Summarized by Hadar Horowitz. Translated by David Strauss
Our parasha describes the arrangement of the Israelites' encampment, with the Mishkan at its center:
But the Levites shall pitch round about the Mishkan of the testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel; and the Levites shall keep the charge of the Mishkan of the testimony. (Bamidbar 1:53)
The children of Israel shall pitch by their fathers' houses; every man with his own standard, according to the ensigns; a good way off shall they pitch round about the Tent of Meeting. (Bamidbar 2:2)
The parasha ends with a stern warning to the sons of Kehat, the bearers of the Holy of Holies:
And when Aharon and his sons have made an end of covering the holy furniture, and all the holy vessels, as the camp is to set forward – after that, the sons of Kehat shall come to bear them; but they shall not touch the holy things, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kehat in the Tent of Meeting… And the Lord spoke to Moshe and to Aharon, saying: Do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kehatites from among the Levites; but thus do to them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach to the most holy things: Aharon and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden; but they shall not go in to see the holy things as they are being covered, lest they die. (Bamidbar 4:15-20)
These verses express great alarm. There is a real danger to the lives of the Kehatites, so much so that the default expectation is that they will die – "but thus do to them, that they may live, and not die"! The family entrusted with the most sacred vessels must exercise the greatest caution.
What must they guard against? The Ramban offers two options:
"But they shall not go in to see the holy things as they are being covered" – as they [the priests] put each vessel into its wrapping, as I have explained above in this section: "and they shall spread upon it such-and-such a cloth, and they shall cover it with such-and-such a cover," the [term] "ke-vala" referring to its covering. This is Rashi’s explanation, and also that of Onkelos. But our Rabbis said in tractate Sanhedrin (81b) that this verse constitutes a prohibition against stealing a sacred vessel, for which one suffers death [by the hand of Heaven], and zealous people have the right to strike such a thief, for stealing and robbing are referred to as beli'a, swallowing, as in the expressions: "He has swallowed down (bala) riches, and he shall vomit them up again" (Iyov 20:15); "And I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up (bil'o)" (Yirmiyahu 51:44). But Rabbi Avraham ibn Ezra explained [the verse] in its plain sense: that [the Kehatites] should not come in to see when the screening veil is removed and the ark becomes exposed. (Ramban, Bamidbar 4:20)
There can be two possible, radically opposite problems in the behavior of the Levites:
The first is disrespect for the holy; the Levites may become so accustomed to handling the sacred vessels that they forget their exalted sanctity. A clear example of an incident in which this fear was realized is the death of Uzza following his reaching out to steady the ark. Uzza forgot the greatness of the Ark – that it "carries its carriers," and therefore sinned and died.
The second is excessive closeness to the holy, to the point of losing boundaries. The fear is that in the course of their service, the Kehatites will recognize the overwhelming sanctity of the sacred vessels and attempt to approach them too closely, like Nadav and Avihu. This is what the Midrash says:
Rabbi Yehuda ha-Levi ben Rabbi Shalom said: Do you want to learn under what circumstances the Kehatites die? Go out and learn from this verse: "But they shall not go in to see the holy things as they are being covered, lest they die." This teaches that when they would come to bear the ark, they would remove the veil from before it and they would feast their eyes on the ark. That is why they would be eradicated, as it is stated: “For man shall not see me and live" (Shemot 33:20). (Bamidbar Rabba 5:9)
Holiness is like a magnet for the souls of the Levites! They yearn so intensely to unite with the holy, to the point of transgressing prohibitions. Why?
First of all, holiness contains a significant dimension of mystery. Human curiosity awakens before the supernatural; one wants to understand it and draw near to it. In addition, the natural connection between a Jew and his Creator creates an innate pull toward anything holy. This desire to cling to holiness is embedded in us from birth.
However, one must be very careful not to reach extremes. The attribute of love can engulf a person entirely, to the point that he will drown in it. He becomes completely detached from fear of God, because he is entirely filled with love. Forgetting the attribute of fear can be extremely destructive – the person loses all boundaries between himself and God. The Rambam teaches us what the proper balance is:
What is the path to attain love and fear of Him? When a person contemplates His wondrous and great deeds and creations… he will immediately love, praise, and glorify Him, yearning with tremendous desire to know God’s great name… When he continues to reflect on these same matters, he will immediately recoil in awe and fear, appreciating how he is a tiny, lowly, and dark creature, standing with his flimsy, limited wisdom before He who is of perfect knowledge. (Hilkhot Yesodei ha-Torah 2:2)
It is precisely out of the knowledge and love of God that a person should fear Him with great awe! Without fear of God, a person may imagine that he too is divine, because all the boundaries between himself and God collapse.
The entire system of commandments is built on the foundational premise that there is God who commands us, and we are those who are commanded. If a person lacks boundaries and does not fear God, he may think that everything is permitted to him. This is exemplified by the actions of Nadav and Avihu. Likewise, this was the sin of the 250 men who offered incense in Parashat Korach – they lacked fear of the sanctity in the incense offering.
We can identify a similar phenomenon today. Throughout the generations, the dimension of awe of God was dominant, far more than the dimension of love and enthusiasm (aside from in Chasidut). Perhaps as a reaction, in the past century the situation has reversed; today, people seek much more love and devotion to God. This phenomenon brings many positive ideas and feelings that were sorely lacking in the past. However, we must be cautious in certain areas.
The question of wearing tefillin all day long has been discussed in the past, and the conclusion was reached that doing so involves great arrogance. Indeed, even towering figures who wrote extensively about holiness – such as Rabbi Soloveitchik – wore tefillin only during the morning prayer. Yet today we find young men who allow themselves to behave with such presumption. In my opinion, this stems from a diminished sense of awe toward holiness and toward God in our generation. This also relates to the question of ascending the Temple Mount. We must remember the teaching of the Gemara in Berakhot (30b): "In a place of rejoicing, there must also be trembling."
Precisely in the wilderness – where Israel is alone with God and can reach great closeness – a full chapter is needed to instruct the proper procedures for carrying the vessels of the Holy of Holies. Even though this is like rubbing salt into Aharon’s wounds, after his two sons died for drawing too close to the holy, it is unavoidable.
The Gemara in Yoma recounts an incident:
Rav Katina said: Whenever Israel came up to the Festival, the veil would be removed for them and the Keruvim were shown to them, whose bodies were intertwisted with one another, and they would be thus addressed: Look! You are beloved before God as the love between man and woman. Rav Chisda raised the following objection: "But they shall not go in to see the holy things as they are being covered," in connection with which Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: It means at the time when the vessels are being put into their cases. Rav Nachman answered: That may be compared to a bride: As long as she is in her father's house, she is modest in regard to her husband, but when she comes to her father-in-law's house, she is no longer so modest in regard to him. (Yoma 54a)
Rav Chisda objects: How could they show the Keruvim to the people? In our parasha we saw that even the Kehatites were forbidden to see them! Rav Nachman answers: In a relationship, at the beginning there is shame between the partners. As the relationship develops, the partners become more exposed to each other. So too here, between Israel and God: in the wilderness, the people of Israel had only just begun their relationship with God, and the attribute of love could not be revealed in its full strength. In the days when the Temple stood in Jerusalem, the people of Israel and God had come a long way together, and it was fitting that the attribute of love be revealed in its full intensity.
[This sicha was delivered by Harav Mosheh Lichtenstein on Shabbat Parashat Bamidbar 5779.]
Edited by Yair Lichtman
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