ובא אהרן ובניו, “Aaron and his sons shall come, etc.” The sequence of covering up the furnishings of the Tabernacle was as follows: they would spread the dividing curtain over the Ark of Testimony; over this would be spread the tachash-skins which had been part of the roof; this in turn would be covered with a cloth made of techelet, blue wool. Next they would wrap the Table with a woolen cloth made of techelet. The appurtenances of the Table would also be wrapped in that cloth. These in turn would have an outer wrapping of tolaat-shani, scarlet-coloured wool. This in turn would be enclosed in the tachash-skins. The Menorah, candlestick, would be covered in an inner covering of techelet-coloured wool, and an outer covering of tachash-skins. They would cover the golden Altar with a techelet-coloured woolen cloth, and wrap it in tachash-skins. The copper Altar would be covered with a purple-covered woolen cloth. This in turn they would wrap in the tachash-skin. You will note that all the furnishings whether they were wrapped in techelet-coloured woolen cloth or different red cloths had an outer covering of tachash-skin around them. This was the same skin which formed the outer cover of the four layers of the ceiling of the Tabernacle and its appearance was familiar to everybody. The only furnishing the Torah did not want to enclose in that tachash-skin was the Holy Ark, preferring to have it wrapped in techelet-blue wool to remind the onlooker of the colour of heaven.

ופקודת אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן שמן המאור וקטורת הסמים, “and the task Eleazar son of Aaron the priest was charged with was the oil for lighting the Menorah and the Incense.” Nachmanides, commenting on the unusual expression ופקודת instead of ומשא describing the word “task,” writes that this indicates that as opposed to the Levites, especially the Kehatites who literally carried the Holy Ark on their shoulders, Eleazar did not actually carry these items mentioned here. He was in charge in a supervisory capacity, not physically carrying these items. However, from the Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 10,3 we get the impression that Eleazar personally carried the oil and the Incense. This was certainly a heavy load seeing that during some parts of the year the Incense consisted of 365 daily portions. The oil for the Menorah amounted to 183 login (at the time it had been prepared and mixed, slightly over 50 liters). It would have required super-human strength to carry these amounts [if indeed the full amounts of both ingredients were prepared at the same time. They were prepared only once a year, so that the stock decreased progressively. Ed.] Thus far the comment of Nachmanides.

According to my edition of the Jerusalem Talmud, Eleazar carried the oil in his right hand and the incense in his left hand. The daily quantity of the gift-offering he had hanging from his arm, whereas he had a small bottle of anointing oil suspended from his belt.

אל תכריתו את שבט משפחות הקהתי, “do not let the tribe of the Kehatites be cut off from the family of the Levites!” G’d commanded Aaron and his sons to warn the Levites, especially the sons of ‎Kehat, not to become guilty of the karet penalty. G’d thereby displayed especial concern for the Levites who had risked their lives for the holy name of G’d at the time of the golden calf episode. At that time they had executed all the errant Israelites who had actively worshipped the golden calf (Exodus 32,27).

A Midrashic approach based on the Mishnah in Makkot 23: The sages concluded from the wording in our verse that if someone is guilty of the karet penalty but has had 39 lashes inflicted upon him instead, he has thereby saved himself from the karet penalty. The Talmud bases this on Deut. 25,2 והפילו השופט, “the judge shall cast him down;” the Torah goes on to say: “he shall administer 40 lashes.” The Torah also writes (verse 3 ibid) ונקלה אחיך לעיניך, “and your brother will be degraded in your eyes.” The sages therefore derive from this that once a guilty Israelite has been degraded he is again considered “your brother,” Why did the Torah set the number of 40 lashes as the number of lashes to be administered [for violations of ordinary negative commandments for which the karet penalty does not apply. Ed.]? The reason is that a human being after 40 days in the womb of his mother is considered as “formed.” He subsequently violated a Torah law, i.e. the Torah which it took 40 days to teach Moses on Mount Sinai. It is appropriate therefore that when such a human being violates the Torah he should be punished by forty lashes. Having received such demeaning punishment he is considered as having discharged his guilt. You will find that something similar occurred with Adam. When Adam had transgressed G’d’s command not to eat from the tree of knowledge the world was subjected to forty punishments. This was divided into ten punishments for Adam, ten for Chavah, ten for the serpent, and ten for the earth itself. Ever since, when man transgresses G’d’s laws he is subject to forty lashes as punishment. The number 40 was therefore also applied to the generation of the Israelites in the desert when they sinned by accepting the report of the ten spies. G’d decreed that the punishment would extend over forty years.

משפחות הקהתי, “the families of the Kehatites.” The Torah deliberately did not write “the family (sing) of Kehat,” being aware that many of them would be members of the rebellion of Korach against Moses and Aaron. In spite of this foreknowledge, G’d said that every care must be taken not to cause the Kehatites to become guilty of serious sins. By writing the word אל תכריתו in this form the Torah added two letters (יו) of the name of G’d in order to append them to the name קהת. You may understand the idea behind this by means of a parable. A king had a son who kept bad company and eventually was arrested with the thieves he had joined. The king’s response was that at this time he would deal leniently with the thieves themselves seeing that his own son was also part of that group. However, he warned that there would not be a second time when such leniency would be practiced. This is also the meaning of Isaiah 48,9: “for the sake of My name I control My wrath; to My own glory I am patient with you and will not destroy you.”

ולא יבואו לראות כבלע את הקדש ומתו, “but they shall not come and look as the holy is dismantled, lest they die.” The meaning of the word כבלע is that something is being removed and canceled. (Ibn Ezra). We find the word used in a similar sense in Isaiah 3,12 ודרך אורחותיך בלעו, “they destroy the course of Your paths.”

According to the plain meaning of the text the meaning of the words ולא יבואו לראות וגו' is that when the dismantling of the Tabernacle is in progress prior to the Israelites breaking camp and beginning their journeys, there should not be nosy onlookers bent on feasting their eyes on beholding the holy vessels normally not visible as they are kept inside the Tabernacle.

A kabbalistic approach: the words ולא יבואו לראות כבלע mean that when the attribute of כבוד disappears and returns to its original domain in the celestial regions (at the time when its abode is being dismantled) one must not endanger oneself by trying to get a glimpse of it.

It is well known that throughout the year this attribute כבוד was detached from the cloud and resided in the Holy of Holies immediately above the lid of the Holy Ark, the כפורת. This is the meaning of the word “for in the cloud I will be ‘visible’ above the kapporet” (Leviticus 16,2). The Torah did not write כי אראה בענן, but כי בענן אראה. Had the Torah written the former I would have understood that G’d’s majesty would be visible within the cloud. The wording that the Torah chose however, suggests that on the way to earth the attribute of majesty is within the cloud only to detach itself from the cloud above the Tabernacle and to descend to the kapporet within the Holy of Holies. I have mentioned this already at the appropriate place. This was the reason why the High Priest was not allowed to enter the Holy of Holies except on the Day of Atonement. Even on that day he was not allowed to enter that part of the Tabernacle except equipped with the incense, the smoke of which made it impossible for him to see something he was not meant to see. This was also the reason he was not to enter with ready-made incense but he had to ensure that the smoke would be initiated inside the Sanctuary so as to fill the airspace within the Holy of Holies enveloping the kapporet, the site of the attribute of כבוד in the process. The Torah spells this out in Leviticus 16,13 “and the cloud of incense is to cover (envelop) kapporet which is above the Testimony.” This then is the reason why the Levites were warned here not to become guilty of beholding things which would cause their deaths, things which even the High Priest was never permitted to behold with his eyes. The matter is paraphrased by Chabakuk 3,4 ונוגה כאור תהיה קרנים מידו לו ושם חביון עזו, “it is a brilliant light which gives off rays on every side- and therein His glory is enveloped.”

שמחה לצדיק עשות משפט ומחתה לפעלי און, “It is a joy for the righteous to do justice; ruin will come to evildoers “ (Proverbs 21,15).

In this verse King Solomon informed us that the system of justice by means of which the universe continues to exist is a source of ruin and trepidation for the wicked and a source of joy for the righteous. The expression שמחה describes a greater degree of joy and happiness than expressions such as גילה, רינה, משוש, all of which also describe joy of varying degrees. The expressions just cited appear also in connection with the righteous in such verses as Proverbs 23,24: “the father of the righteous will rejoice greatly (גיל יגיל), he who fathers a wise child will be happy (ישמח) with him.” You will observe that Solomon described the joy of the righteous as גיל, whereas he used the expression שמחה in connection with the חכם, the wise. The reason is simply that the wise enjoys both the virtue of being righteous plus the attribute of wisdom. It is quite inconceivable that Solomon would sing the praises of a חכם who is wicked. In Psalms 32,11 David mentions three different kinds of joy in one verse writing שמחו בה' וגילו צדיקים, והרנינו כל ישרי לב, “Rejoice in the Lord; and exult O you righteous; shout for joy all upright men.” You will note that David reserved the term שמחה for association with Hashem; seeing G’d is so superior in virtuous attributes the highest form of joy is associated with His Being. After all, David did not write שמחו וגילו צדיקים בה', which would have meant that the righteous are to display both forms of joy in relation to Hashem. The meaning of the verse we quoted at the beginning is: the righteous has reason to be happy (שמחה) when justice and righteousness is being observed in the city and there is an absence of violence and robbery; if, however, there is oppression of the poor and robbery then the righteous will worry about it and will be upset about this as it is the nature of the righteous to care. The second half of the verse which speaks about the ruin means that the performance of justice will frighten the wicked of becoming ruined when the righteous admonish the wicked about their conduct pointing out that retribution is in store for them. They will be punished for the hatred they display against the practice of justice. In other words, the new dimension of insight revealed here by Solomon is that the very performance, i.e. prevalence of justice and righteousness spells doom for the evildoers. When the righteous observes this reaction of the evildoers he has cause to rejoice.

Solomon, by implication, exhorts us to be joyful when performing G’d’s commandments and when seeing others perform them. This is why he speaks about עשות משפט, “the dispensing of justice,” in the infinitive. He does not speak about particular people dispensing justice but refers to the phenomenon which when observed inspires great joy. Naturally, the joy which accompanies the performance of a commandment by an individual Jew is in a class by itself. Seeing that performance of the commandments is called עבודת ה', “serving the Lord,” we can understand what is written in Deut. 28,16 תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלוקיך בשמחה, “on account of the fact that you did not perform the commandments of the Lord your G’d with joy, etc.” When David writes in Psalms 100,2 עבדו את ה' בשמחה, “serve the Lord with joy,” he does not refer to the offering of sacrificial animals but to the performance of each and every commandment which it is our duty to perform. Joy is the ingredient which makes service of the Lord something perfect. This concept helps us understand the unusual phrase in Numbers 4,46 לעבוד עבודת עבודה. Concerning this expression our sages in Erchin 11 ask what kind of service this is that the Torah speaks of there. The answer given in the Talmud is that the Torah speaks of offering songs and hymns. The Levites are commanded to offer songs and encourage expressions of joy to accompany the sacrificial offerings. All of this was to ensure that joy is the prevailing sentiment accompanying service of the Lord. It is well known that the age of thirty is the age at which man is at the zenith of his physical power (Avot end of chapter 5). Beginning with the age of fifty our physical strength begins to decline. This is the reason that the years during which the Levites perform active service are between the ages of 30-50. How would he be able to offer song to G’d at a time when he feels that his physical strength is already beginning to ebb? This is also why we have been taught in Chulin 24 that although Levites who are afflicted with certain physical blemishes are not disqualified from performing their service, they are disqualified as soon as they are over fifty years of age. This is why the Torah writes in 8,25: “from fifty years of age he shall withdraw from the legion of work and no longer work.” This is also why the census of the Levites included the ones between the ages of 30-50 only.

נשא את ראש בני גרשון גם הם לבית אבותם למשפחותהם, מבן שלשים שנה ומעלה עד בן חמישים שנה, “take a census of the sons of Gershon, as well, according to their fathers’ household, according to their families.” The words גם הם mean that the same procedure which was observed concerning the census of the Kehatites was followed here. Although Gershon was the oldest of the sons of Levi, the Kehatites were counted first as they were entrusted with transporting the Holy Ark as well as other holy vessels. I have already mentioned earlier that just as the encampments of the twelve tribes were four, three tribes in each direction, so the Levites also were divided into four groups, the three sons of Levi (descendants) Kehat, Gershon, and Merari who were encamped around the Tabernacle in three directions, and Moses, Aaron, and his sons who had their tents to the east of the Tabernacle.

ומכסה התחש אשר עליו, “and the covering of tachash-hide which was above it.” The reason the Torah does not mention here the second type of skin-coverings of the Tabernacle, the ones of red-dyed ram skins, is because they were attached to the tachash-skins. Alternatively, the reason is that the Torah omitted same in the interest of brevity.

The task assigned to the Gershonides was relatively easy in terms of what they had to carry, as they had to carry woven materials, not heavy materials such as the Kehatites carried, or the heavy beams which the Merarites had to load unto the wagons. Ittamar was assigned the duty of supervising both the tasks to be performed by the Gershonides and those of the Merarites.

לעבוד עבודת עבודה, “to perform the work of service.” This is a reference to the song which in itself was a service to support another “service,” namely the sacrificial offerings (Erchin 11). This reflects what David said in Psalms 100,5: “serve the Lord in joy.” We have a clear verse that the offerings were accompanied by song in Chronicles Ii 35,15: “the Asaphite singers were at their stations, by command of David and Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, the seer of the king; they did not have to leave their tasks.” The “song” referred to was accompanied by music played with harps and percussion instruments. They used to sing the praises of the Lord at the times the daily public sacrifices were being offered on the Altar. Our sages (Erchin 13) discuss the details of the musical instruments such as the number of strings on the harp (lyre) being seven. They base this on Psalms 16,11 שובע שמחות את פניך, “In Your presence is perfect joy.” They suggest that instead of reading the word for “perfect” as sovea, it should be read as sheva, “seven,” [same spelling as letters without vowels. Ed.] According to tradition, when the Messiah will come the music played at the sacrificial offerings will be on an instrument with eight instead of seven strings. This is alluded to in Psalm 12,1 which commences with the words: “on the eight-stringed instrument.” In a still more distant period we envision a harp featuring ten strings as alluded to in Psalms 33,2 as well as 92,4. All of these details are discussed at the end of the second chapter of Erchin. [The relevance of these somewhat peripheral-sounding discussions is that our present universe is perceived as being based on the seven fixed stars, planets of pre-Copernicus astronomical principles, Ed.]. It is presumed that the general supervision exercised by G’d over all of mankind once the messianic age arrives will be increased to eight such planets. At a still later period, the period perceived as “the world to come” (in terms of resurrection of the dead), the world will enjoy supervision by G’d based on ten planets assigned that task. You should be aware that the entire subject of song being offered during the offering of the public sacrifices has not been spelled out anywhere until the time of David.

The number of Levites (of whom Scripture tells specifically as singing hymns) is eight. They were: אסף, הימן, ידותן ,איתן האזרחי,; this makes four. Add Levi, who is referred to here as בן “son;” this makes five; then there is the one called על הגיתית, a reference to the family of Gattit a song offered by that family who hosted the Holy Ark. (compare Chronicles I 13,13). This gives us six. Add the sons of Korach; this makes seven. Finally, there are the “sons” of Moses giving us a grand total of eight such “singers,” or better: “composers of songs and hymns” who were all Levites. These eight people between them used eight musical instruments. The instruments are known as:

1. נגינות (Psalms. 4,1).
2. מחלת, (Psalms. 53,1).
3. עלמות שיר (Psalms. 46,1).
4. משאת (Chronicles I 15,22).
5. נחילות (Psalms .5,1).
6. שושנים, (Psalms. 45,1).
7. גתית, (Psalms. 8,1).
8. שמינית, (Psalms 6,1).

על פי ה' פקד אותם ביד משה, “He counted them at the command of G’d to Moses.” When you compare the census of the Israelites with that of the Levites you will note that the expression: “at the command of G’d” does not occur in connection with the former. The reason this expression was introduced here was to draw attention to the attribute of Justice, an attribute closely associated with the tribe of Levi and its activities. This tribe was appointed to perform tasks which involved making sounds, raising their voices. The letter ש as in שיר, song, is by definition an allusion to שריקה, whistling, whereas the letter מ is by definition a letter which conveys the image of silence, דומם, or וידום אהרון, “Aaron remained silent” (Leviticus 10,3). We find a statement to this effect in the Sefer Yetzirah 6,1 where the significance of the three letters א-מ-ש is discussed. In addition to being assigned the function of singing and playing musical accompaniments during the offering of the daily communal sacrifices, the Levites were also charged with presiding over judicial matters and with mounting the security guard around the Tabernacle. The Levites were also permitted to slaughter the sacrificial animals seeing that the priests did not do this. There was a rule that the Levites and the Priests must not perform each other’s tasks, and moreover, according to the Zohar, it was conceptually not acceptable for the Priests whose function it is to prolong and preserve life to kill the animals by slaughtering them. The sages derive from the words ושחט אותה לפני,ו “he shall slaughter it in his presence” (Numbers 19,3), the rule that a non-priest slaughter the red heifer whereas the High Priest Eleazar was only to supervise the procedure. (Compare commentary by Recanati on Nasso, item 124,1) The apparent contradiction to other verses is resolved by suggesting that animals intended as private offerings were slaughtered by the owners whereas animals intended as communal offerings were slaughtered by the Priests. [Compare notes by Rabbi Chavell.] At any rate, in view of the various tasks performed by the Levites you will usually find the expression על פי ה', “at the command of the Lord,” in connection with such instructions.

I, (author speaking) am fairly convinced that the reason the count of the Levites included babies from the age of one month old is anchored in a mystical dimension of the word חדש, month. The mystical mystical dimension of “month” i.e. “moon” is that it governs by night. The function of the Levites which was a derivative of the attribute of Justice, an attribute predominately active at night, was to demonstrate the virtue of אמונה, “faith, loyalty.” We find this concept alluded to in Psalms 92,3 ואמונתך בלילה, “Your loyalty and dependability is best demonstrated at night.” [Moses contrasts חסד, loving kindness which is manifest by day, with the אמונה, “faithfulness,” which is manifest at night. Ed.]