Shabbos Parashas Naso - 5780

Shabbos Parashas Naso - 5780

Rabbi Hal Miller

This is the work of the sons of the Gershonites in the Tent of Meeting, and

their charge shall be under the authority of Ithamar, son of Aharon the Kohen.

[Bamidbar 4:28]

A careful reading of our verse and a couple others like it leaves us with an interesting

question. The work of the portions of the tribe of Levi was assigned by family, indicating

a permanent situation, generation by generation. But the supervision of each part of

this work was assigned by name to Aharon's two remaining sons, with no indication of

what happens after their deaths.

Many commentators note the differences in the language of assignments to Elazar and

Ithamar (compare 4:16 with our verse). Ibn Ezra equates the two, Ramban distinguishes

and says Elazar was appointed the overall leader of the tribe of Levi. This debate seems

to indicate that this entire set of verses applies only to those living at the time, and not to

subsequent generations. If so, that would resolve our difficulty.

There are times the Torah is explicit, such as, "I establish My covenant with you and with

your offspring after you." [Bereishis 9:9] The relevant words are v'et zarachem achareichem,

"and to your seed after you" (plural). God is speaking "to Noach and his sons with him" yet

it refers also to those who will follow. But there are times when the Torah is not so explicit,

such as just a few verses later where "God said to Noach, This is the sign of the covenant

that I have established between Me and all flesh that is upon the earth." [Bereishis 9:17]

The Hebrew here reads, kol basar asher al ha'aretz, "all flesh that is upon the earth", but

clearly the statement applies to all following generations. Does our verse fall in the class

that requires explicitness or not?

By practice, we see that the Tent of Meeting operated in this fashion throughout the forty

years in the desert, beyond during the seven years of conquering Canaan, and apparently

for some time afterward. Maintaining this operational style, combined with the rules about

ages during which the Levi'im could serve, required a turnover as young men grew up and

old men aged out of the role of service covered by our parsha. These commandments then

applied to more than just the men counted on that day, they apply to the families including

sons not even yet born, but who would turn thirty during the forty years in the desert. But

there is no provision for turnover of the supervisors. This would only work if the intent of

our parsha is to apply just during the lifetime of Elazar and Ithamar.

Perhaps we can read our parsha as applying only during the days before settlement of the

land. Perhaps it applies only when God is in our midst but before the building of the

permanent Temple. There is no indication of either of these possibilities in the Torah.

Later, in Chronicles, Ezra, and elsewhere, the sons of Elazar and Ithamar are reportedly in

similar roles of leadership. Perhaps our verse actually intends to include the generations

following Aharon's two sons as is certainly the case for the Kehuna in general. One might

think the Torah would have been more clear on this point since it certainly was able to make

such distinctions in other places. What is different here?

Rambam maintains that the age boundaries stated for the service of the Levi'im here only

apply in the desert. Ramban says that they also applied in the Temple. If Rambam is right,

then by analogy we could say that our verse only applies to the Levi'im in the desert, in

which case by analogizing age and supervisors, specifying Elazar and Ithamar by name is

understandable. But if Ramban is the one who is correct, how do we sort this out?

Perhaps the end of our verse gives us the answer. In Hebrew it reads, u'mishmartam

b'yad Ithamar ben Aharon hakohen. Mishmar refers to a guard, one member or the whole

team who are on guard at any given time, supervision, authority, etc. B'yad means in the

hand of, by the hand of, or through the hand of. The Torah is not telling us that Ithamar

personally did all the supervision, rather that it was through him that the authority and

supervision was carried out. This could be read as including his descendants. We now have

an understanding that allows for continuation of the supervision of the Levi'im through all

future generations, whether in the desert or in Yerushalayim.