Life Lessons from this weeks Torah Portion “But, the Tribe of Levi do not count, nor shall you raise up their heads in the midst of the Children of Israel.” (Num. 1:49) Sefer Bamidbar is called Numbers because it begins with a command to count the Jewish People. Moshe immediately acted and counted the Jews. Upon completing the count, HaShem told him, “But, do not count the Tribe of Levi along with the rest of the Jewish People.” Huh? If HaShem did not want Moshe to count the Tribe of Levi, why not spell it out at the beginning? Also, since HaShem did not specify it beforehand, why didn’t Moshe count the Levi’im? The Ibn Ezra posits that Moshe acted on G-d’s command. The Avi Ezer explains the command was given previously, despite how it is written in the Torah. The Ramban, however, says that the command did, in fact, come afterwards. He says that Moshe did not count the Levi’im because while G-d appointed a leader to be involved in the counting for all the other tribes, for Shevet Levi He did not do this. Clearly, HaShem did not intend for them to be included in that count, so Moshe desisted. Now, once Moshe was left with all these uncounted Levi’im, HaShem directed him to count them differently as they would serve in the Mishkan, not in the army. The question remains why Moshe didn’t count them. Why did he need a leader from the Tribe of Levi? Moshe himself was from the tribe of Levi, and HaShem also commanded Aharon, the Kohain Gadol and the leader of Shevet Levi, to assist him. Moshe could have assumed that he and/or Aharon were to be the representatives of Shevet Levi and gone ahead with the count. The reason he didn’t, though, is precisely why they were counted differently. Moshe was humble and nearly always acted solely on the direction of HaShem. Aharon too, would not seek a position of power unless it was given to him by G-d. These men personified what it meant to be focused on spiritual matters. They didn’t want power or honor, they wanted to serve HaShem. Because of that, they didn’t count the Levites because HaShem had not specifically told them to consider themselves as the tribal leaders. People like that, like the Levi’im, are counted and considered on an entirely different scale. They are not sought after for their physical strength but for their spiritual greatness. That sets them apart from the average person, and so they were not included in the original command. Perhaps, this is what the Ibn Ezra means by saying that Moshe acted on the command of HaShem. While HaShem didn’t issue a direct command, the fact that He didn’t spoke volumes to Moshe about what he was supposed to do. Moshe would not act without a specific instruction and HaShem knew that. Therefore, there was no need to include the separate count of the Levi’im in the original command. We learn from Moshe’s example that when we focus on doing what HaShem wants, not what we might want for ourselves, we lift ourselves to a higher level and achieve a whole new way of making our lives and our service count.
Posted on: Thu, 22 May 2014 13:00:00 +0000
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