Shabbos Parashas Bamidbar - 5777

Shabbos Parashas Bamidbar - 5777

Rabbi Hal Miller

Count the sons of Levi according to their fathers' household, according to their families,

every male from one month of age and up shall you count them. [Bamidbar 3:15]

Our parsha starts with a command to Moshe and Aharon to "take a census of the entire

assembly", then the verse qualifies it as males 20+ who go out to the army. But in verse

1:47, we get confirmation that the absence of Levi in the earlier list of tribes counted was

not a mistake. This is followed by a command to Moshe alone not to count Levi. Then, in

3:15, G-d sees to have changed His mind, and directs Moshe (alone) to count Levi after

all. What happened? Did G-d change His mind?

On 1:47, Nechama Leibowitz writes that "the Levites were not numbered, because of their

special role in the sacred service," and Rav Hirsch tells us that it was " G-d who took the

Levites out of the people to be in a special relation to Himself." In other words the tribe of

Levi has some extra level of sanctity above that of the other tribes. While such a conclusion

may be drawn from stories in the Torah, with Levi not subject to harsh treatment in Egypt,

with the Levites standing by Moshe during the Golden Calf, and replacement of the firstborn,

there are just as many counterexamples in the Torah, so this does not explain our question.

For instance, Yaakov's deathbed 'blessing' of Levi does not indicate special role, nor does

the lack of inheritance or the assignment as wandering teachers.

Ramban looks at the results of the census. There had to be a reason that the other tribes

all grew at fantastic rates during the time in Egypt, and Levi did not. Even moreso, when we

note that the census of Levi counted babies a month old, rather than only adults over 20,

the disparity is even more puzzling. He goes to some length to craft an explanation based

on the harsh work and the need for a miracle to prove to Egypt that their effort to diminish

the tribes would fail dramatically, and then adds a thought about Yaakov cursing Levi over

the Dinah affair. But neither of these fit the facts. The Levites did nothing that would cause

G-d to forsake them in His miracle about growth, and Shimeon was cursed along with Levi

over Dinah, yet did not have the same result in the census.

Clearly the counting of Levi did not follow the same rules as did the counting of the rest of

Israel. Why?

Rav Moshe Feinstein finds the answer in the counting from one month as opposed to the

age of 20. He says that even an infant is obligated in acceptance of Torah, and thus all Jews

should be counted at the age of one month, when a child is considered 'viable'. However in

the other tribes, whose work in the fields and other secular jobs could lead them astray, we

do not count until the child has grown to adulthood, age 20, and has proven his personal

acceptance. Levites, on the other hand, are committed to growing up in the Temple service,

in studying and teaching Torah, thus are much less likely to go astray. The counting of the

other tribes is in fact a leniency. Levi is held to the higher standard because they are

dedicated to a life of learning. Rav Moshe points out that today, all of us are supposed to

become Torah scholars, dedicated to that life of learning, regardless of our tribe. All of us

should be counted under the rules of Levi, rather than the leniency granted the others at

the time of the Exodus when Torah learning had not yet become widespread. Why was

Levi assigned this separate counting? Because of their replacement of the firstborn, who

had been the original group dedicated to Torah teaching.

G-d did not, Heaven forbid, change His mind. He gave two rules at that point, one for

the generic case at the time, and one for the future. The Torah had to separate them for

us to understand this.