## Tur HaArokh, Numbers

###### Tur HaArokh, Numbers 17:2:1
[Tur HaArokh, Numbers 17:2:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Numbers/r/17:2:1)

**כי קדשו.**פירש"י והם אסורים בהנאה שהרי עשאום כלי שרת. כתב הרמב"ן ולא ידעתי טעם לאיסור הזה שהרי קטרת זרה הקריבו וזה שעשה כלי שרת להקריב בחוץ אינו מקודש אבל י"ל בעבור שעשו כן על פי משה היו קדש כי הקדישום לשמים שחשבו שיענה אותם האלקים באש ותהיינה המחתות האלה כלי שרת באהל מועד לעולם. והנכון בעיני כי אמר הכתוב כי הקריבום לפני ה' ויקדשו והיו לאות לבני ישראל כלומר אני הקדשתי אותם מעת שהקריבו אותם לפני כדי שיהי' לאות לבני ישראל:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
כי קדשו, “for they have become holy.” *Rashi* understands the word “holy” here in the negative sense, meaning that they are out of bounds to the people, that no one is allowed to derive private advantage of these remains as they have attained the same status as holy vessels in the Tabernacle.
 Nachmanides does not understand why these remains should have become forbidden for private use seeing that the incense offered by these two hundred and fifty men had never become sanctified, was not part of the sacrificial service. When something becomes sanctified for use outside consecrated grounds it is not holy in the true sense of the word. One may answer that when such items have become sanctified at the express command of Moses, they become truly holy as the 250 men had sanctified them for use in the service of heaven, believing that G’d would respond positively by means of heavenly fire consuming their offerings as it expressed their innermost desire to serve Him in the capacity of priests, their censers would all have become sanctified for all times.
 Personally, (Nachmanides speaking) I believe the Torah itself answers any of our doubts when it testifies that “these 250 men had used the censers to come closer to *Hashem* so that they had become holy, henceforth serving as a sign for the Children of Israel,” G’d says that He Himself had sanctified these censers.


###### Tur HaArokh, Numbers 17:5:1
[Tur HaArokh, Numbers 17:5:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Numbers/r/17:5:1)

**כאשר דבר ה' ביד משה לו.**כתב הרמב"ן הנכון שהוא חוזר על אלעזר הנזכר למעלה אמור אל אלעזר וגו' ופירושו ויקח אלעזר את מחתות הנחשת אשר הקריבו השרופים וירקעום צפוי למזבח כאשר דבר ה' ביד משה לו זכרון לבני ישראל וגו':

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
כאשר דבר ה' ביד משה לו, “as G’d said concerning him (Aaron) through Moses.” Nachmanides writes that the word לו refers to Eleazar who had been mentioned previously in verses 2 and 4, and who had been commanded what to do with the copper remains of the censers and who had made them into a cover for the altar. [The first half of the verse makes better sense if we understand the whole verse as confirming Aaron’s exclusive position as High Priest. Ed.]


###### Tur HaArokh, Numbers 17:6:1
[Tur HaArokh, Numbers 17:6:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Numbers/r/17:6:1)

**אתם המתם את עם ה'.**כתב הרמב"ן אונקלוס תרגם אתון גרמתון דמית עמא דה'. ר"ל שהאשימו אותם שנתנו העצה להקטיר קטרת זרה מדעתם שלא היה על פי ה' ואמרו הי' לכם לתת אות במטה או בדבר אחר כי ידעתם שהמקטיר קטרת זרה שהוא במיתה אעפ"כ אמרתם להם להקריבה. ור' אברהם כתב שאמרו מה ראיה בזה שנבחר שבט לוי ונבחר אהרן לכ"ג אפשר שבתפלתכם או בחכמה שידעתם שרפתם המקריבים וכן יראה שלא יאמינו אלא מענין המטה שנאמר בו והשכותי מעלי את תלונות בני ישראל אלמא שלא האמינו שנבחר אהרן והוחלפו הבכורים רק חשבו כי משה ואהרן גרמו השריפה או שהיתה העונש בקטרת שהיתה אש זרה וקטרת אהרן היתה קטרת הבקר. ולא היתה התלונה רק על השריפה ולא על הבליעה כי השם אמר למשה העלו מסביב למשכן קרח וזה רמז על פתיחת פי הארץ ומשה הגיד זה לישראל בשם ה' ודתן ואבירם היו חייבים יותר שהיו מלעיגים במלאכי השם. והנכון בעיני שהיו העם מאמינים בכהונת אהרן שכבר יצא האש מלפני השם ותאכל קרבנות אבל היו חפצים שיהיו הבכורים משרתי המשכן במקום הלויים שיהי' חלק לכל השבטים בעבודת בית ה' והיו מתלוננים אתם המתם את עם ה' שנתתם עצה שיקריבו אש זרה וקטרת ככהנים והם היו ראויים לעבודת לוייה לא שיהיו ככהנים מקריבי קטרת וזה טעם פרח מטה אהרן לבית לוי שהתלונה הי' על בית לוי:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
אתם המתם את עם ה', “you have killed the people of *Hashem.* Nachmanides points out that Onkelos by his translation of אתון גרמתון דמות עמא, i.e. “you have caused the death of the people,” that the accusation meant that by inducing the 250 men to offer the incense, Moses and Aaron had made themselves guilty of their deaths. The people did not believe that this suggestion by Moses had been either made at the command of G’d, or even with the silent approval of G’d, but had been of his own doing. They felt that the point Moses and Aaron were trying to make could easily have been made by a test such as the one with the staffs, and then no one would have had to die. They claimed that Moses must have known that presenting incense in an unauthorized manner would lead to the death of those offering it. Their accusation then was: “although you knew that following your suggestion meant that they would die, you still made this suggestion.”
 Ibn Ezra, taking a different approach, writes that the people rejected the notion that the death of the 250 men as well as the death of Korach and his family proved that G’d had selected the tribe of Levi over the firstborn, and that Aaron was His choice as High Priest. Moses may simply have prayed to G’d to kill the rebels, and in his capacity of prophet, an undisputed capacity, G’d had accepted his prayer. Ibn Ezra’s explanation makes sense seeing that the people accepted the ruling that Aaron was the chosen High Priest only after the staff representing the tribe of Levi had sprouted blossoms and produced almonds, as we have been told in Concerning that experiment, the Torah had written (verse 20) that *Hashem* would cause the complaints against Him to cease. According to Ibn Ezra, the people’s complaint at this stage did not refer to the descent below the earth of Korach and his cohorts, it only concerned the death by burning of the 250 people who had genuinely wanted to come closer to G’d by exercising the privilege to present an incense offering. After all, they had all heard (or understood) that G’d had told Moses that the people should remove themselves from around Korach, whereas no such instruction had been given concerning standing close to the 250 men. The guilt of Datan and Aviram, who had publicly ridiculed G’d’s appointed leaders was obviously even greater, so that no one challenged the fact that they had died for their sin.
 Personally, (Nachmanides writing) the correct interpre-tation of all the foregoing is that the people did believe that Aaron was G’d’s chosen priest, for they had observed previously that fire had come down from heaven consuming his incense without his coming to any harm thereby. What the people wanted was that the firstborn be allowed to continue performing secondary tasks in the Tabernacle, the tasks that had now been allocated to the Levites. Only in this way, did they feel, would all the tribes have representation in the Tabernacle and the service being performed therein. They accused Moses of having designed a test for the firstborn that would have equated them with the priests, something that they had not even aspired to, and as a result by their overstepping themselves Moses had caused the death of these 250 firstborn.


###### Tur HaArokh, Numbers 17:10:1
[Tur HaArokh, Numbers 17:10:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Numbers/r/17:10:1)

**הרומו מתוך העדה הזאת.**כתב הרמב"ן לא הבינותי טעם הפסוק הזה וחבירו למעלה הבדלו מתוך העדה כי יש כח לאלקים להמית בדבר רבים סביב צדיק אחד והוא לבדו נשאר כאשר היה בבכורי מצרים ונראה שיהי' הקצף יוצא להמית גם כל העדה במיתת החטאים האלה בפתיחת פי הארץ או באש מפני שנמשכו אחריהם והיו מכות כלליות להמית כלל העומדים שם ביחד זולתי אם יעשה נס שני בנמלטים. או שאמר הקב"ה כן לכבוד הצדיקים שכל זמן שהם בתוכם לא ישלח ידו בהם והכוונה באלה וכיוצא בהם להודיע שהם צריכים בקשת רחמים וכפרה ומשה הוא המזדרז לעשות כן:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
הרומו מתוך העדה הזאת, “remove yourselves from among this congregation!” Nachmanides commences his commentary by writing that he fails to make sense of this whole verse, as well as of the parallel verse in 16,20 where Moses and Aaron are also commanded to put physical distance between themselves and the complainants. Why was this necessary? Surely G’d possesses the power to kill many people and leave those whom He does not wish to harm alive and unscathed without their first having to “run for their lives!” G’d had demonstrated this power when killing the firstborn in Egypt while no Israelite firstborn had to run for his life. Even Egyptian firstborn hiding in homes of the Israelites would not have been spared. We must assume that in our situation G’d’s anger was directed at people who formed part of an assembly, as this was indicative of their sympathies being with the person or persons at the core of that assembly. In order to be saved one had to demonstrate by an act, such as the act of removing oneself physically from the rebels, that one did not share their attitudes.
 It is also possible that G’d issued these instructions not so much in order to save the righteous as to show them respect, as He did not feel free to kill the wicked while the righteous were still among them, trying to get them to desist from their rebellious attitude. Moses hastened to inform the innocent that they themselves were in need of mercy, and that if they did not separate themselves they would share the fate of the sinners.


###### Tur HaArokh, Numbers 17:17:1
[Tur HaArokh, Numbers 17:17:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Numbers/r/17:17:1)

**שנים עשר מטות.**ומטה אהרן הוא מכלל השנים עשר מדלא אמר בתר הכי ותקח מטה לוי ותכתוב עליו שם אהרן אלא אמר ושם אהרן תכתוב על מטה לוי שהוא מכלל השנים עשר מטות ולא חשב כאן יוסף אלא באחד שכיון שהוצרך למנות שבט לוי לא הי' יכול למנות יוסף אלא באחד שמעולם אין מנין שבטי ישראל אלא י"ב:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
שנים עשר מטות, “twelve staffs.” Aaron’s staff was included in the twelve, seeing that it does not say that Moses should take the staff of Levi and inscribe Aaron’s name on it, but it does say: “inscribe Aaron’s name on the staff representing the tribe of Levi.” In other words, there already was a staff representing the tribe of Levi. The tribe of Joseph was represented here by only one staff as it is axiomatic that the total number of tribes in the Jewish people would be 12 at all times.


###### Tur HaArokh, Numbers 17:17:2
[Tur HaArokh, Numbers 17:17:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Numbers/r/17:17:2)

**איש את שמו תכתוב על מטהו.**כתב הרמב"ן י"א שם ראש השבט ראובן שמעון ולוי והנכון שם הנשיאים ועשה אהרן ראש לשבט לוי:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
Nachmanides writes that there are some scholars who believe that the meaning of the words is that the names of the respective staffs were Reuven, Shimon, Levi, etc., but this is not correct. The names inscribed were those of the princes of each tribe at that time, i.e. Elitzur, Shlumiel, etc, and Levi’s prince was Aaron.


###### Tur HaArokh, Numbers 17:25:1
[Tur HaArokh, Numbers 17:25:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Numbers/r/17:25:1)

**למשמרת לאות לבני מרי.**פירש"י לזכרון שבחרתי באהרן לכהן ולא ילינו עוד על הכהונה. והקשה הרמב"ן שאין המטה אות אלא לשבט לוי שנבחר משאר השבטים אבל אינו ראיה לאהרן שנבחר להיות כהן ופירש הוא לאות על שבט לוי שנבחרו תחת הבכורים אבל אין צריך אות לאהרן שכיון שירדה האש לקרבנותיו ולקרח ועדתו לא ירדה אש אלא אדרבה נשרפו בהקריבם זה אות שאהרן נבחר להיות כהן. וזה טעם כי פרח מטה אהרן לבית לוי כי לכל בית לוי פרח ובזכותם והם לא היו מתלוננים אלא על שבט לוי שהיו רוצים שיהיו הבכורים משרתי המשכן במקום הלויים:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
למשמרת לאות לבני מרי, “as a safekeeping to serve as a sign for the rebellious ones.” *Rashi* understands this line as “a reminder that I have selected Aaron as My Priest, and that further complaints about the priesthood should cease.” 
 Nachmanides counters that the staff and its blossoming was a sign only that the tribe of Levi enjoys a special status among the other tribes, but it did not signify anything about the priesthood. He therefore understands the word לאות as a reference to the special status of the tribe of Levi. He claims that there was no need at all to furnish a sign that the priesthood belonged to Aaron, seeing that whenever heavenly fire descended on the censer of Aaron and he did not get burned by it this was sufficient proof that G’d approved of him in his capacity as High Priest. This is also the meaning of the words והנה פרח מטה אהרן לבית לוי, “here the staff of Aaron, member of the house of Levi blossomed.” Aaron’s position among the tribe of Levi, which was already special, flowered even further.