1. What is the lower and upper age to be included in the census of the Leviim? What is the lower and upper age to be included in the census of Bnei Yisrael?
2. Which was the largest shevet? Which was the smallest shevet? Why is the last answer really a half truth? What is another answer that is only superficially correct?
3. Could someone sleep over at a friend’s house in the Midbar?
4. What was the order of travel.
5. What is the optimal percentage of Klei Kodesh, of people who are dedicated exclusively to avodas Hashem?
6. Which uncle of Moshe had the same name as a city.
7. In a six member family, five had names beginning with aleph.
8. The first Kohanim got their kedusha through anointment after they were appointed. How did the first Leviim get their kedusha?
9. Pidyon Haben is five shekalim. In the parsha of Arachin, last week, we learned that the erech of a child between thirty days and five years is five shekalim. Is the pidyon five shekalim because that is the child's erech when the mitzvah of pidyon goes into effect?
10. Who covered the Keilim of the Mishkan before travel?
11 Besides the ones in charge of the covering, who watched them being covered?
12. Why by Klal Yisrael does it say kol yotzei latzava, but by Kehas it says kol habo latzava.
13. Who carried the kevesh, the ramp of the mizbei’ach.
14. Can a Kohen become tamei for his Rebbi?
1. What is the lower and upper age to be included in the census of the Leviim? What is the lower and upper age to be included in the census of Bnei Yisrael?
There were two counts of Levi. In 3:15 it says
פקד את בני לוי לבית אבתם למשפחתם כל זכר מבן־חדש ומעלה תפקדם
מבן שלשים שנה ומעלה ועד בן חמשים שנה כל הבא לצבא לעבדה באהל מועד
As for Bnei Yisrael, in 1:3 it only says to count from twenty and above. There is no explicit upper limit.
מבן עשרים שנה ומעלה כל יצא צבא בישראל תפקדו אתם לצבאתם אתה ואהרן
But the Sforno here, the Ramban in Bamidbar 26:64, the Shita in BB 117b dh Mikan, and is the pashtus of the Gemara in BB 121b that there the phrase esrim shana va’maala is a gzeira shava those words in Erchin, where above sixty is strictly separate from below sixty, and so here, too, the upper age was 60 years. Tosfos in BB 117b says not like this, but as I said, the Shita there brings from Gilyon Tosfos like the Ramban/Seforno.
See שקל הקדש-ר חיים קניבסקי,דף ד ציון הלכה עז ,
Even though it says כל יצא צבא בישראל, and it stands to reason that you wouldn't fight in the army if you were over sixty, there were plenty of jobs to be done besides fighting.
2. Which was the largest shevet? Which was the smallest shevet? Why is the last answer really a half truth? What is another answer that is only superficially correct?
Largest, Yehuda, 74,600.
Smallest, Menashe. But that is not really true, because while they were smallest individually, they were the two sons of Yosef, and together totaled 72,700, more than any other shevet other than Yehuda.
The "technically correct/it really doesn't mean that" answer is in 4:18, where the family of Kehas is called a shevet.
אַל תַּכְרִיתוּ אֶת שֵׁבֶט מִשְׁפְּחֹת הַקְּהָתִי מִתּוֹךְ הַלְוִיִּם
(Reb Meir Simcha says that the word "shevet" for the Kehas family was a promise that their family would exist forever, just as is promised to each Shevet.
אל תכריתו את שבט משפחות הקהתי. רמז במלת שבט, שמשפחת הקהתי שקול כשבט, וגמירי דלא כלה שבטא (ב"ב קט"ו), וזה הוא שנאמר לו והקמותי בריתי את זרעך אחריך כו'. וכמו שאמרו בפלגש בגבעה ולא יכרת שבט מישראל. ולכן מרמז כי שקול כמו שבט. ועיין מדרש.
3. Could someone sleep over at a friend’s house in the Midbar?
Not if the friend is from another shevet. 2:2
איש על דגלו באתת לבית אבתם יחנו בני ישראל מנגד סביב לאהל מועד יחנו
Based on R Dovid Soloveichick I saw in Pardes Yosef Shelach 14 page 513 that the reason Moshe did not send the Nesiim to be meraglim is that based on our passuk, "שכל אחד צריך לחנות ליד מקום שבטו ודגלו ואסור לכ"א לצאת ממקום חנייתו", that nobody could be away from his degel without good reason, and the Nesiim for any reason at all.
ובשם הג"ר דוד סלוביצ'יק שליט"א שמעתי הטעם שלא שלח מרע"ה את הנשיאים עצמם, דלעיל (ב, ב) כתיב: איש על דגלו באותות לבית אבותם יחנו בנ"י. והיינו שכל אחד צריך לחנות ליד מקום שבטו ודגלו. ואסור לביא לצאת ממקום חנייתו, ואפי' אי נימא דליחיד היה שרי לצאת במקום צורך, אך י"ל דלנשיא היה איסור לצאת ממקום חניית שבטו ודגלו אפי' בדיעבד, כיון שעי"ז שהנשיא יצא ממקומו יתבטל סדר הדגלים כל עיקר ולכן הוצרך משה לשלוח אחרים עכ"ד ודפח"ח.
4. What was the order of travel.
Counterclockwise, starting from the east. Yehuda’s quadrant, Reuven's group, Levi and the Mishkan, Ephraim's group, and Dan.
5. What is the optimal percentage of Klei Kodesh, of people who are dedicated exclusively to avodas Hashem?
3.7%, 22,300 Leviim out of 603,550. Someone pointed out that this is not really correct, because the 22,300 was from a month old, while the 603,550 was from twenty years old and above, perhaps up to sixty, perhaps all. So the percentage is smaller. Additionally, there were the many members of Yissochor who only learned Torah, which increases the percentage.
Just as a curiosity: A genetic analysis was done that found that the percentage of people who called themselves Leviim in today's Jewish population is around 4. The ratio has not changed very much since we were in the Midbar. As a Wikipedia article puts it,
In modern times, Levites are integrated in Jewish communities, but keep a distinct status. There are estimated 300,000 Levites among Ashkenazi Jewish communities, and a similar number among Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews combined. The total percentage of Levites among the wider Jewish population is about 4%.
6. Which uncle of Moshe had the same name as a city.
Chevron, brother of Amram.
7. In a six member family, five had names beginning with aleph.
Aharon, Elisheva, Avihu, Elazar, and Isamar. And Nadav.
8. The first Kohanim got their kedusha through anointment after they were appointed. How did the first Leviim get their kedusha?
First of all, there was a Chinuch process, involving korban and tenufa, described in the beginning of Behaaloscha (Bamidbar 8:5-22,) just like there was a chinuch process with korbanos and tenufa process for the Kohanim in Parshas Tzav (Vayikra 9:6-36.) But the basic kedusha was done through a transfer of the kedusha from a Bechor, whose kedusha began in Mitzrayim when they survived makkas bechoros. This transfer of kedusha was accomplished by the one-for-one exchange.
Haamek Davar 3:41
אלא עיקר המקרא הלז בא ללמדנו דלא בא מנין הבכורים כדי לפוטרן מחמשה שקלים. דלזה לא היה צריך למצות מנין אלא היה הציווי שיעלו הלוים תחת הבכורים. ואם יהיה מותר בבכורים יתנו חמש סלעים. אבל עיקר מצות מנין היה כדי להחל קדושת כ״ב אלף בכורי ישראל על כ״ב אלף לוים. וכל בכור בא עם הלוי למשה. ומשה במאמרו החליף את קדושת הבכורה על הלוי.
No. In our parsha (3:47), the obligation of pidyon went into effect on many people who were adults, whose erech is much higher, and they still gave five shekalim. (The extra three hundred were adults, as Reb Meir Simcha points out in 3:49, as we see that they brought their own pidyon to Moshe Rabbeinu.)
10. Who covered the Keilim of the Mishkan before travel?
Kohanim.
11. Besides the ones in charge of the covering, who watched them being covered?
Nobody. It was prohibited for anyone else to watch, and whoever did not need to be there and watched would die. 4:15
וכלה אהרן ובניו לכסת את הקדש ואת כל כלי הקדש בנסע המחנה ואחרי כן יבאו בני קהת
4:20
ולא יבאו לראות כבלע את הקדש ומתו
12. Why by Klal Yisrael does it say kol yotzei latzava, but by the Leviim (in the beginning of next week’s parsha) it says kol habo latzava.
The tzava by Yisrael is the army, and it involved leaving the machaneh. The tzava by the Leviim is working in the Mishkan, or in any case while surrounded by Machaneh Yisrael.
13. Who carried the kevesh, the ramp of the mizbei’ach.
The Torah says nothing about carrying the kevesh. I think this is because the Kevesh was a dirt or stone ramp, just like the inside of the Mizbeiach, and was built anew whenever they camped.
It seems obvious, and I have it only because a mechutan of mine, Harav Yitzchok Noble, in his Imrei Yitzchok, asks it for a question and says probably it was included in the job of carrying the Mizbeiach, because the kevesh has certain dinim of the mizbeiach.
As it turns out, the issue whether the Mizbeach on the Mishkan had a kevesh at all is argued, as I was told by my nephew, Harav Yitzchak Buchalter of Lakewood.
Mareh Mekomos:
Keren Orah in Zevachim 63a dh kol kivehi
He says he has no clue as to what kind of kevesh there was, and whether there was a kevesh at all.
And the Panim Yafos in Vayikra 1:7:
אבל במשכן שבמדבר שלא היה שם כבש שהרי לא נזכר במעשה משכן וגם לא היה אפשר לעשות כבש של ל"ב אמה שהרי לא היה מן המזבח לקלעים שבדרום אלא פחות מכ"ה אמה
and, he continues, even if there was one, it had no kedusha, as it is not mentioned at all.
All of which is very puzzling, because of Rashi in Teruma 27:5,
וכבש שהיו עולין בו אע"פ שלא פירשו בענין זה כבר שמענו בפרשת מזבח אדמה תעשה לי לא תעלה במעלות לא תעשה לו מעלות בכבש שלו אלא כבש חלק למדנו שהיה לו כבש כך שנינו במכילתא
The next part of that Rashi even addresses the Panim Yafos' problem of the kevesh being too long for the chatzer:
וְהַכֶּבֶשׁ הָיָה בִּדְרוֹם הַמִּזְבֵּחַ, מֻבְדָּל מִן הַמִּזְבֵּחַ מְלֹא חוּט הַשַּׂעֲרָה, וְרַגְלָיו מַגִּיעִין עַד אַמָּה סָמוּךְ לְקַלְעֵי הֶחָצֵר שֶׁבַּדָּרוֹם, כְּדִבְרֵי הָאוֹמֵר עֶשֶׂר אַמּוֹת קוֹמָתוֹ, וּלְדִבְרֵי הָאוֹמֵר דְּבָרִים כִּכְתָבָן – שָׁלֹשׁ אַמּוֹת קוֹמָתוֹ – לֹא הָיָה אֹרֶךְ הַכֶּבֶשׁ אֶלָּא עֶשֶׂר אַמּוֹת, כָּךְ מָצָאתִי בְּמִשְׁנַת אַרְבָּעִים וְתֵשַׁע מִדּוֹת,
(This Rashi is brought down by the Gri'z in the beginning of Beis Habechira.) So what is going on with the Keren Orah and the Panim Yafos, they missed a Rashi???Rashi's girsa in the Gemara in Zevachim 87a also indicates pashtus that there was a kevesh in the Mishkan and that it was nimshach.תנו רבנן: ״הנגע במזבח״ – אין לי אלא מזבח; כבש מנין? תלמוד לומר: ״את המזבח״.
Rashiאת המזבח - ומשחת את המזבח (שמות מ, י).לרבות את הכבש:
There was no meshicha of keilim after the Mishkan, so meshicha of the Kevesh can only be in the Mishkan.
The Malbim (צו סימן ג) says that he believes the girsa in our Gemara is not correct, and it should be (as it says in the Sifra, and the Yerushalmi Shabbos Shabbos 7:2) from passuk in Vayikra 2:12 "ואל המזבח לא יעלו" and if so, it is not talking about meshicha, so it might be only in the Mikdash, not in the Mishkan.
[ביאור משנה יא'] ובארו שהוא הדין שהכבש מקדש את הראוי למזבח שנאמר "ואל המזבח לא יעלו לריח ניחח" שלמד מזה בספרא (ויקרא נדבה פרשה יב) שהוא הדין שאסור להעלות שאור ודבש על הכבש (כמו שבארנו שם (סימן קמב)). הרי מבואר שהכבש דינו לענין הקטרה כמזבח. [ובזבחים (דף פז.) גריס "את המזבח". וגירסת הספרא יותר נכונה]. וכן הכלים מקדשים דכתיב בפר' תשא (שמות ל׳:כ״ז-כ״ח) "ומשחת..ואת מזבח העולה ואת כל כליו..כל הנוגע בהם יקדש" שכולל גם הכלים.
Also: R Chaim Kanievsky in Taam d'Kra in Teruma says for a davar pashut that there was a kevesh in the Mishkan.
13. Can a Kohen become tamei for his Rebbi?
Maybe, because the Torah calls a rebbi muvhak a father to his talmid. See Sanhedrin 19b
תניא, א"ר שמואל בר נחמני א"ר יונתן, כל המלמד את בן חבירו תורה מעלה עליו הכתוב כאלו ילדו, שנאמר ואלה תולדת אהרן ומשה, וסמיך ליה ואלה שמות בני אהרן , לומר לך, אהרן ילד ומשה לימד, לפיכך נקראו על שמו
No comments:
Post a Comment