Commento su Numeri 35:3

ולכל חיתם means FOR ALL THEIR NEEDS (the needs of their life; it does not mean for their animals) (Nedarim 81a).

לבהמתם, for riding and carrying loads.

ולכל חיתם, "and for all their livestock." The plain meaning of the verse is that these מגרשים, "open spaces" are to serve the various needs of the Levites. The Talmud in Makkot 12 derives from the word חיתם, that these spaces are to serve only the needs of the living, they are not to be used as burial plots, with the exception of burying an involuntary murderer who had used this city as his city of refuge. This is based on the word תהײנה in verse 15 of our chapter from which the Talmud derives "there shall be their burial." According to the exegetical approach of our sages in the Talmud the words ולכל חיתם are difficult. Seeing that these words are only intended to forbid burial of the regular residents of these cities in their מגרשיהם, all the Torah should have written was the word לחיתם leaving out the word ולכל which implies all kinds of other usages. The addition of the letter ו at the beginning of the word ולכל makes this even more difficult to understand as we are clearly dealing with a רבוי, an expression intended to include additional meanings. Perhaps we can best explain this by saying that the רבוי implied in the word ולכל was meant to counteract the מיעוט, the restrictive nature of the word חיתם. The meter of the verse then is as follows: ולכל, "the use of the מגרש is permitted for every kind of use for the living, i.e. only burial of the dead is excluded." Had the Torah only written לחיתם, I would have concluded that anything which is not directly required for life is prohibited, i.e. a host of activities other than burial.

V. 3. ומגרשיהם .והיו וגו׳ der Leviten. ולכל חיתם nach Nedarim 81a für jede zur Gesundheitspflege notwendige Handtierung; z. B. zur Wäsche. So heißt Jesaias 57, 10: חית ידך die Lebenskräftigkeit deiner Hand. Nach Mackot 12a durften auch in dem ganzen Levitengebiet keine Gräber (außer für den dahin geflohenen רוצח שוגג) angelegt werden. לכל חיתם לחיים נתנו ולא לקבורה.

ולכל חיתם, “and for all their livestock.” The choice by the Torah of the word: חיה for livestock, instead of בהמה, is to underline that the Levites’ function on earth is to promote constructive life not burial rites, as pointed out by our sages in the Talmud, tractate Makkot folio12.

ולרכושם, cattle and flocks.

ולכל חיתם, such as bees and their beehives or pigeons and their habitats, etc.