Parshas Beha'alosecha
Rabbi Dovid Zauderer
In the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, Parshas Beha’alosecha, we read how G-d commanded Moses regarding the sacrificial rituals that the Levites required as they assumed their new status as the substitutes for the firstborn in serving G-d and transporting the Tabernacle through the desert (see Numbers 8:5-26)
So I figured that it would be the right place to share with you the “Seven Things You Might Not Know About the Tribe of Leviâ€. I am sure that you’ll enjoy this … especially if you’re a Levite!
(1) The reason why the Levites were given a special status in serving G-d in the Tabernacle, thus [partially] replacing the firstborn, is because when the Jews were worshipping the Golden Calf, and Moses asked who would join him in carrying out death sentences against the idolaters, the entire Tribe of Levi stepped forward to do what had to be done (see Exodus 32:26-29).
(2) One of the more interesting rituals that G-d ordained as part of the initiation of the Levites into the service of G-d in the Tabernacle was the hanafah (“wave-serviceâ€). In Numbers 8:11, Aaron the High Priest was commanded to lift and wave all the Levites in all four directions. In verse 13 (ibid), Moses was told to do the same. The Midrash in Vayikra Rabbah (26:9) comments on the incredible strength and stamina that were needed for Moses and Aaron to lift bodily 22,000 Levites in a single day!
(3) In one place in this week’s Torah portion the Torah states that the Levites start their service from 25 years of age (see Numbers 8:24). Yet in Parshas Bamidbar (4:3), the Levites are only called to serve from 30 years of age! Rashi cites the Talmud in Chullin 24a that resolves the contradiction as follows: At the age of 25 a Levite enters “Levi School†where he studies the many laws and rituals of the Temple Service for five years. And at the age of 30 he enters the service. This is the source – says the Talmud – for the well-known adage that “if a student does not see progress in his studies after five years, he likely never willâ€.
(4) Maimonides, in his classic work Mishneh Torah, Laws of Klei HaMikdash (“The Vessels of the Templeâ€), discusses the duties of the Levites in the Holy Temple: â€Their service was to guard the Temple. Among [the Levities], there were gate-keepers who would open the gates of the Temple and close its doors. And there were singers who would accompany the sacrifices with song each day…There should never be less than twelve Levites standing on the ‘duchan’ [platform] each day to recite the songs over the sacrifices, and their number could be increased without end. The songs were song vocally without musical instruments, for the fundamental dimension of the song is vocalization. Others would stand on [the duchan] and play melodies with musical instruments: some of them were Levites and some of them were Israelites of distinguished lineage, fit to marry into the priesthood.. ..On what instruments would they play? On lyres, flutes, harps, trumpets, and a cymbal. On all the days of the festivals and on the Rashei Chadashim [New Moon], the priests would sound the trumpets while the sacrifice was being offered and the Levites would recite songs, as [Numbers 10:10] states: "On the day of your celebration, on your festivals, and at the beginning of your months, you shall sound the trumpets."
(5) All Levites descend from the Tribe of Levi, as do Kohanim (Priests). If your surname is Levi or Seigel, you are likely a Levite. [Many suggest that seigel is an acronym for s’gan levi, or “deputy Leviteâ€] I am not so sure about the actor Steven Seagal, though….
(6) Did you know that the Tribe of Levi has no portion in the Land of Israel? As Maimonides explains in Mishneh Torah, Laws of Shemitah Chap.13: “Although the tribe of Levi does not have an ancestral portion within the Land of Israel, 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. .. Why did the Levites not receive a portion in the inheritance of the Land of Israel and in the spoils of war like their brethren? Because they were set aside to serve G-d 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 G-d's legion, as [ibid.:11]: states: "G-d has blessed His legion" and He provides for them, as [Numbers 18:20] states: "I am your portion and your inheritance." What Maimonides is teaching us is that the Levites were meant to be the Rebbes and teachers of the Jewish people, who studied and taught Torah all day long, and who did not have to work for a living but rather lived off the ma’aser (tithes) that were given to them according to Torah law. [Maimonides (ibid.) adds that “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 G-d to serve Him and minister to Him and to know G-d, proceeding justly as G-d made him, removing from his neck the yoke of the many reckonings which people seek, he is sanctified as holy of holies. G-d 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]: ‘G-d is the lot of my portion; You are my cup, You support my lot.’"]
(7) The name of the wife of the “original “Levi (third son of Jacob and Leah, one of the “Twelve Tribes of Israelâ€) was Adina. So says an obscure Midrash named Sefer HaYashar (in Parshas Vayeishev). It also says there that the wicked Lavan’s wife was named Adina. [It also happens to be my oldest daughter’s name. Yikes!]
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