In last week’s parsha, we discussed a census taken of the Jewish people. As we discussed, it wasn’t a census of *everyone.* It was a census of men ages 20-50 from every tribe except the tribe of Levi, the Levites. (Yes, one group of the Levites are explained in last week’s parsha, but the final 2 groups are detailed here, in Nasso!)

So this week we ARE counting the Leviim / Levites! Some of the Leviim, from the tribe of Levi, who are direct descendants of Aharon, Aaron, are known as Kohanim, priests. But all of the Leviim have the distinct honor of serving some way in the Tabernacle, the Mishkan, or being general teachers of Torah for the Jewish people.

But why are they being counted separately? Because they’re more special than you, that’s why!!! Well we have a few different explanations — that with their special privileges they deserve to be counted separately (as aforementioned), that Hashem knew Bnei Yisrael (the Children of Israel) would make some mistakes that kept them from entering the Land later, but wanted to make sure the Leviim were not included in the excluded group (because they didn’t participate in the Golden Calf / Chet HaEgel debacle), and also that the Leviim have their specific tasks of caring for the Mishkan (the Tabernacle) so they wouldn’t need to be counted in a census that’s for the purpose of assessing how many soldiers we had.

Like making a good stir fry, you can’t just throw everything in the pan and hope for the best! You have to fry everything separately and THEN combine. (To be honest, that’s a tip I JUST leaned … I still haven’t made a satisfactory, restaurant-grade stir fry but that doesn’t stop me from trying)

So, like a stir fry, everyone was fried … I mean COUNTED separately. And yes there are the 12 Tribes, Shvatim within the entire Bnei Yisrael, but even within the Leviim / Levites there are our 3 further groups. Within the Leviim, we have Bnei Gershoni (the Gershonites), Bnei Merari (Merarites), and Bnei Kehati (Kehatites).

What’s the difference you ask? Here we go!

Bnei Kehati had the most “lofty” service. They were tasked with transporting the Ark of the Covenant, the Aron HaBrit, which, as a reminder was this crazy golden covered wooden chest that contained the 2 tablets of the 10 Commandments, the Aseret HaDibrot, within it. They also were tasked with carrying the sacred vessels present in the sanctuary — the Menorah (for light), the Table (for the showbread), and the Incense Altar (for incense offerings). Even just the Ark must have been super heavy, with tons of gold, etc. But the work of Bnei Kehati wasn’t back-breaking labor — it was more spiritual. Our sages note in the Talmud that the Ark wasn’t a heavy object, but that the “Ark would carry its bearers.” The Ark existed in both our physical world, and in the spiritual world, which I guess means it only weighed half of what it actually did? Unclear, but that’s my hypothesis.

We also learn that the Leviim had the responsibility to serve as teachers, conveying Jewish teachings to the whole Jewish people. So when we learn that Bnei Kehati transmitted the Ark physically, they also transmitted its essence, too, through sharing Jewish teachings.

Now Bnei Merari - they actually were back-breaking laborers. They carried the boards and basic parts of the physical structure of the Tabernacle. If Bnei Kehati were the lofty group, Bnei Merari was the more tangible, accessible group.

Between these 2 is Bnei Gershoni. If the spiritual stuff is covered by Bnei Kehati, and the manual stuff is with Bnei Merari, then what does Bnei Gershoni do?

Cont’d…

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