Parshat Behaaloscha 5785
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha about the selection of the Levi’im for their service in the Mishkan. After counting them and describing the tasks of the different families in the previous parshiyot, the parsha of the Levi’im begins with (Chapter 8, Pasuk 6), קח את הלוים מתוך בני ישראל וטהרת אתם. Take the Levi’im as a separate entity and purify them for their task. And the end of this parsha of the Levi’im states (Chapter 8, Pasuk 24), זאת אשר ללוים מבן חמש ועשרים שנה וכו'. The Torah teaches that the Levi’im work precisely from the age of thirty until fifty.
Rashi comments on this pasuk that there is a fundamental difference between Kohanim and Levi’im. Quoting the Baraisa from the Gemara in Chulin 24A, he says that by Levi’im, while physical defects, מומים, don’t exclude them from serving in the Mishkan, years do disqualify them. This is in contradistinction to the Kohanim for whom physical defects are a disqualification, while there is no limitation on years. Why is there an emphasis on age differences for Levi’im?
The Medrash Rabbah on our parsha, (15,11), teaches that there were seven strings on the harps used by the Levi’im, as the pasuk says in Tehillim (16,11), שבע שמחות את פניך; don’t read the word as sova, satiated with simcha, but rather as sheva, seven smachot. The Medrash continues, in the time of Mashiach, there will be eight strings on the harp, as the pasuk says in Tehillim (Chapter 6, Pasuk 1), למנצח בנגינות על השמינית. And in Olam Haba it will become a ten-stringed harp, as the pasuk says, also in Tehillim (Chapter 144, Pasuk 9), אלוקים שיר חדש אשירה לך בנבל עשור אזמרה לך.
The Sfas Emes explains that with each change in the time period, there is a change in the song. And there is also a new song each day, because each day has a התחדשות, a renewal, which requires a new song. The Medrash Tanchuma on Acharei Mos (9) teaches that the sun rises each day with a song, and explains that his is why when Yehoshua miraculously stopped the sun in Givon, the pasuk says (Chapter 10, Pasuk 12), שמש בגבעון דום. It doesn’t state that the sun stopped, עמד; rather it says it was silent. Yehoshua stopped the sun from its path of renewal and therefore silenced its song. And the Arizal teaches that each day has its own unique light and significance, different than any other day from the time of creation. No two days are the same.
It is taught in the Sefarim that there are three aspects in the world, עולם, שנה, ונפש; time, place, and soul. The unique souls in the world are those of Bnei Yisrael, and the uniqueness of place is Eretz Yisrael, the place which was divided among Bnei Yisrael. Shevet Levi, however, did not receive a portion in Eretz Yisrael. The Kohanim, instead of place, have a role focused on Nefesh, the holiness of the human. And as a result, any physical deformity disqualifies them. A בעל מום can’t do Avodah. But the age of a Kohen is not a factor.
But the Levi’im, who didn’t get a portion in place, in Eretz Yisrael, their focus is not on נפש but on שנה, on time. And this is why Levi’im are disqualified with time, i.e. age, and not for being a בעל מום. And the Ramban teaches, that the main Avodah of the Levi’im was שיר. And as we said, every day had its own שיר, and every time period has its own שיר. The Avodah of the Levi’im, therefore, changed from day to day.
Shabbos has a special song as well, as it says in Tehillim (Chapter 82, Pasuk 1), מזמור שיר ליום השבת. Shabbos contains aspects of Olam Haba; it’s מעין עולם הבא. Therefore, it says in the psalm of Shabbos (Pasuk 4), עלי עשור, like the ten-stringed harp of Olam Haba. And Shabbos contains within it aspects of all the days of the week, therefore we say on Shabbos שיר השירים. Shabbos is the song of songs, as Shabbos is the perfection and the ultimate experience of time, of שנה, in Olam Hazeh.
Good Shabbos
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