ON THE PARSHA
Parshas BeMidbar

by Dovid Lipman, Jerusalem

The World Of The Supernatural

(3:16) "And Moshe counted them, according to the word of Hashem, as He commanded." Rashi says this is not a repetition - "according to the word of Hashem" means that when Moshe came to each tent, a heavenly voice told him the number of people, and this ENABLED him to do as he was commanded, to personally count all the Levi'im. The Lechem Abirim says the singular "Pekod" (as opposed to the plural "Se'u") hints that Moshe alone should count, as Rashi says later (pasuk 39) that Aharon's name is dotted, since he really took no part. This count was not with half-shekels, like the previous ones, because the general risk of any- thing counted (Bava Metz. 62a, that blessing comes only to hidden things) was augmented by the liability of the sin of the golden calf. The Levi'im were not guilty of that sin, and the Ohev Yisroel (in Pekudei, concerning the problem that the Mishkan itself was not "hidden") counting is safe when done by Moshe, who was the closest to Hashem, so those two factors enabled Moshe to count the Levi'im directly, as ordered, because Hashem really did the counting. (Moshe's humility stopped him from "showing off" his closeness to Hashem here, hence the need for the heavenly voice.)
(Condensed from the translation by Rabbi Dov Lipman)

A Time To Laugh

(1:10) "...for Ephrayim, Elishama son of Amihud..." Where was Yehoshua, leader of the next generation? Wasn't he more worthy to lead Ephrayim? The answer is that Yehoshua was still studying Torah under Moshe - he 'never left the tent' - and one does not take a man out of Yeshiva and make him go into politics.

Worthy Of Note

(3:45) "...and they [the Levi'im] shall be mine..." Although Levi is indeed singled out for the Service, the Rambam explains that Levi was also the spiritual core of the Jews, dedicated to learning Torah and attachment to Hashem their whole lives - but in this, the Rambam notes, they are not exclusive at all: "And not only the tribe of Levi, but any man in the world whose spirit propels him, and whose mind compels him, to become separated to stand before Hashem, to aid and serve Him, to know Him and act properly as He created him to, and who throws off the yolk of the many devices that men seek, he becomes sanctified as holy of holies; Hashem will be his portion eternally, and he will merit in this world that his needs be met, as was done for the Kohanim and Levi'im." (Mishneh Torah, Shmitah V'Yovel 13:13)

From the Gemara

(3:26) Zevachim 59b - Since the words for Mishkan and altar are juxtaposed, we learn that although the stated height of the altar is three amos, it was actually ten, like the mishkan itself (the "three" amos were for a certain PART of the altar).
(3:4) Yevamos 64a - If Nadav and Avihu would have tried to have children, they would not have died, from which we learn that this sin is punishable by death.
(1:1) Pesachim 6b - The order of the Torah is not always chronological, as we find here that the words of the second month precede those of the first month of the same year (9:1).

Rare And Unusual Words

(3:1) "Toldos". Normally "descendants", Rashi says that here we learn the principle that if a man teaches a boy Torah, it is like fathering him - how else are Aharon's children Moshe's descendants? This parallels the pasuk in the Sh'ma, "You shall teach them to your sons", which the gemara (Kidd. ~30) translates to refer to students.