Bamidbar Chapter 8: The Lighting of the Menorah and the Purification of the Levi'im

Introduction: The Book of Appendixes

So we're reading Bamidbar chapter 8 today and I guess this is one more appendix to the story of the dedication of the Mishkan and especially the dedication of the Levi'im around it, the Kohanim, the Levi'im, all of that. I guess I've been saying the word appendix many times but it seems to me that in a certain sense the entire Sefer Bamidbar is the book of appendixes to previous stories, especially to the story of the Mishkan and the Kohanim discussed in Sefer Vayikra.

The Mitzvah of Ha'alas HaNeiros

The Repetition Problem

So it's like this, the first thing we have here is a mitzvah. I've framed it here as a mitzvah. I'm not entirely sure that that's the best or most correct framing for this. It's possible that we should see this more as part of the story, in other words part of the story of the Chanukah but it's definitely said in the sense of a mitzvah and that's the mitzvah about or as it's called here, putting on or raising the lamps onto the menorah. That's how it's said here.

Now this is a mitzvah that has been said many times already, at least three times. Ramban here struggles to explain how there's something added in each time, there's something added here that we didn't have in previous episodes of the same thing. It's less convincing to me what it's why, or in other words even if there's something added, we still need to explain why this is added here again. So why is it split up so much? We said the same thing, כסותה עד [kosotha ad] that it has to be on the menorah, that the seven lamps should be towards the middle or something like that. Okay, but why?

Connection to the Chanukah Story

And it seems like the reason is similar to the reason for all these stories being cut up in the way that we've discussed, that we've seen, which is that it seems like in some sense this belongs to the story of the Chanukah, to have the ha'alas menorah. Of course there's famous Midrashim that discuss this in some ways, but it seems like that is what is going on here. There's some way in which this is a continuation of the Chanukah, just like the Nesi'im brought their gifts and the other processes of Chanukah happened. There's also the mitzvah of lighting the menorah, or of putting the lamps onto the menorah, that is somehow part of that. It's not entirely clear how it's part of that, but that seems to be the story.

Understanding the Structure: Menorah vs. Neiros

So there's a mitzvah, Hashem speaks to Moshe, tell Aharon to that, and this is how it's framed. When he raises the lamps, it should be towards the פני המנורה [pnei hamenorah — the face of the menorah]. What exactly this means is also not very clear. It seems to be a mitzvah about the structure of the menorah, so there's just to be very clear, this is I think agreed upon, there's a menorah. A menorah is a vessel, a kind of kli, which has the branches as everyone recognizes, and that's called the menorah. It's the vessel which holds the lamps.

Now the menorah is not in which directly the lights, the oil with the wicks, the lamp, the fire is lit. On top of the menorah is something called נרות [neiros] here, or sometimes called נרות [neiros], I think, which are lamps, and in those lamps we put some oil and we put some wick and we light it. So the work, the avodah of lighting the menorah is really the avodah of putting lamps onto this lamp holder, right, it's a candelabra, it's holding the lamps, it's not, the lamps don't go directly and it's not like there's a cup on the top of them where you put the oil.

Now there's, like we do in our menorahs, people sometimes have complaints about that, that you put, when we have a menorah on Chanukah, everyone usually puts like a glass and in that the oil, but that's actually the original way of doing it, it's not directly in that, the menorah is a vessel that holds the lamp, which is the oil and the wick and all of that.

The Specific Mitzvah and Its Fulfillment

So that's the mitzvah, and the mitzvah seems to be precisely this, the connection of the lamps to the face of the menorah, and that is interpreted whether it has to be tilted towards the front or the middle or the face, depends also on how you imagine exactly the menorah to have been, it's not entirely clear to me what the simple meaning of this is, or to anyone I think, but in any case, this is the mitzvah about, it's about specifically this, about the connection of the lamps to the menorah.

And then as many mitzvos go, it has also the report of the mitzvah being done, this is like, again, how all these stories are built, and ויעש כן [vaya'as ken — and he did so], and precisely this, he puts the menorah on the face of the menorah as Hashem has told him.

The Making of the Menorah

And now we get a postscript sort of to this, which is not only talking about the lamps being put on the menorah, but also the menorah itself being created, being made, in the correct way, in the way that Hashem told. Of course, this is not really adding anything, we already know this from the end of Parshas Pekudei, from Vayakhel, that all the vessels, everything was made as Hashem commanded.

It seems like, again, this is connected to this idea that somehow, since the menorah is an interesting vessel, it's an interesting kli, it has a part of it which sort of comes apart, right? A big part of this whole story is how things come apart when they're traveling, right? We have the Aron, and then the badei ha'aron, which is the way they travel, and so on. Apparently the menorah every night is in some sense taken apart, because the lamps are the main part which makes the light, and here we have this thing that's connecting them.

So in the same way, we have to repeat that the menorah is made in a certain way, and it's connecting that to the story of the lighting of the menorah. That's how I think we can understand what is saying here, and therefore it repeats. The creation, the making of the menorah, is make sure it's one piece of gold, that's at least how Rashi interprets it, from its leg to its flowers, so all of, from the big parts to the small part, that's what it means, like the big details, the small details, as Hashem has showed Hashem, that's how He made the menorah.

So again, the same idea, there's a command and the action which match, there's a symmetry, there's always this symmetry between the mitzvah and the asiyah, but the point here is that the symmetry goes all the way to the asiyah. So that's the mitzvah here, the last mitzvah belongs there, and maybe we could say it shouldn't really be a series of mitzvos, but belongs to the Chanukas HaBayis.

The Purification and Dedication of the Levi'im

Context and Placement

Now we have one more appendix, which is really an appendix to something we already started talking about in previous chapters, and I think that this is somewhat out of place, it probably should have probably happened before the Levi'im, before the Nesi'im did their Chanukah, so it's really an appendix to how the Levi'im were sanctified and got the job and the place of doing the avodah, and also particularly how they were replacing the Bechorim.

We learned already before how the Bechorim were taken, how the Levi'im were taken in place of the Bechorim, and there was the pidyon of the extra Bechorim with five shekalim, and here we see the process of how the Levi'im, their bodies specifically, were purified in order to become the Levi'im.

Why the Levi'im Need Purification

So there's this process, unlike Kohanim, Kohanim has meshicha, but unlike Kohanim, who at least seems like they don't need like to be purified, there's of course korbanos miluim, maybe it also has to do with purifying of the Kohanim, but the Levi'im very specifically because they're said to be replacing something, so they were not originally meant to be the Levi'im. The Levi'im are somehow the shlichim, they're the replacing of all the Bechorim, of all the Yisrael that has to now take their place to do the avodah, so there's a very specific process describing this, and that's the rest of this chapter describing that process, and again, there's the mitzvah and the asiyah, right? So we have the mitzvah, and the mitzvah is like this.

The Three-Step Purification Process

Hashem tells Moshe, take the Levi'im and purify them with the חטאת ישראל [chatas Yisrael], and He says, how exactly, how, what will you do to purify them?

The first thing is, you will spray מי חטאת [mei chatas — waters of purification] on them, in other words, mei chatas again is something that we don't yet know what it is in the order of the Torah, it's said only in Parshas Chukas what it is, we know that it's the Parah Adumah, but it says, spray mei chatas on them, that's to purify them from tumas meis, as we'll learn there.

The second thing is, pass over a razor on their entire flesh, in other words, shave all of their hair, and as we've studied in the story of the Nazir, this seems to have also been a process of purification.

The third thing is, wash their clothing, so I guess mei chatas is washing their body, but also wash their clothing, of course, we interpret it as being in the mikvah, but it means, it's basic, simple to understand that it's a process of purification, and that will purify them, their bodies.

The Korbanos of Purification

And then, adding to this, there's like a korban that has to do with the purification, so they take a par, for olah, and a second par for chatas, and this is the standard way of when you do purification, always olah and chatas, with their mincha, and that will be the korban of purification.

The Ritual of Transfer: Levi'im as a Korban

Now, there's also an action of purification, like an activity, like a ritual, of sort of giving the Levi'im over from the people. So, what we do is, we bring the Levi'im in front of the Ohel Moed, we gather together all the people, and the people do smicha on the Levi'im, so the Levi'im themselves are sort of like a korban, just like when a person brings a korban, he does smicha on it, and that's, in a sense, like carrying over the responsibility, or the kedushah, from the person to the korban, and the same with the Levi'im, are sort of the korban that the Bechorim, or the Yidden, are bringing to the Mishkan, to work instead of them.

So, the Bnei Yisrael are doing smicha on the Levi'im, and then, just like many korbanos, especially the ones that are not makhrevan the mizbeach, we do tenufah, we raise them, like symbolically raise them to God, in the same way, Aharon here will do tenufah on the Levi'im, to raise the Levi'im, to symbolically bring them to God, and then, they will, then they are dedicated, and they are part of the avodah.

The Levi'im's Own Korbanos

Then, the Levi'im will bring their korbanos, the Levi'im are the korban of the Yidden, the Levi'im themselves bring korbanos, these two parim, so the smicha on the parim, and then the Kohanim will do the avodah, will make them the chatos.

The Second Tenufah

And then, it says it again, I think, I'm not sure if this is a repetition or not, it says again, you will make the Levi'im stand, you will put, you will, I don't have a good translation in English, העמדת הלוים [ha'amadas haLevi'im], means like something you will present the Levi'im for Aharon and the children, they do tenufah, which is maybe another tenufah, according to Rashi and other mefarshim, so the first tenufah was like giving them from the Yidden, the second one is for the Kohanim to accept them, and this will separate the Levi'im from the Yidden, and after all of that, they will come to do the avodah of the Ohel Moed, and they will be purified and have the tenufah, so again, a repetition again, maybe the third time is already another repetition, but in any case, in other words, that's when it will happen, it will be chalal, they will become the Levi'im.

The Theological Rationale: The Double Exchange

And the pasuk repeats the reason for all of this, which we already had, because the Levi'im are given to the Kohanim, to the Mishkan, from the Yidden, instead, in the place of the Bechorim, which were given to Hashem when, when He killed all the Bechorim, so there's like this double change is going on, Hashem exchanged the Bechorim of the Yidden for the Bechorim of Mitzrayim, they're all His, and therefore they become His, and then

The Age Parameters for Levite Service

Now there's one more mitzvah about the Levim, which is the age of their service. So remember we had different ages — the age of the Yisrael [Israelites] being counted from 20 years and on in the census, which we've interpreted as being also the ages in which they work, which is when they go to the army. And now we have the same language for the Levim, for the ages in which they will become part of the Tzva'a Avodah [Tzva'a Avodah — the service corps]. So again the army — the Tzva'a means something like an army, not necessarily an army for war, but an organized corps, like to work or something.

And it gives their ages. So it gives the age from 25 to 50. From 25 they start working, and from when 50 they retire — they become not doing the Avodah [service] anymore.

Continued Service After Retirement

But it says, in other words, they could still guard, they could still watch. Remember the main sort of job of the Levim is to do this Mishmeret [Mishmeret — guarding/watching]. They're watching, like they're literally watching, or watching by teaching and by making sure that nobody who is not authorized enters in the Mikdash [Sanctuary] and so on. So they're watching and still do, but the rest of the Avodah, which we've discussed — Avodat Masa [Avodat Masa — the service of carrying], right, the carrying of the Mishkan [Tabernacle], which you need to have strength for that — after 50 they can't do that.

Conclusion

So that's the Avodah of the Levim, and that's the end of the story of the dedication of the Levim.