Midrash su Numeri 3:15

11) Now if you make the sixtieth year "below it" for stringency (of liability) would you make the fifth year as the twentieth year "below it" for leniency (of liability)! It is, therefore, written "year" - "year" for a gezeirah shavah (identity) — Just as "year" written in respect to the sixtieth year is "below it," so "year" written in respect to the fifth year and the twentieth year is "below it" — whether for leniency or for stringency. R. Eliezer says; Whence is it derived that one month and one day (above the sixtieth year) is regarded as the sixtieth year? From (Vayikra 27:7) ("And if from sixty years) and above." It is written here "and above," and elsewhere (Bamidbar 3:15) "and above." Just as "and above" elsewhere is one month and one day after the month, so, here, one day and one month after the month is regarded as the sixtieth year.

(Numb. 3:15:) ENROLL THE CHILDREN OF LEVI…. This text is related (to Ps. 92:13 [12]): THE RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL FLOURISH LIKE THE PALM, <LIKE A CEDAR OF LEBANON SHALL HE GROW>. Just as the palm <casts> its shadow <only> at a distance⁹³Because the long trunk of the palm has no branches.; so the reward of the righteous is at a distance <from them>.⁹⁴Tanh., Numb. 1:15; Numb. R. 3:1; Gen. R. 40(41):1; M. Pss. 92:11; cf. above, Gen. 3:9. Just as the palm produces <ripe> dates and produces unripenable dates; so it is with Israel. It has Torah scholars within it, and it has ignoramuses ('amme ha'arets) within it. Just as the palm has within it unripenable dates, which never enter the storehouse, yet produces ripe dates, and these do enter the store house; so it was with Israel in the wilderness. Some of them did enter the land of Israel; yet some of them did not enter.

Another interpretation (of Numb. 3:15): ENROLL THE CHILDREN OF LEVI. But it is written in another place (i.e., in Numb. 1:49): HOWEVER, YOU SHALL NOT ENROLL THE TRIBE OF LEVI, NOR SHALL YOU TAKE A CENSUS OF THEM.¹⁰¹Tanh., Numb., 1:16, cont.; cf. Numb. R. 3:7. It is simply that the Holy One said: In as much as they have given their souls to me, go and number them separately. Now when had they given their souls to the Holy One? When Israel had committed that act (of the golden calf). It is so stated (in Exod. 32:26): SO MOSES STOOD UP IN THE GATE OF THE CAMP [AND SAID: WHOEVER IS FOR THE LORD, <COME> TO ME. THEN ALL THE CHILDREN OF LEVI GATHERED UNTO HIM]. The Holy One said to Moses: In as much as they are standing in their blemishes,¹⁰²Bemumehen. Cf. Buber, n. 154, who notes that the Oxford MS, Michael 577, No. 155 (described on pp. 141-142 of his introduction), reads, betsidqam, i.e., “in their righteousness.” Buber, however, prefers the better-attested reading, bemumehen, which can also mean “by some things of theirs” and which he interprets as the equivalent of “by their vow.” Still the simple translation, “in their blemishes” could mean that the Levites were deficient in not having been enrolled for the Holy One and that their enrollment now made them whole. go and number them. (In the words of Numb. 3:15): ENROLL THE CHILDREN OF LEVI. R. Judah bar Shallum says: The Holy One is accustomed to numbering <the children of> this tribe in every case while they are young.¹⁰³Numb. R. 3:8. How is it shown? When the Holy One told Jacob to go down to Egypt, at that time he numbered Israel and his children; and all of them were found <to number> sixty-six, [as stated (in Gen. 46:26): AND ALL THE SOULS… WERE SIXTY-SIX.] In addition were Joseph's two sons, plus Joseph, for a total of seventy minus one. But it says (in vs. 27): ALL THE SOULS OF THE HOUSE OF JACOB, WHICH CAME TO EGYPT, WERE SEVENTY. R. Levi said: R. Samuel bar Nahman said: The Holy One customarily numbers this tribe while they are in their mother's womb.¹⁰⁴Gen. R. 94:9 and M. Pss. 92:12. R. Berekhyah [the Priest Berabbi] said: There is not enough resin to flow out before they collect it.¹⁰⁵Rt.: SPG; cf. the Gk.: spoggos (“sponges”). So it was in the case of Jochebed. Her mother was pregnant with her; and while she was in her mother's womb, she was numbered together with her. Resh Laqish said: While her mother was entering the gate of Egypt, her mother gave birth to her. The statement is therefore made concerning seventy souls (in Gen. 46:27). And also concerning her children's children, the Holy One said to Moses (in Numb. 3:15): [YOU SHALL ENROLL] EVERY MALE FROM THE AGE OF A MONTH AND UPWARD. Moses said to him: Am I able to persevere and go around into their courtyards and into the midst of their houses to number each and every one of them, when you say (ibid.): EVERY MALE FROM THE AGE OF A MONTH AND UPWARD?¹⁰⁶Numb. R. 1:9. The Holy One said to Moses: You do your <part>, and I will do my <part>. R. Judah bar Shallum the Levite said: Moses would go and stand at the gate of the tent <in question>. Then the Divine Presence would draw near and say to him: There are five infants in this tent; there are ten infants in that tent. Where is it shown? Where it is stated (in Numb. 3:16): SO MOSES ENROLLED THEM ACCORDING TO THE WORD (literally: ACCORDING TO THE MOUTH) OF THE LORD AS HE HAD BEEN COMMANDED, <i.e.,> just as the Divine Presence told him.