Date: June 3rd 2022

PARSHAS BAMIDBAR - THE DANGEROUS PURSUIT OF HOLINESS


After leaving Egypt, the Jews crossed the Red Sea and proceeded to Mount Sinai where they received the Torah. We commemorate this monumental event on the upcoming holiday of Shavuos. Sadly, the sin of the Golden Calf followed shortly thereafter. Moshe then ascended to Heaven for three successive 40-day periods to plead for their forgiveness. He came down for the final time on Yom Kippur.

After these events, the Jews built the Mishkan (Tabernacle). Although this temporary sanctuary was portable and physically small it was extremely holy – even more so than the two temples that would eventually stand in Jerusalem. It had a section called the Azara, where the kohanim brought animal sacrifices and performed other services. The Heichal was an especially sanctified area within the Azara. It mainly housed the Menorah, the Shulchan (table), and the Golden Altar. The Kodshei-Kadashim (the holy of holies) was a yet-holier section within the Heichal that held the Aron (Ark) containing the two Tablets of the Ten Commandments that Moshe brought down from Heaven.

Over the next 39 years, the Jews traveled through the desert, and the Mishkan accompanied them. Every time the Jews moved, the Mishkan had be disassembled so that it could be transported to the next camp site and where it would be reassembled in the center of the camp. This job fell to the Tribe of Levi. Male Levites between the ages of 30 and 50 were qualified to perform this service.

The Tribe of Levi consisted of three families, Gershon, Kehas, and Merari. Each family was responsible to transport specific components of the Mishkan when traveling. Kehas was considered the most spiritually elevated of the families. Moshe (Moses), Aaron, and Miriam, the three leaders of the nation, were from the family of Kehas. Kehas was, therefore, charged with moving the Heichal, the most sacred part of the Mishkan.


The Torah in Parshas Naso (4, 36) writes that 2,750 male members of Kehas were eligible to perform the duties related to the Mishkan. 687 Levites from Kehas were available to carry each of the Heichal’s four main items. However, no more than 48 levites were needed as the objects as they were quite small. This means that from the family of Kehas 639 where unable to perform this sacred service. How did they select 48 Levites out of the available list of 687 candidates?

Two possibilities come to mind. One system would entail appointing someone to make these selections. When the Jews had to travel, the appointee would select who he deemed the 48 most qualified Levites to move the four sacred vessels in the Heichal. The other system would be ‘first come first serve;’ once the Jews knew that a journey was imminent, the job would go to the first 48 Levites who arrived at the Mishkan, ready to work.

The last three passukim (sentences) in Parshas Bamidbar contain a warning that Hashem (G-d) gave to Moshe (Moses) and Aaron. They should prevent the family of Kehas from being cut off from the Levites when they approached the Mishkan. This warning requires clarification:

The Commentary of Rashi explains that no one ever saw the four sacred vessels in the Heichal, except for the Kohanim. If any other Jew, including a Levite, saw the vessels, he could die as a result. To prevent this possibility, Kohanim covered the objects with cloths before the Leviites transported them.

The Commentary of Sforno further explains the Torah’s command: The directive that Hashem gave Moshe and Aaron was that the choice of which Levites should do the sacred job had to be made by an appointee and NOT by first come first serve. The reason being, that if the appointment was decided by who arrived sooner, the Levites might come to push one another to get there earlier. That breach of proper conduct would defile the sanctity of the holy Mishkan. Hashem might then cut the offenders off from the other Levites. Moreover, the pushing might cause them to see the vessels while still uncovered, for which sin Hashem would end their lives.

These warnings were necessary as soon as the Jews began traveling in the desert. One year earlier, the entire nation experienced the reality-altering events of the Exodus, the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, and the revelation at Mount Sinai. The Levites were holier than the rest of the nation. They alone amongst the nation of Israel did not worship the Golden Calf. The people of Kehas were the most sanctified of the Levites. Those whose footsteps got them to the Mishkan before the other members of Kehas were the ones who tried hardest of all to secure this sacred task. The holy yearning of their souls to draw yet closer to Hashem’s Being is what motivated their haste.

This text is teaching that, astonishingly, someone sincerely pursuing kedusha (holiness), could, as a result sin so severely that Hashem might strike the “holy offender” dead. The reason this can happen is that the intense quest for kedusha can blind one to collateral transgressions violated during the process. In the case of Parshas Bamidbar, the passionate drive for achieving personal holiness could have led the Kahathites to disgrace the Mishkan by pushing others and as a result, they would lose their lives.

The pursuit of holiness has the potential to be very dangerous. As the striving for kedusha grows more intense and all-encompassing, the possibility of disregarding other transgressions grows in tandem.

The same dynamic is likely true of almost all other human quests for worthwhile goals. As these pursuits grow more intense, they can precipitate wrongdoing ever more easily.



To add a little extra to this Dvar---

A prevailing notion of Western Society – probably since the Ancient Greeks ruled the world – is that large organized athletic competitions help develop wholesome personalities. The theory likely is that attempting to excel at these competitions teaches people to draw on their inner reserves and make the most of themselves.

This Dvar, however, teaches that physical competition for an objective can beget ugliness. The desire to win a race fairly can easily morph into an effort to finish first by wrongly hobbling the other fellow. This Dvar teaches that this unfortunate psychodynamic can even take place among the holiest of people who are physically pursuing the noblest of objectives in the most sacred of sanctums. Accordingly, it can prevail all the more so in just about all other physical contests. Large organized competitive team sports are, therefore, much more of a breeding ground for bad character than for good character.


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