” The covenant G-d made with the priests whose status became hereditary from father to son. (Numbers 25,13)

ובריתך ינצרו AND THEY GUARDED THY COVENANT viz., the covenant of circumcision (Sifrei Bamidbar 67 on בהעלתך); For the [ordinary] Israelites who were born in the desert did not circumcise their sons, whereas the Levites were [not only] circumcised themselves, [but they] also circumcised their sons.

ובריתך ינצורו, as our sages confirm in Yuma 66 that the members of the tribe of Levi never became guilty of worshipping idols. This distinction proved itself both in Egypt and in the desert.

ובריתך ינצרו. Wie sie damals mit Hintansetzung aller persönlichen Rücksichten sich als Retter der Volksbestimmung bewährt haben, so werden sie nun fortan die inneren Pfleger und Wärter des Gottesbundes sein.