So what\u2019s the story behind the numbers?<\/p>\n
Ten basic approaches follow (there must be more.) They range from the rational to the mystical, the mundane to the sublime, the textual to the utter midrashic.<\/p>\n
1. Ramban(2)<\/a> #1<\/u>:<\/b> The Levi\u2019im were not enslaved (3)<\/a>. Thus they did not merit the blessing of commensurate inverse multiplication described in Shemos (1:12, as they were oppressed so they multiplied ka\u2019asher yeanu oto kein yirbeh<\/i>)<\/p>\n 2. Ramban #2<\/u>:<\/b> The Levi\u2019im fell prey to the curse of Yaakov (4)<\/a>.<\/p>\n 3. Rashi(5)<\/a>, Chizkuni<\/u>:<\/b> The Levi\u2019im mishandled the Holy Ark, a fatal mistake.<\/p>\n 4. Be\u2019er Yosef\/R.Chaim Vital<\/u>:<\/b> The Egyptians prevented the Jews from observing mikveh<\/i>. Miraculously (R. Chaim Vital) or naturally (trauma), the women of Israel that were subject to servitude, did not experience their menstrual cycle \u2013 thus obviating the need for mikveh and allowing them to procreate more freely. The Levi\u2019im who were not subject to servitude did not receive this blessing<\/p>\n 5. Beis Halevi (same notion referenced by Kli Yakar)<\/u>:<\/b> \u2013 The Levi\u2019im were supported by the rest of Klal Yisroel. To ease their financial burden, Hashem kept their numbers low.<\/p>\n 6. Kli Yakar (6)<\/a> #1<\/u>:<\/b> A pruning process was necessary to ensure that only the righteous would engage in the mikdash<\/i> service<\/p>\n 7. Kli Yakar # 3<\/u>:<\/b> \u2013 God\u2019s most precious commodities are the rarest. (Consider Bnei Yisrael vs. the world)<\/p>\n 8. Netziv (7)<\/a> #1<\/u>:<\/b> For deep philosophical reasons, Hashem requires greater accountability for the righteous in this world. The Levi\u2019im always kept the Torah and were held to a higher standard(8)<\/a>. 10. Ohr HaChaim, Kli Yakar<\/u>:<\/b> As a response to Pharaoh\u2019s decree of killing the male first born children, the Levi\u2019im following Amram\u2019s lead, separated from their wives. Even when Amram returned, his was a unique situation dictated by prophetic initiative (9)<\/a> and thus they remain separated. Bnei Yisrael, however returned to their wives.<\/p>\n Each answer has its problems(10)<\/a>. Each approach has its take home lesson\/s. In many solutions, one can see the remarkable Divine sense of humor(11)<\/a> that davka<\/i> multiplies the downtrodden masses \u2013 those whom Pharaoh took aim at diminishing and ultimately destroying.<\/p>\n I find myself drawn to the final approach \u2013 one that centers upon a halachic question. In this approach, it is not the Divinely choreographed circumstance (e.g. Levi\u2019s lack of servitude) that dictates the distinct destinies of Levi and Klal Yisrael; it is rather the human response to that difficult reality. We might characterize the Levi\u2019im as adopting a separatist<\/i> approach while the rest of the Jewish people ultimately remained family<\/i> oriented.<\/p>\n The separatists did not want to accomplice murder(12)<\/a> – the inevitable result of bringing a boy into the world (pre designer genes). Bnei Yisrael reasoned that such logic, reductio ad absurdum<\/i>, surely spells the death knell of the Jewish people. \u201cYour decree is worse than Pharaoh \u2013 for you have decreed on the males and females\u201d is the poignant refrain of little Miriam(13)<\/a> to her father Amram. Her argument is philosophical not halachic. Surely Amram knows there is a distinction between active murder and passive non procreation. Refraining from having children doth not murder make.<\/p>\n Having children that most likely will be brought to slaughter is an entirely different matter. Ay, you might ask: \u201cwhat will be of our people\u201d if we don\u2019t procreate? It\u2019s a shtarke kasha<\/i> (a good question). The answer must be: B\u2019hadei kavshei d\u2019rachmana lamah lach<\/i>. Why meddle in God\u2019s affairs? Do what\u2019s right and God will provide. It is not our job to reason why \u2013 it is ours to do or die.<\/p>\n Who was right? Bnei Yisrael or Shevet Levi? Stunning parallels can be brought in examining Holocaust responsa. Is the right approach Kiddush Hachaim or Kiddush Hashem? Of course, they need not always be exclusionary \u2013 but at times these approaches will surely collide.<\/p>\n Those mirrors on the kiyor<\/i> (holy basin) in the Mishkan (Tabernacle) might illuminate (14)<\/a>. To Moshe they were initially repulsive, to Hashem, they represented the righteousness of the great women of Israel, who in the darkest days, allured their husbands to ensure the perpetuity of the Jewish people. In their merit, we were redeemed. Those mirrors, Hashem says to Moshe are the most precious to me \u2013 they must be on the kiyor<\/i>.<\/p>\n Ah hah! – So Bnei Yisrael were correct!?<\/p>\n Netunim netunim heima li b\u2019toch bnei Yisrael<\/i>(15)<\/a>. For the tribe of Levi is dedicated to me \u2013 from amongst klal yisrael<\/i>. They are My dedicated workers in the mishkan\/mikdash. Ironically, it is their descendants that wash from the kiyor<\/i>.<\/p>\n So whose right – Shall the numbers decide? I care not of numbers \u2013 says God! I chose you \u2013 didn\u2019t I? Lo merubcham chashak Hashem bachem ki atem hameat mikol ha\u2019amim<\/i>(16)<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the end of the days, the Talmud relates that Hashem will draw a circle<\/i> with the righteous pointing to him and proclaiming this is the God that we had pined for \u2013 let us rejoice in His salvation<\/i>. And what\u2019s wrong with a triangle \u2013 the answer, proclaim the meforshim<\/i>, is that on the circle each of the infinitely unique points are equidistant (and thus equal) from the center. Different approaches with equal validity \u2013 with one caveat \u2013 that everyone is looking at the center.<\/p>\n Good Shabbos,\u00a0Asher Brander<\/p>\n FOOTNOTES: <\/a>2. Ramban, Bamidbar 3:14 Rabbi Asher Brander is the Rabbi of the Westwood Kehilla, Founder\/Dean of LINK (Los Angeles Intercommunity Kollel) and is a Rebbe at Yeshiva University High Schools of Los Angeles<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Three statisticians go deer hunting with bows and arrows. They spot a big buck and take aim. One shoots and his arrow flies off three meters to the right. The second shoots and his arrow flies off three meters to the left. The third statistician jumps up and down yelling; We got him! We got<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":43614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-torah"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n9. Netziv #2<\/u>:<\/b> A tree grows slowly until it finally produces fruit. The taller and more prominent the tree, the longer it takes before it bears fruit. Man is like a tree. The Levi\u2019im were the tallest of all trees.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a>1. chart courtesy of VBM of yeshivat har etzion<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/ou-images\/content\/brander_bamidbar_vbmchart.jpg\")
<\/div>\n
\n<\/a>3. Cf Rashi, Shemos 5:4 for an expansion
\n<\/a>4. Bereishis, 49:6
\n<\/a>5. Bereishis, 29:34; Chizkuni, Bamidbar 26:62
\n<\/a>6. Bamidbar, 3:39
\n<\/a>7. ibid
\n<\/a>8. Even before it was given to the masses, there were always individuals who had a Mesorah of Torah. See Netziv, 32:26. Rambam – Yesodei Hatorah
\n<\/a>9. Whether Amram return to Yocheved because of Miriam\u2019s compelling logic or because of prophecy seems to be a tension within Sotah 12a vs. 12b. See Maharsha
\n<\/a>10. E.g. Kli Yakar asks on #1 from a midrash that implies Bnei Yisrael\u2019s population preceded their servitude. On # 2: Who said Yaakov\u2019s curse was meant to diminish population and why didn\u2019t it apply to Shimon ? # 3: The ark only came later on. Etc.
\n<\/a>11. Cf. Rashi Shemos, 1:12. Kli Yakar expresses this theme within Ramban in a beautiful way: \u05e0\u05e8\u05d0\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d4\u05d5\u05e1\u05d9\u05e3 \u05d1\u05d5 \u05d1\u05d9\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u05db\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d4\u05e8\u05d1\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05dd \u05d4’ \u05e0\u05d2\u05d3 \u05d4\u05d8\u05d1\u05e2 \u05e8\u05e7 \u05db\u05d3\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d4\u05e4\u05e8 \u05e2\u05e6\u05ea \u05d2\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d1\u05e7\u05e9\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d4\u05de\u05e2\u05d9\u05d8\u05dd \u05e2”\u05d9 \u05d4\u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05d9 \u05d5\u05e8\u05e6\u05d4 \u05d4’ \u05e9\u05d9\u05d1\u05e6\u05e8 \u05de\u05d4\u05dd \u05db\u05dc \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d9\u05d6\u05de\u05d5 \u05dc\u05e2\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea. \u05d5\u05d0\u05d3\u05e8\u05d1\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e8\u05d1\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05dd \u05d7\u05d5\u05e5 \u05de\u05df \u05d4\u05d8\u05d1\u05e2 \u05db\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d5\u05dc\u05d9\u05d3\u05d5 \u05e9\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d1\u05db\u05e8\u05e1 \u05d0\u05d7\u05d3 \u05d5\u05d9\u05db\u05d5\u05dc \u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea \u05e9\u05d6\u05d4\u05d5 \u05d3\u05e2\u05ea \u05d4\u05e8\u05de\u05d1”\u05df
\n<\/a>12. This is Ohr HaChaim’s formulation; the gemara (sotah 12a) implies that futility of effort was their driving logic \u2013 lashav anu ameilim<\/i>
\n<\/a>13. Sotah 12a
\n<\/a>14. Shemos 38:8. Cf Rashi
\n<\/a>15. Bamidbar, 8:16
\n<\/a>16. Devarim, 7:7<\/p>\n
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