Shabbos Parashas Bamidbar - 5774

Shabbos Parashas Bamidbar - 5774

Rabbi Hal Miller

Thus shall you do for them so that they shall live and not die: when they

approach the Holy of Holies, Aharon and his sons shall come and assign them,

every man to his work and his burden. But they shall not come to look as

the holy is swallowed, lest they die. [Bamidbar 4:19-20]

The end of this week's portion gives a command to Moshe and Aharon that they

put some restrictions on the Kohath sub-tribe of Levi. Kohath were the ones

who carried the holy articles when the children of Israel moved from place to

place in the desert. Aharon was to assign each Levi to a specific task, then

the Kohanim were to ensure that the Leviim did not see the holy articles as

they were 'swallowed'. What does it mean that these items were 'swallowed',

and why were those who carried them not allowed to see them?

Ibn Ezra brings the plain meaning as, "they shall not come to look when the

Partition Curtain is removed and the Ark is exposed. They shall not come to

see altogether the removal of the structure when Aharon takes down the

Curtain."

In the Gemora [Sanhedrin 81b] it says that this swallowing refers to theft,

and that our pasuk is a warning against the Levite workers stealing some of

these holy items.

Rashi says that 'swallowed' means "inserted into its container". He then

writes, "Its 'insertion' is its being covered." Rashbam says that it refers to

the dismantling of the Sanctuary in the desert. He writes, "When the roof and

walls of the Tabernacles were being dismantled these furnishings would

suddenly be revealed to all."

Nechama Leibowitz explains that Rashbam stands alone. "Rashbam's view that

'the holy is swallowed' means dismantling or demolition, has met with little

acceptance, since one cannot compare the careful dismantling, piece by piece,

of the Tabernacle to the action of destruction and 'swallowing up'. For this

reason, Rashi's explanation is to be preferred, that it refers to the covering

of the vessels, placing each one carefully in its container. But the real

difficulty in the verse is not one of language, but of content. Our

commentators have been puzzled by this warning against gazing on the vessels."

Leibowitz discusses this warning, writing, "One of the approaches is that all

the Leviim would prefer the more prestigious and honorable tasks and neglect

the less responsible and more humdrum ones." This seems to follow from the

text about the Kohanim assigning tasks to each Levi. It explains "they shall

not come look", but it does not explain "lest they die".

Leibowitz explains that Rav Hirsch believed this was to prevent the Leviim

from allowing the "specialness" of the holy objects from wearing off. If one

sees the same thing time and again, one tends to think of it as 'regular',

and to treat it as 'regular' instead of 'special'. If the Kohathites lost the

feeling of awe with respect to the Tabernacle and its articles, they would

lose the awe for G-d Himself.

Abarbanel thinks that it has to do with Kareis, the spiritual death. If one

approaches G-d, whether Moshe on Mount Sinai or at the Burning Bush, or

whether the Kohen Gadol entering the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, or whether

the rest of us approaching Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, one must only

go where and when G-d directs. We cannot see Him and live, as the Torah

explained. G-d appears to the Kohen Gadol from just above the Ark, thus we

cannot "see Him", nor even His Place, and live.

Abarbanel also seems to understand this verse as a protection against human

nature. He finds that we naturally 'yearn' to see beyond our permitted

boundaries, thus might come to 'break through' those boundaries. Our verse

tells us that the punishment for doing so is severe.

The Torah in many places constructs a 'fence' for us, giving us directions

that will ensure we do not accidentally fall afoul of its commandments. The

loss to us is that if we violate the original commandment, we are also in

violation of the fence, thus receive double punishment. However, the converse

is also true. If we keep ourselves from violating the protective fence, we

also keep from breaking the protected commandment, and receive double reward.

Our pasuk can be summarized as teaching a lesson in understanding our own

role. We must do what is ours to do, and not worry about what is someone

else's to do. We are team players. We are not in control of the universe.

Fulfill your position on the team, and G-d will ensure our success.