Shevet Levi

(7) "And God spoke to Moses in the Sinai Wilderness" (Numbers 1:1). Why the Sinai Wilderness? From here the sages taught that the Torah was given through three things: fire, water, and wilderness. How do we know it was given through fire? From Exodus 19:18: "And Mount Sinai was all in smoke as God had come down upon it in fire." How do we know it was given through water? As it says in Judges 5:4, "The heavens dripped and the clouds dripped water [at Sinai]." How do we know it was given through wilderness? [As it says above,] "And God spoke to Moses in the Sinai Wilderness." And why was the Torah given through these three things? Just as [fire, water, and wilderness] are free to all the inhabitants of the world, so too are the words of Torah free to them, as it says in Isaiah 55:1, "Oh, all who are thirsty, come for water... even if you have no money." Another explanation: "And God spoke to Moses in the Sinai Wilderness" — Anyone who does not make themselves ownerless like the wilderness cannot acquire the wisdom and the Torah. Therefore it says, "the Sinai Wilderness."

(1) Although the tribe of Levi does not have an ancestral portion within Eretz [Yisrael], the Jewish people were commanded to give them cities to dwell in and [additional] residential property. The cities include the six cities of refuge and 42 additional cities. When cities of refuge will be added in the era of Mashiach, all will be given to the Levites.

(10) The entire tribe of Levi are commanded against receiving an inheritance in the land of Canaan, and they were commanded against receiving a share in the spoil when the cities are conquered, as [Deuteronomy 10:9] states: "The priest and the Levites - the entire tribe of Levi - should not have a portion and an inheritance among Israel." "A portion" [refers to a portion] of the spoil; "an inheritance" refers to [a portion of] the land. And [Numbers 18:20]: "You shall not receive a heritage in their land, nor will you have a portion among them," i.e., in the spoil. If a Levite or a priest takes a portion of the spoil, he is punished by lashes. If he takes an inheritance in Eretz [Yisrael], it should be taken from his possession.

(12) Why did the Levites not receive a portion in the inheritance of Eretz Yisrael and in the spoils of war like their brethren? Because they were set aside to serve God and minister unto Him and to instruct people at large in His just paths and righteous judgments, as [Deuteronomy 33:10] states: "They will teach Your judgments to Jacob and Your Torah to Israel." Therefore they were set apart from the ways of the world. They do not wage war like the remainder of the Jewish people, nor do they receive an inheritance, nor do they acquire for themselves through their physical power. Instead, they are God's legion, as [ibid.:11]: states: "God has blessed His legion" and He provides for them, as [Numbers 18:20] states: "I am your portion and your inheritance."

(2) Another [explanation]: "Bring close the tribe of Levi, etc." - this is [the meaning of] what is written (Psalms 65:5), "Happy is the one whom You have chosen and You have brought close": Happy is the one whom the Holy One, blessed be He, has chosen, even though he has not brought him close. And happy is the man that He has brought close, even though He has not chosen him. And who is the one whom He has chosen? That is Avraham, as it is stated (Nehemiah 9:7), "You are He, Lord God, Who chose Avram." But He did not bring him close, but rather he brought himself close. The Holy One, blessed be He, chose Yaakov, as it is stated (Psalms 135:4), "For Yaakov did the Lord choose." And so [too] it says (Isaiah 41:8), "Yaakov whom You have chosen." But He did not bring him close, but rather he brought himself close, as it is stated (Genesis 25:27), "Yaakov was a simple man that sat in tents." He chose Moshe, as it is stated (Psalms 106:23), "were it not for Moshe, His chosen"; but He did not bring him close. Happy are those that the Holy One, blessed be He, chose, even though He did not bring them close. Come and see - the Holy One, blessed be He, brought Yitro close, but He did not choose him. He brought Rachav the prostitute close but He did not choose her. Happy are these that whom He brought close, even though He did not choose them. A [Roman] matron asked Rabbi Yose, "[Does] your God bring close whomever He wants (arbitrarily)?" [So] he brought a basket of figs in front of her and she would choose a nice one, she would choose it and eat it. He said to her, "You know how to choose, [does] the Holy One, blessed be He not know how to choose? The one whom He sees has good deeds, He chooses him and brings him close." Rabbi Nechemiah [said] in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Rabbi Yitschak, "Not all who are close are close, and not all who are distant are distant. There is one who is chosen and pushed off and brought close, [and] there is one who is chosen and pushed off and not brought close. Aharon was chosen - (I Samuel 2:28) 'And I chose him from all the tribes of Israel for Me as a priest.' And he was pushed off - (Deuteronomy 9:20) 'And with Aharon did the Lord get angry.' And it is written [after the event that the last verse cited was referring to] (Exodus 28:1), 'And you should bring close to you Aharon your brother.' Shaul was chosen - (I Samuel 10:24) 'Have you seen the one that the Lord chose?' And he was pushed off - (ibid., 15:11) 'I have regretted that I have crowned Shaul, etc.' And he was not brought close [again] - (ibid., 16:1) 'And I have been disgusted with him from ruling over Israel.' David was chosen - (Psalms 78:70) 'And He chose David, His servant.' And he was pushed off - (II Samuel 15:16-17) 'And the king went out, and all of household on his heels,... and they stood in Beit Merchak.'" Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, "They excommunicated him. Nonetheless, he accepted his excommunication. This is [the meaning] of that which is written, (II Samuel 15:30) 'and David went up to the Ascent of Olives, he went up and cried, and his head was covered.'" "And he was brought close [again]." Rabbi Yudan said, "Eira Hayairi, the teacher of David, brought him close. This is what David says (Psalms 119:79), 'Let those that fear You (yeirecha) return to me, and they that know Your testimonies' - ['they that know'] is written as 'he that knows,' [meaning that] Eira Hayairi was his teacher and brought [David] close." Rabbi Yehoshua of Sakhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi, "There are six that were chosen: the priesthood; the order of Levi; Israel; the monarchy of the house of David; Jerusalem; [and] the Temple. From where [do we know this about] the priesthood? Since it is written (I Samuel 2:28), 'And I chose him from all the tribes of Israel for Me as a priest.' From where [do we know this about] the order of Levi? As it is stated (Deuteronomy 18:5), 'As he was chosen by the Lord, your God.' From where [do we know this about]Israel? As it is stated (Ibid., 7:6), 'the Lord, your God, chose you.' From where [do we know this about] the monarchy of the house of David? As it is stated (Psalms 78:70), 'And He chose David, His servant.' From where [do we know this about] Jerusalem? As it is stated (I Kings 11:32), 'the city that you chose.' From where [do we know this about] the Temple? As it stated (II Chronicles 7:16), 'I have chosen and sanctified this house.'" David [meant to say in Psalms 65:5], "Happy is the one whom the Holy One, blessed be He, has chosen, and happy is the one that He has brought close. And who is the one who is doubly happy? The one that the Holy One, blessed be He, chose and brought close." And who is that? That is Aharon and [the tribe of] Levi. From where [do we know this about] Aharon? Since it is written (I Samuel 2:28), "And I chose him from all the tribes of Israel for Me as a priest." And from where [do we know] that He brought him close? As it is stated (Exodus 28:1), "And you should bring close to you Aharon your brother." The Holy One, blessed be He chose Levi, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 18:5), "As he was chosen by the Lord, your God." And from where [do we know] that He brought him close? As it is stated [here], "Bring close the tribe of Levi, and stand [it up]." And about them the verse (Psalms 65:5) says, "Happy is the one whom You have chosen and You have brought close, who dwells in your courtyards"; as you say (Numbers 3:7), "And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation, etc." [The continuation of Psalms 65:5 is:] "let us be satiated from the good of Your house" - that thy would eat from the tithes that were brought to the [Temple], as you would say (Numbers 18:21), "To the house of Levi, behold, I have given all tithe in Israel for an inheritance, etc."

(11) It is important to realize that the tribe of Levi who was ‎singled out by G’d to perform special religious duties on behalf of ‎the whole nation, was appointed twice. The male members of this ‎tribe became distinctive at the time they had completed the first ‎month of their lives. (Numbers 3,15) They were included in the ‎census already at that tender age, whereas the other Israelites had ‎to await their 20th birthday before they could be included in the ‎census. (Numbers 1,3).‎
The concept of 12 tribes [excluding the Levites, ‎Ed.] alluded to the commandments of the Creator handed ‎down in the Torah, and that is why they had been given the ‎collective name ‎מטות‎, “staffs,” as the commandments by which ‎Israelites guide themselves, and which are their main support ‎during their lifetime on earth serve as their support, [in the sense ‎of a walking cane.] They draw on this support to maintain and ‎reinforce their faith in G’d. Performance of the commandments ‎refines our intellect. The tribe of Levi is a special example of this ‎as pointed out in Bamidbar Rabbah 1,12 where the author of ‎the Midrash draws our attention to the fact that this tribe ‎had to be counted in the proximity of the Tabernacle, as it had ‎proven during the episode of the golden calf that it had absolute ‎faith in G’d, and although a tiny minority (about 5%) of the ‎nation, had risked their lives on behalf of G’d, by executing idol ‎worshipping members of the nation. (Exodus 32,27-28).
We already explained that there are two levels of faith in G’d, ‎and corresponding to that the Levites were counted on two ‎levels. (at 30 days, and again when they reached the age of 30 ‎years, (compare Numbers 4,23 et al) By that time their intellects ‎had matured to the extent that they could be described as their ‎faith in G’d reflecting the higher level. Their duties in and around ‎the Tabernacle made it mandatory that they had spiritually ‎matured enough to carry them out while thinking the ‎appropriate religious thoughts.‎
Initially, G’d had commanded Moses to teach the Jewish ‎people first about the Tabernacle, i.e. to instruct them in the ‎ways to have faith in G’d on the basic level, i.e. to believe that He ‎is the Creator of all phenomena perceived by the senses. The ‎visible symbol of that faith was the structure called ‎משכן‎. Only ‎afterwards was Moses to teach them about the furnishings in the ‎Tabernacle, the variety of attributes of the Creator, as symbolized ‎in the Tabernacle by the various vessels and furnishings, or in the ‎Torah by the various commandments. Moses, believing that the ‎Jewish people as a whole had already attained the second and ‎higher level of faith, considered it appropriate to acquaint them ‎immediately with the details of the vessels to be used in the ‎Tabernacle. Betzalel, having a more realistic view of the spiritual ‎level of his peers, considered that they should first become ‎familiar with more basic aspects of faith in the Lord as symbolized ‎by the structure called ‎משכן‎, Tabernacle.‎
Having said this we can also solve the problem raised by ‎Nachmanides in connection with Exodus 19,4 where the Torah ‎writes: ‎אתם ראיתם אשר עשיתי למצרים....ואביא אתכם אלי‎, “you have ‎seen what I have done to Egypt……. and I have brought you to ‎Me.” Nachmanides questions the wording there as at that point ‎the Jewish people had not yet experienced the revelation at ‎Mount Sinai and had not yet been given the Torah. We may best ‎understand this by remembering that while in Egypt the Jewish ‎people (the generation experiencing the redemption, not the ‎Israelites who had come to Egypt with Yaakov and their children) ‎had not believed in the G’d of Avraham at all, -to wit their failure ‎to circumcise their male children- so that the redemption was the ‎starting point from which their faith in G’d as the Creator and as ‎the G’d of Israel must be counted. True faith of the whole people ‎did not commence until the first day of the month of Sivan, when ‎for the first time, the Torah describes the Jewish people as united, ‎i.e. ‎ויחן ישראל ‏‎, “Israel encamped,” (singular mode) as opposed to ‎all previous encampments when the Torah always writes: ‎ויחנו ‏ישראל‎, Israel encamped, (plural mode). At that time they did not ‎know yet how to serve the G’d Whom they all believed in as the ‎Creator and as the G’d of their forefathers. This nuance is also ‎evident in Onkelos’ rendering the end of Exodus 19,4 ‎ואביא אתכם ‏אלי‎, usually translated as “I have brought you to Me,” as: ‎וקרבית ‏יתכון לפולחני‎, “I have brought you near to perform service for ‎Me.” ‎ ‎

(2) And Pharaoh said: Behold, the people of the land are now many (ibid., v. 5). R. Simeon the son of Yohai said: What did he do to them? He began to gnash his teeth furiously against them, and he called out to them, saying: You are idlers (nirpim) (ibid., v. 17). Nirpim means “uncleanness.” May his bones be ground up. “So you claim that you are holy men? and you say: Let us go (ibid., v. 17)?” R. Joshua the son of Levi said: The tribe of Levi was exempted from hard labor, and therefore Pharaoh said to them: “Perhaps it is because you are exempted from hard labor that you dare say: Let us go and sacrifice to our God (ibid., v. 8) (Get you unto your burdens.)

(10) The thing to remember is that in the month of Nissan we must arouse ourselves to repentance, just as in the month of Tishrei. For it is stated, “Draw and take for yourselves sheep, etc.” (Shemos 12:21), which the Sages interpret (Mechilta, Parashas Bo, 11:74), “Withdraw your hands from idolatry.” This applies not only to actual idolatry but to all the evil characteristics that are said to resemble idolatry as well. These include: pride and arrogance, turning a blind eye to charity and speaking falsehood. All these transgressions are all considered akin to idolatry. Therefore, since every person knows his own shortcomings, let each one remove these stumbling blocks before the arrival of the Passover season. For our Sages have declared that a person must purify himself on the festival (Rosh HaShanah 16b). This includes purification of the soul as well as the body. And in this merit may we be granted purification and the coming of our Moshiach and the prophet Eliyahu, Amein. — Based on the words of my teacher and mentor, Rabbi Yosef, z”l (Yesod Yosef, Chapter 83).

(13) Not only the tribe of Levi, but any one of the inhabitants of the world whose spirit generously motivates him and he understands with his wisdom to set himself aside and stand before God to serve Him and minister to Him and to know God, proceeding justly as God made him, removing from his neck the yoke of the many reckonings which people seek, he is sanctified as holy of holies. God will be His portion and heritage forever and will provide what is sufficient for him in this world like He provides for the priests and the Levites. And thus David declared [Psalms 16:5]: "God is the lot of my portion; You are my cup, You support my lot."
Blessed be the Merciful One who provides assistance.