PARSHA62 -41: Parasht Eikev

From: Yeshivat Har Etzion Office <office@etzion.org.il>
To: heb_roots_chr@hebroots.org
Subject: PARSHA62 -41: Parasht Eikev

YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
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PARASHAT EIKEV

"At That Time Hashem Distinguished the Tribe of Levi"

by Rav Amnon Bazak

A. Introduction

Our parasha provides an extensive description of the
sin of the Golden Calf (Devarim 9:10), concluding as
follows:

"At that time Hashem distinguished the tribe of Levi
to carry the Ark of Hashem's covenant, to stand
before Hashem to serve Him and to bless in His Name
until this day. For this reason Levi had no portion
and inheritance with his brothers; Hashem is his
inheritance, as Hashem your God told him." (10:8-9)

According to the literal reading of the text, the tribe
of Levi was selected in its entirety as a result of the
sin of the Golden Calf. As Rashi explains:

"'At that time' - in the first year following your
exodus from Egypt. Since you stumbled in the (matter
of the) Calf and the children of Levi did not
stumble, Hashem separated them from you."

The description of the tasks assigned to the Leviim - "to
stand before Hashem to serve Him and to bless in His
Name" - raises a question: are these not the functions of
the Kohanim? Rashi explains that the pasuk should be read
as two distinct parts:
".to carry the Ark" - the Leviim
"to stand before Hashem. to bless in His Name" - the
Kohanim.

This explanation, however, does not sit well with
the literal text, which mentions "the tribe of Levi" as a
whole and makes no distinction between Leviim and
Kohanim. In fact, even the continuation of the text -
"For this reason Levi had no portion and inheritance with
his brothers." - refers to the tribe of Levi as a whole.
On what basis does Rashi decide that just these two
specific expressions - "to serve Him" and "to bless in
His Name" - refer only to the Kohanim?

Secondly, we may ask: was the selection of the tribe
of Levi really a response to the sin of the Golden Calf?
After all, the selection of the Kohanim is described at
length in Shemot 29 (prior to the description of the sin
of the Calf in chapter 32), where it states, "And Aharon
and his sons I shall sanctify to serve as priests to Me"!
Even according to Rashi, who maintains (Shemot 31:8) that
the sin of the Calf preceded the command to build the
Mishkan, and that the events of chapter 32 of Shemot
chronologically precede those of chapter 29, the Torah
still shows no evidence of linking the selection of
Aharon and his sons as Kohanim to the sin of the Golden
Calf, which is described only later. It would seem, then,
that at least concerning that which we are told in our
parasha - "to stand before Hashem to serve Him" - the
selection was made independently of the sin of the Golden
Calf!

B. Two Aspects to the Selection of the Leviim

The uncertainty discussed above indeed reflects two
different aspects of the selection of the tribe of Levi
as described in the Torah. Let us examine each aspect
individually:

1. The first selection, as mentioned, appears in Shemot
28-29. There Aharon and his sons are selected for
priesthood, and - according to the literal text - with no
connection to the sin of the Calf. Aharon is selected for
priesthood because of his personality and his merits, and
his descendants are to follow in his footsteps:

"And the sanctified garments that are for Aharon
will be for his children after him, to be appointed
in them and TO BE CONSECRATED IN THEM." (Shemot
29:29)

The continuation of this aspect is to be found at
the beginning of sefer Bemidbar (chapter 3). Up until
this time there have been two different ranks of holiness
within the nation: the Kohahim - "who were consecrated to
minister" (pasuk 3), and the firstborn - "for Mine is
every firstborn; on the day that I smote every firstborn
in the land of Egypt, I consecrated to Me every firstborn
of Israel" (pasuk 13). Now we read that the tribe of Levi
replaces the firstborn:

"Bring close the tribe of Levi and present them
before Aharon the Kohen, and they shall serve him.
And they shall keep his charge and the charge of the
entire congregation before the Tent of Meeting, to
perform the service of the Mishkan. and you shall
give the Leviim to Aharon and to his sons; they are
given over to him from among the children of
Israel." (Pesukim 6-9)

The Leviim are a sort of gift from Bnei Yisrael to assist
the Kohanim in their service, their task being defined as
"keeping his charge." The chapter describes at length the
process of exchange between the firstborn and the Leviim,
the crux of the command being, "You shall take the Leviim
to Me, I am Hashem, in place of all the firstborn of Bnei
Yisrael." The selection of the Leviim is therefore
carried out no earlier than "the first day of the second
month of the second year" (Bemidbar 1:1), and comes as a
second stage, following the selection of the Kohanim.
This selection is elaborated upon once again in Bemidbar
18, after Korach and his congregation undermine the
legitimacy of the Kohanim and Leviim, and there again it
is emphasized that "Behold, I have taken your brethren,
the Leviim, from among Bnei Yisrael for you as a gift
they are given to Hashem, to perform the service of the
Tent of Meeting." (pasuk 6)

2. However, there is also another aspect to the
selection of the Leviim, differing not only in character
but also in its relation to the status division between
Leviim and Kohanim. This aspect first appears in the wake
of the sin of the Golden Calf: Moshe calls at the gate of
the camp, "Whoever is unto Hashem - come to me!" (Shemot
32:26), and all of the tribe of Levi answer his call.
Moshe commands them to slaughter their brethren in the
midst of the camp, and after they obey his command, he
tells them:

"CONSECRATE YOURSELVES this day to Hashem, each
man
against his son and against his brother, that He may
bestow a blessing upon you this day." (pasuk 29)

This expression - "consecrate yourselves" - also appeared
in the first aspect that we described above, in Shemot
29:9 - "and to be consecrated in them." The phrase
"consecrate oneself" (le-malei yadayim) means, apparently
(as Rashi explains on 32:29) - "You, who slaughter them
for this matter, shall be consecrated to be priests to
the Holy One." And it seems that it is this aspect to
which the pesukim in our parasha refer, where after the
description of the sin of the Golden Calf the text reads:
"At that time Hashem distinguished the tribe of Levi.."
According to this aspect, the tribe of Levi was selected
as a whole, with no division or distinction between
Leviim and Kohanim!

It appears, then, that if only this aspect were
presented in the Torah, then all the Leviim would indeed
engage in the tasks mentioned in these pesukim - "to
stand before Hashem to serve Him, and to bless in His
Name," since the selection of the Leviim in light of this
aspect was not a "gift" to the Kohanim but rather the
result of a special property of the tribe of Levi as a
whole.

C. Continuation of This Aspect in sefer Devarim

It would seem that this second aspect that we
described is what appears throughout sefer Devarim.
Explicit expression of this is to be found in chapter 18,
pesukim 6-8:

"And if a Levi should come from one of your gates
from anywhere in Israel where he lives, and his soul
desires to come to the place that Hashem has chosen,
then he shall serve in the Name of Hashem his God
like all his brethren, the Leviim, who serve there
before Hashem. They shall eat like portions, except
for that which comes from the sale of their
patrimony."

The literal text would seem to suggest that any Levi can
come to the Beit Mikdash and serve in the most superior
position - the type of service that bestows the right to
eat of the sacrifices. Here too, Rashi - following the
Sifrei - explains that the text is referring specifically
to a Levi who is also a Kohen. But as we have stated, in
sefer Devarim the second aspect stands out, giving the
impression that all of the tribe of Levi was selected
wino division between Leviim and Kohanim at all.

The same idea may be understood from Moshe's
blessing to the tribe of Levi prior to his death (Devarim
33:8-11):

"And to Levi he said, Your 'urim ve-tumim' shall be
unto Your pious one. who said to his father and to
his mother, 'I have not seen him,' who did not
acknowledge his brothers and did not recognize his
children, for they kept Your word and followed Your
covenant. They shall teach Your judgments to Yaakov
and Your Torah to Israel; they shall offer incense
before You and burn sacrifices upon the altar."

Here, too, the tribe of Levi is depicted as a whole, with
no indication of any special status reserved for Kohanim.
The selection of the Leviim here results, obviously, from
the sin of the Golden Calf - ".who said to his father and
to his mother, 'I have not seen him'" (in accordance with
the interpretation of Rashi and Ramban). Here again, this
selection makes mention of the functions of priesthood:
the 'urim ve-tumim,' the incense and sacrifices. Hence we
infer that the intention here is that the entire tribe of
Levi is fit for the highest status in the Beit Mikdash.

This would also appear to explain the unusual
expression, "The Kohanim the Leviim," which appears five
times in the Torah - all of them in sefer Devarim (17:18;
18:1,8; 27:9), as well as "the Kohanim - children of
Levi" which appears twice (Devarim 21:2; 31:9). These
expressions would seem to imply that there is in fact no
difference between Kohanim and Leviim, except for their
practical definition: a "Kohen" is a Levi who serves in
the Beit Mikdash. In light of what we learned in chapter
18, it is clear that any Levi can come to the Beit
Mikdash and thereby become a "Kohen."

There are only two places in sefer Devarim where the
expression "Kohanim" appears without mention of "Leviim,"
but in both instances the reason for this is clear:

1. 18:3 - "And this shall be the law of the KOHANIM from
the nation. and he shall give the KOHEN the shoulder and
the cheeks and the maw. for Hashem your God has chosen
him. to perform the service in Hashem's Name."

Here the "Kohanim" are mentioned specifically, since the
text refers to Leviim who are serving in the Beit
Mikdash. Only someone who is actually serving in the Beit
Mikdash is entitled to receive the priestly gifts. As
stated, immediately following these pesukim the Torah
teaches that any Levi can serve in the "place that Hashem
will choose": "And he shall serve in the Name of Hashem
his God like all his brethren, the Leviim." This lends
further support to our impression that in sefer Devarim,
"Kohen" means a Levi who is serving in the Beit Mikdash.

2. 17:12 - "And a person who acts willfully and fails to
heed the KOHEN who stands to serve Hashem your God. that
person will die." This, too, only strengthens our claim,
since just a few pesukim previously we learn, "And you
shall come to the Kohanim the Leviim. and they shall tell
you the matter of judgment" (pasuk 9). Here again, the
"Kohen" mentioned in pasuk 12 is a Levi who is serving
before Hashem.

Further proof for our claim is to be found in the fact
that throughout all the halakhic portions of sefer
Devarim, no mention is made of Aharon's name at all;
neither is there any mention of "the children of Aharon,"
an expression which in the other chumashim refers to the
Kohanim. In sefer Vayikra, for example, the expression
"children of Aharon" with reference to the Kohanim
appears more than twenty times!

D. Combination of the Two Aspects

Thus far we have learned that the selection of the
Kohanim and Leviim has two different aspects to it: the
first refers to the initial selection of the Kohanim,
children of Aharon, and later on the Leviim were added in
place of the firstborn, for tasks on a lower level than
those of the Kohanim. The second refers to the selection
of the tribe of Levi as a whole, following the episode of
the calf, to serve before Hashem, with no distinction
between Kohanim and Leviim, other than the fact that
"Kohen" means "a Levi serving in the Beit Mikdash."

But when it comes to the practical application of
their respective status, it becomes clear that both
aspects together form the necessary condition for the
status of priesthood. Ultimately, a Kohen who performs
the priestly service in the Beit Mikdash must meet two
conditions: he is a member of the tribe of Levi, and he
is a descendant of Aharon.

For this reason, the aspect described in sefer
Devarim does not find any practical expression. This
aspect depicts the selection of the entire tribe of Levi,
and if this were the sole criterion then the Leviim would
indeed stand before Hashem to serve Him and to bless in
His Name, as our parasha suggests. But in practice there
is an additional aspect, depicting the Kohanim as the
descendants of Aharon exclusively. For this reason the
literal description of the Levite status described in
sefer Devarim has no practical expression.

At the same time, it should be emphasized that when
Rashi, following Chazal, interprets the pesukim in sefer
Devarim as pertaining exclusively to the Kohanim ("to
stand before Hashem to serve Him and to bless in His
Name" in our parasha, as well as in chapter 18), his
intention is not thereby to interpret the literal meaning
of the text in sefer Devarim, but rather the COMBINATION
of the two aspects described in the Torah IN PRACTICE.
Hence, from the perspective of the combination of aspects
contained in the choice of Leviim, the conclusion that
arises from the Written Law itself is that in effect
these pesukim refer only to the Kohanim who are
descendants of Aharon.

However, this explanation as the practical law does
not contradict the written text, which describes only one
aspect of the nature of the priesthood.

Shabbat shalom.

YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH
ALON SHEVUT, GUSH ETZION 90433

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