Shabbat Parashat Bamidbar - 5782

Shabbat Parashat Bamidbar - 5782

Rabbi Hal Miller

Count the sons of Levi according to their father's house, according to their

families, every male from one month of age and up shall you count them.

[Bamidbar 3:15]

Our verse comes only a short time after 1:49 in the same parsha that directs

Moshe not to count the tribe of Levi. Is this a contradiction?

The answers of the commentators seem to fall into one of two categories,

either Moshe was to count everyone but to count Levi separately, or that the

purposes of counting Levi and counting the rest of the nation were different.

Based on verse 1:47 ("The Levites according to their father's tribe were not

counted among them"), Malbim writes, "only the tribe of Levi you shall not

count nor shall you take their headcount among the Jewish people. This

means that you should not count them 'among the Jewish people', but it does

not mean not to count them." Sforno adds that "they are distinct from the other

tribes in that they will be counted separately, according to different criteria."

Others look at this census as compared with the others, both earlier in time and

later, and note that this one is specifically intended to give the Jewish leaders

an understanding of what their military force should look like. Rashbam, for

example, says of Levi, "The reason why they were counted separately was that

they had never been meant to be a part of the military. Their duties were defined

in terms of their ministering to the needs of the Tabernacles." Since Levi is not

included in the military, there was no need to count them "among them". This

could be read either to honor Levi for their support of Moshe and God during the

golden calf incident, or to honor the rest of the tribes for their upcoming conquest

of the land. Rashi, for example, says, "The King's legion is worthy to be counted

by itself." Rav Hirsch refers to Levi with "as a body they form a community apart

from the natural community."

Certainly, counting Levi according to the rules the Torah sets forth would be

difficult if done in conjunction with the different rules for the other tribes. The tribal

leaders were to count their members between 20 and 50. No command was given

for a tribal leader from Levi to count, and those counted were from one month and

above, reinforcing the idea of separate purposes.

The key is what we see in 1:49, "you shall not take their census among the

children of Israel" that, as Malbim said, does not actually prohibit taking a count at

all, just separating Levi's count from the others.