Levi's Legacy
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Sefer Bamidbar is known as the Book of Numbers because it begins and ends with numbers, with a census of Bnei Yisroel and separate censuses of the Tribe of Levi. Interestingly, while Hashem commands Moshe to count Bnei Yisroel, all who will go out to battle, according to their families from the age of twenty, Moshe and Aharon should be assisted by a representative of each tribe. However, the tribe of Levi is not included in the national count, in the “legions /armies” of Israel. Hashem later does command Moshe to count Bnei Levi, but from the age of one month rather than from age twenty.
Between these two countings, of Bnei Yisroel and of Levi, Hashem lays out the mission of the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi are to be appointed to care for the Tabernacle and all its utensils, and to serve in the Tabernacle of Testimony
Why is Levi singled out for a separate count, especially with such a difference in age? A major reason may lie in the mission of Bnei Yisroel in contrast to that of Bnei Levi. Perhaps by going all the way back to the birth of Levi, the tribal patriarch, we can gain some insight into what Levi himself and, by extension, his tribe represents.
With the birth of each of the tribal ancestors, Rochel or Leah presented an idea or feeling that that son represented followed by the name she called him. When Levi was born, Leah indeed provided some insight, “This time my husband yeloveh/will become attached to me.” But then, the grammar indicates that he, not she, called him Levi. It is both the rationale behind the name and the possible identities of the “he” that will help us understand what Levi represents and why he was counted separately.
According to one medrash, it was Hashem Himself who named this child Levi, for Levi was the one destined for the priesthood, the one who would be charged with serving in the Beit Hamikdosh. When Bnei Yisroel accepted the Torah at Sinai, says the Medrash, angels came down with two crowns for each member of Bnei Yisroel, one crown for Naaseh/we will do and another crown for nishma/we will hear. But because of Levi’s special status and the gifts the kohein is entitled to receive from Bnei Yisroel, they received a third crown, that of the priesthood.
But priesthood is not just a status symbol. The priests, and all of the Tribe of Levi, are charged with creating, maintaining, and reinforcing our connection to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Indeed, the very name Levi means connection and attachment.
But it is also reasonable to assume that Yaakov, the father, named this baby. In that case, the baby’s mother is extrapolating from the name that her husband, Yaakov, wants to deepen his connection with her, posits Rabbi Wolbe. In that scenario, the relationship between the husband and wife is symbolic of the relationship of Hashem with Bnei Yisroel. As this child brought husband and wife closer to each other, so would his descendents strengthen the relationship between Hashem and Bnei Yisroel through his service.
The term levi connotes a specific kind of attachment. It is not merely a physical connection, but also an inner connection of emotions and caring. It is the trademark of a Jew who must always feel that he is never alone. The mitzvoth of escorting a guest to the door (and a little further), and escorting another on his final journey at death, literally, a levayah, arise from this concept. From the beginning of our history, first mankind, and then our Patriarchs walked with God. [In Gan Eden, God sought to walk with Adam, “searching him out” after Adam sinned. Why else was Hashem mithalech/walking with Himself in the Garden? CKS] The second father of mankind, Noach, walked with God/et Haelokhm hithalech Noach. Finally, When Hashem and Avraham Avinu entered into an everlasting covenant, and Hashem was about to seal the covenant with Avraham through circumcision, Hashem begins the dialogue with, I am Hashem, hit-halech lefoni/walk before Me...” Hashem’s message to Avraham and to all of us, Avraham’s descendents, is that we are never alone in this world, and we must always stay and feel the connection, feel Hashem walking beside us.
This emotional connection came into question when Bnei Yisroel left Egypt and were traveling to Sinai. They questioned, “Is God within us or not?” When the connection became a detached, intellectual discussion rather than a deep emotional conviction, when the connection was weakened, Amalek was able to attack. The coldness Bnei Yisroel felt toward Hashem was mirrored by the coldness of coincidence that Amalek introduced, asher korcha baderech. Bnei Yisroel had to do teshuvah for their emotional detachment and weak hands (refidim = refeh yodayim), and they had to travel to the fire of Sinai.
The Tribe of Levi represents the closeness to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. The tribal banners marked off each tribe’s position in the legions of Hashem, and each banner had upon it a symbol that represented that tribe’s essence. The emblem on the flag of Levi represented this relationship between Hashem and Bnei Yisroel, for it was an image of the ephod/breastplate that the High Priest wore. It was through this breastplate that Hashem would communicate with the High Priest with the messages for Bnei Yisroel. It was this relationship that gave Levi direct access and passage to Hakodosh Boruch Hu without additional red tape, writes Rabbi Ezrachi in Birkat Mordechai.
When Bnei Yisroel are being counted at the beginning of this Parsha, the Torah names a tribal leader who will accompany Moshe in the count of his tribe. But the leader and the Tribe of Levi are omitted. One could easily deduce that Levi would therefore not be included in this overall census, yet the Torah still makes a point of stating that Levi should not be counted, writes Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky. Further, when Hashem then commands Moshe to count Levi, the parameters change. Levi is to be counted from the age of one month, not twenty years, even though an infant could not yet serve in the Mishkan. What is the significance of this young inclusion in the census?
Rabbi Chaim Goldstein posits that there are two aspects to Levi’s mission in Bnei Yisroel. On the one hand, they were tasked with the service in and for the Tabernacle. While this would certainly need to wait until the baby was grown, a second level, however, related to the very essence of Levi. Levi’s essence is connection, and the Levites are intrinsically connected to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, a connection that begins at birth. The Leviim are connection itself ; they are not a job. Levi reminds us that we never walk alone, They are our model in how to connect to Hashem.
In Logic of the Heart, Logic of the Mind Rabbi Soloveitchik notes that each of the tribes had its unique character and mission that could generally only be actualized as an adult, upon reaching the age of twenty. For example, Yehudah was to conquer the land and establish a government, Zevulun was to establish trade routes and business, and so on. These were related to Hashem’s initial command and blessing to Adam, to capture the land. But later, in Gan Eden, Hashem gives Adam another gift and command, to guard the land and to work/cultivate it. It is through this work that one gains a chazakah, that one earns possession over the land. While conquering can only be achieved at some point of maturity, teaching and building, taking possession through inward toil, begins at birth. In fact, notes Rabbi Soloveitchik, conquering is generally the realm of men, while women have the gift of achieving through compassion, love and guidance. In fact, notes Rabbi Soloveitchik, this is the preferred path that Hashem envisions for the future, expressed in the woman’s morning blessing, “Who has made me according to His will.” These two different missions necessitated two different kinds of census.
To accomplish this goal, Hashem arranged the path of Levi so that they would not be enslaved in Egypt. They would then remain the root of Bnei Yisroel to ensure the survival of what characterized Bnei Yisroel. The “work” of the Levites during the enslavement was the study of Torah. When their census was taken in the desert, they numbered 22,000, to mirror the twenty-two letters of the aleph bet through which the Torah is written, writes the Be’er Moshe, the Ozhorover Rebbe.
The Leviim themselves then undergo a second census, this time for those actually available for service, a count of those from age thirty to age fifty. But there is a world of difference in the one word that differentiates the Leviim from the rest of Bnei Yisroel. In the census of the other tribes, the men are referred to as all that yotzei/go out to the legion. In counting the Leviim, the Torah refers to the men as all who bo/come to, who enter the legion. The Netivot Shalom points out that while the other tribes went out to war, to veer away from the evil of the yetzer horo, the Leviim represent peaceful acquisition after already having subdued this enemy. Their job is to go inward, to the inner recesses of the Mikdash and reinforce the connection to Hashem, asei tov. The Leviim were chosen for this task from the beginning, but any member of Bnei Yisroel can become an honorary member of Shevet Levi in this respect, in building the connections to Hakodosh Boruch Hu through partnering with Hashem in His work of caring for people.
When Levi was born, Yaakov foresaw his future role in connecting all of Bnei Yisroel to Hashem. Therefore, according to Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky, Yaakov named the baby Levi. When Leah heard the name Yaakov insisted on giving this baby, she interpreted it personally to mean that Yaakov wanted a closer relationship with her.
Since the Leviim were not enslaved, their sanctity must have precedes their non involvement in the sin of the golden calf, writes Rabbi Chaim Shmulevits. Their sanctity arises from Levi’s ability to create intimacy between husband and wife, and this ability, to bring closeness between people, and between God and mankind became Levi’s mission, already included in his name. As such, Yaakov Avinu designated Shevet Levi to continue the study of Torah in Egypt and perpetuate the legacy of Avraham Avinu.
The Shvilei Pinchas, building on the words of the Chasam Sofer and the Vilna Gaon, explores the significance of Levi and the lineage that continues through Kehat, to Amram, and then to Moshe and Aharon. Each force in the world has its counter force, notes Rabbi Friedlander, the Shvilei Pinchas. The counter force of Bnei Yisroel was Amalek, who rises to power when Bnei Yisroel is weak in Torah. The Tribe of Levi were the vessels to perpetuate the Torah. This relationship is alluded to in the names of Levi and these branches, Kehat, Amram, Mosheh, whose initials form the anagram AMaLeK. The final letters of these names give us the future destiny of Amalek, MITaH/death.
Then the Shvilei Pinchas goes further. He explains why the Leviim merited carrying the Tabernacle, and specifically the Aron Kodesh, on their shoulders. We already know that the Leviim were exempt from the servitude of enslavement. Yet Levi was not content to live a leisurely life while his brothers suffered. He therefore gave his three sons names that would identify them with the suffering of the rest of Bnei Yisroel, Gershon/Stranger, Kehot/Broken teeth, and Merori/Bitterness. Levi taught us that even if we ourselves are not personally affected by the suffering of our fellow Jews, we must nevertheless feel their pain, just as Hashem hinted to Moshe that He Himself is also suffering with us in our enslavement. Levi instilled in his descendents this tremendous sense of empathy for the suffering of others.
And this sense of empathy carried over to the ensuing generations. When baby Moshe was in the basket in the Nile, Pharaoh’s daughter heard a child crying. Our Sages hypothesize that Pharaoh’s daughter heard the child Aaron crying for his baby brother while older sister Miriam stood by watching and hoping for that baby’s salvation.
Moshe also inherited the empathetic gene. Although he grew up in Pharaoh’s palace, when he grew up, he went out of the palace purposely to “see the suffering of his brothers.” But he was not just observing. He wanted to feel their suffering, and he, a prince of Egypt, lifted a brick and joined the slaves in their labor. Because Levi/Moshe shouldered the load with his brother, the Leviim merited carrying the Ark on their shoulders; because he could cry with his brother, he would sing in the Beit Hamikdosh. Because one of the ways of acquiring Torah is through empathetically shouldering your brother’s load with him, Moshe merited carrying the Torah down to Bnei Yisroel. Even Hakodosh Boruch Hu Himself empathized with the suffering of Bnei Yisroel, keeping a sapphire brick under His throne as a constant reminder of the bricks Bnei Yisroel were forced to make, reminds us Rabbi Wolbe.
We too are called to bear the load in support of our brothers and thus emulate Hashem’s empathy, writs Rav Zev Leff. Our empathy is not meant to stop at feeling, but to become action. What can I do to ease my friend’s burden? Even when there is nothing concrete I can do, I can still pray for him, adds Rabbi Pliskin. In fact, the sign of a truly great man and leader is not his erudition, but his ability to feel the pain of others and try to alleviate it. [I recently heard that Dr. Jonas Salk refused to patent his vaccine against polio, the disease that ravaged the world and created social distancing in a previous generation. He claimed the vaccine belonged to the world. Dr. Salk was Jewish, but I don’t know if he was a Levite. May we soon find a vaccine for our current scourge. Unfortunately, it will undoubtedly be patented. CKS]
Moshe continued his empathy even after taking Israel our of Egypt. Although Moshe did not personally go into battle with Amalek, he stayed on the sidelines, raising his hands heavenward. He refused to sit comfortably, but sat on a hard rock so that he too would feel the discomfort of battle, tells us the Shvilei Pinchas, thereby reminding Bnei Yisroel of this trait on their way to eliminating the roadblock to obtaining the Torah.
Moshe sat on a rock, a boulder during this battle with Amalek. Rav Reiss suggests that this combination was Moshe’s way of incorporating the attributes of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs. Our Patriarchs are referred to as rosh tzurim/foundation stones, imparting the quality of conquest, of strength and logic. Our mothers represent sitting, slowly nurturing growth through feeling and emotion. For it was Moshe’s mother, Yocheved, who not only refused to kill the baby boys but nurtured them to ensure their survival. These traits Moshe kept on his mind and in his heart as Bnei Yisroel fought Amalek.
May our unity and power of empathy for others, exhibited so often in the current pandemic, lead us to a full, speedy redemption.