ואלה תולדת אהרן ומשה AND THESE ARE THE OFFSPRING OF AARON AND MOSES — But it mentions only the sons of Aaron! But they also are called the sons of Moses because he taught them the Torah. This tells us that whoever teaches the Torah to the son of his fellow man Scripture regards it to him as though he had begotten him (Sanhedrin 19b).

ביום דבר ה׳ את משה IN THE DAY THAT THE LORD SPAKE TO MOSES did these children (these of Aaron) become his (Moses’) children, because then for the first time he taught them what he heard from the Almighty.

על פני אהרן [AND ELEAZAR AND ITHAMAR MINISTERED] BEFORE THE FACE OF AARON — i.e. during his lifetime (cf. Rashi on Genesis 11:28).

ושרתו אתו [BRING THE TRIBE OF LEVI … BEFORE AARON] THAT THEY MINISTER UNTO HIM — And wherein consists their ministering?

ושמרו את משמרתו THAT THEY SHALL KEEP HIS CHARGE — Because the care of the Sanctuary, viz., that no stranger should approach it, was committed to his charge, as it is said, (Numbers 18:1) "Thou and thy sons, and thy father’s house with thee, shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary”, (which Rashi explains to have reference to the iniquity committed by a “stranger” in approaching the holy things), and these Levites aided them — this therefore, was their ministering [alluded to here].

ושמרו את משמרתו AND THEY SHALL KEEP HIS CHARGE — Any post to which a person is appointed and the duties of which he is bound to carry out is everywhere in Scripture and in the Mishnaic idiom called משמרת, an office, a charge. For example, it is stated in the story of Bigthan and Teresh that when they were conspiring against Ahasuerus one said to the other (Megillah 13b): "But surely my official duty (משמרתי) is not the same as your official duty (משמרתך) and therefore we can never meet to put our plans into execution!" Similar, also, is its use in the phrase ,משמרות כהונה ולויה “shifts for duty of priests and Levites”.

ואת משמרת בני ישראל [AND THEY SHALL KEEP ALL THE VESSELS OF THE TENT OF MEETING] AND THE CHARGE OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL — It is called “the charge of the children of Israel” because all of them (all the Israelites) were really bound to care for the needs of the Sanctuary, only that the Levites took their places as representing them. For this reason they (the Levites) received from them the tithes as a reward, as it is said, (Numbers 18:31) “for it (the tithe) is your hire in exchange for your service”.

נתונים המה לו THEY ARE GIVEN UNTO HIM as a help.

מאת בני ישראל has the same meaning as FROM AMONG THE MIDST OF (מתוך) THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, that is to say, they have been set aside from among the rest of the congregation for this purpose by a decree of the Omnipresent, and it is He who gave them (the Levites) to him, as it is said (Numbers 8:19) “And “I” have given the Levites as a gift [to Aaron]”.

ואת אהרן ואת בניו תפקד AND THOU SHALT CHARGE AARON AND HIS SONS — The word תפקד is an expression for “appointing” and not an expression for “counting” (although it is Kal, and usually “appointing” is expressed by the Hiphil of the verb; cf. Rashi on Numbers 1:50).

ושמרו את כהנתם AND THEY SHALL KEEP THEIR PRIESTS OFFICE — the receiving of the blood in holy vessels, the sprinkling of it, the burning of the fat and the other rites which are entrusted to the priests’ charge.

ואני הנה לקחתי AND I, BEHOLD I HAVE TAKEN [THE LEVITES FROM AMONG THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL] — This means: And I — whence do “I” claim the right on them from among the children of Israel, that the Israelites should have to hire them (cf. Rashi on v. 8) for My service? It is through the firstborn — to whom I surely have a title — that I have a claim on them (the Levites) and so I take them in their (the firstborns’) stead. For originally the service (the priestly functions) was performed by the firstborn, but when they (the Israelites and among them their firstborn too) sinned by worshipping the golden calf they became disqualified, and the Levites who had not worshipped the idol were chosen in their stead (cf. Zevachim 112b).

מבן חדש ומעלה [NUMBER THE CHILDREN OF LEVI … EVERY MALE] FROM A MONTH OLD AND ONWARDS — As soon as it passed the age of a non-viable child (a full month was regarded as the utmost time such a child can live) it can be counted to come under the term “keeper of the holy charge”. — R. Judah the son of R. Shalom said: It is quite the usual thing with this tribe to be included in a census from their very birth, for it is said, (Numbers XXVI 59) “[And the name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi], whom her mother bore to Levi in Egypt” — which is explained to mean that she bore her just as she entered the gates of the border-city of Egypt and yet she is counted among the seventy souls which came down with Jacob into Egypt (cf. Genesis 46:27 and Rashi thereon), because if you count their number (as set forth in Genesis 46:8—27) you will find that they were one short of seventy, and it was she whose name is not mentioned there who made up the number seventy (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Bamidbar 16).

על פי ה׳ [AND MOSES NUMBERED THEM] ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF THE LORD — Moses said to the Holy One, blessed be He, “How can I enter their tents to ascertain the number of their babes?!” Thereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, replied to him, “You do your share and I will do Mine!’ Moses accordingly went and stationed himself at the entrance of each tent, the Shechinah having gone there beforehand, and a divine voice issued from the tent, saying, “So-and-so many babes are in this tent”. It is on this account that it states, “[and Moses numbered them] according to the word (by the mouth) of the Lord” (Numbers Rabbah 3 9).

לגרשון משפחת הלבני OF GERSHON, THE FAMILY OF THE LIBNITES — that is to say: Of Gershon, those who were numbered were the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimites; and the section concludes with the statement (v. 22) “those who were numbered of them were so-and-so many”.

המשכן THE DWELLING — i.e. the lower curtains (those which were spread immediately over the boards of the Tabernacle).

והאהל AND THE TENT (the word has not its usual meaning of “tent”; cf. Rashi on Exodus 26:7—12) — i.e. the curtains of goats’ hair that were made as a roofing (to cover the lower curtains).

מכסהו THE COVERING THEREOF — the covering made of rams’ skins and tachash skins (cf. Rashi on Exodus 35:11).

ומסך פתח AND THE SCREEN FOR THE ENTRANCE — i.e. the Veil (cf. Rashi on Exodus 35:12).

ואת מיתריו AND THE CORDS OF IT — This means: those of “the dwelling” (the lower curtains) and of “the tent” (the upper curtains), and not those of the enclosure (חצר) mentioned in this verse [although some of these are stated in Numbers 4:26 to be in charge of the Gershonites].

משפחת בני קהת יוחנו … תימנה THE FAMILY OF THE SONS OF KOHATH SHALL ENCAMP … SOUTHWARD — and next to them was the division of Reuben who, too, were encamped in the South (cf. Numbers 2:10) — “Woe to the wicked, woe to his neighbour!” It was on this account (on account of the friendship caused by this proximity) that some of them (the Reubenites) — Dathan and Abiram and 250 men (who were also mostly Reubenites, cf. Rashi on Numbers 16:1) — were punished together with Korah and his congregation, (cf. Numbers 16:32 ff.), because they were dragged into the quarrel with them (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 12).

והמסך AND THE SCREEN — i.e. the Partition Veil, for it, too, (cf. Rashi on v. 25) is called מסך in the phrase (Exodus 40:21): פרכת המסך.

ונשיא נשיאי הלוי AND [ELAZAR THE SON OF AARON THE PRIEST WAS] THE PRINCE OVER THE PRINCES OF THE LEVITES — i.e. he was appointed over all of them. And in regard to what was his overship?

פקדת שמרי משמרת THE OVERSIGHT OF THEM THAT KEEP THE CHARGE [OF THE SANCTUARY] — i.e. by him was the appointment of all of these.

משה ואהרן ובניו [BUT THOSE THAT ENCAMP BEFORE THE DWELLING … SHALL BE] MOSES, AND AARON AND HIS SONS — and adjacent to him was the standard of the camp of Judah, and next to the latter were encamped Issachar and Zebulun — “Well is it with the righteous, well with his neighbour!” Because they (the sons of Judah, Issachar and Zebulun) were the neighbours of Moses who occupied himself with the Torah, they themselves became eminent scholars in the Law, as it is said, (Psalms 60:9) “Judah is my lawgiver”; (I Chronicles 12:32) “and of the children of Issachar which were men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel had to do [the heads of them were two hundred]” — i.e., two hundred heads of the Sanhedrin; and (Judges 5:14) “and out of Zebulun came those that handle the pen of the writer” (Midrash Tanchuma, Bamidbar 12).

אשר פקד משה ואהרן [ALL THAT WERE NUMBERED OF THE LEVITES] WHOM MOSES AND AARON NUMBERED — There are dots on the word Aaron to indicate that he was not among the number of the Levites (Bekhorot 4a; Sifrei Bamidbar 69:2 on Numbers 9:10).

שנים ועשרים אלף [ALL THE MALES FROM A MONTH OLD AND UPWARDS WERE] TWENTY AND TWO THOUSAND — But in the enumeration of them given above you will find three hundred more — the sons of Gershon 7500 (v. 22). the sons of Kohath 8600 (v. 28), the sons of Merari 6200 (v. 34), making 22,300! Why, then, did Scripture not include them in the sum total together with the others, when they, too, might have redeemed the firstborn of the Israelites (i.e., when each of the 300 might also have served the purpose of replacing a firstborn Israelite, as did the other 22,000; cf. v. 41), and thus the 273 firstborn Israelites who were in excess of the sum total of the Levites as given by Scripture, (the sum total of the firstborn having been 22,273, whilst the Levites, as summed up by Scripture, were only 22,000) would not have required redemption at all (cf. vv. 46—48)!? To this our Rabbis gave the reply in Treatise Bekhorot 5a: those three hundred Levites in question were themselves firstborn, and it was quite sufficient for them to do one thing — that they should free themselves from the necessity of ransom.

פקד כל בכר זכר … מבן חדש ומעלה NUMBER ALL THE FIRSTBORN OF THE MALES [OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL] FROM A MONTH OLD AND UPWARDS — as soon as he (the firstborn) has passed the age when it might possibly prove non-viable (Numbers Rabbah 4:3; cf. Rashi on v. 15).

ואת בהמת הלוים וגו׳ AND [THOU SHALT TAKE] THE BEASTS OF THE LEVITES [INSTEAD OF ALL THE FIRSTBORN AMONG THE BEASTS OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL] — The beasts of the Levites did not redeem the firstborn of the clean beasts belonging to the Israelites, but only the first offsprings of their asses (cf. Bekhorot 4a). One lamb of the Levites (it must be remembered that for the redemption of פטר חמור a lamb is prescribed; cf. Exodus 13:13) could, however, release several first offsprings of asses belonging to Israelites. You may know that this is so, for it (Scripture) mentions the number of firstborn Israelites in excess of the number of Levites in the case of human beings, but mentions no number of firstborn animals belonging to the Israelites as being in excess over the lambs of the Levites, [although there were undoubtedly many more firstborn asses of the Israelites than ordinary lambs of the Levites] (cf. Bekhorot 4b).

ואת פדויי השלשה וגו׳ AND AS FOR THOSE THAT ARE TO BE REDEEMED [OF THE TWO HUNDRED THREESCORE AND THIRTEEN etc.]… [THOU SHALT TAKE…] — This means, “and as for those firstborn who are yet to be redeemed among them (the Israelites), viz., the 273 who were in excess among them, being more than the 22,000 Levites, of them thou shalt take חמשת שקלים לגלגלת FIVE SHEKELS BY THE POLL, such, viz., twenty pieces of silver, was the selling price of Joseph who was Rachel’s firstborn. (Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim 2:4; Genesis Rabbah 84:18).

העדפים על פדויי הלוים THE OVERPLUS THAT WERE MORE THAN THOSE REDEEMED BY THE LEVITES means, that were more than those whom the Levites redeemed by their own person.

חמשה וששים ושלש מאות ואלף A THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND THREESCORE AND FIVE — This is the total sum: five shekels per head for two hundred firstborn if one thousand shekels; for seventy firstborn is three hundred and fifty shekels, and three firstborn give fifteen shekels, — thus altogether 1,365. — He, (Moses) said, “How shall I proceed? Any firstborn to whom I will say, “Give five shekels’ will answer me, ‘I am one of those redeemed by the Levites’!” What, then, did he do? He brought 22,000 tablets and inscribed them with the words “A son of Levi”, and 273 tablets, and wrote upon them the words “Five shekels”. These he mixed up, putting them into an urn. He said to them, “Come and draw your tablets and decide the matter by lot” (Sanhedrin 17a).