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When I was a student rabbi, I served as spiritual leader of Temple Emanuel of Parkchester, located in Bronx, New York. I had a congregant named Max, a Holocaust survivor who fled Vienna on a bicycle to escape the Anschluss in 1938. He never forgot that harrowing time in his life as a young man, and could recount it in great detail a half century later.
But not all of Max’s memories of Vienna were negative. As a child, he would ride his bicycle to the palace of Emperor Franz Josef, the last of the Hapsburg emperors, who served as Kaiser for nearly seventy years. He could describe in detail the ceremony of the changing of the guards, complete with a band playing the Kaiser Hymn and the emperor himself waving from the palace balcony. Like the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, it was a splendid spectacle enjoyed by people of all ages.
In this week’s portion, Bamidbar – called in English “Numbers” due to its many population tallies – there are in fact two separate censuses. The first is a census of the people of Israel, and the second is the census of the Levites. But why, we might wonder, were the Levites counted separately? Here is the answer provided by the 12th century midrash Bamidbar Rabbah (1:12):
Why were the Levites not counted with Israel? It is because the tribe of Levi was the palace guard. This is analogous to a king who had several legions, and he said to his chief of staff: Go count the legions, except for the legion that stands before me. That is why the Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: “However, the tribe of Levi [you shall not count] …among the children of Israel” (Numbers 1:49). Among the children of Israel, you shall not count them, but by themselves, count them, as it is not in keeping with the king’s honor that his legion should be counted with the general population. That is why Israel was counted by itself and the tribe of Levi was counted by itself.
Now we know from other sources that the reason for the Levites serving in the desert Tabernacle is that they did not participate in the sin of the golden calf. We know further that it was their task to assemble, disassemble and maintain both the Tabernacle and its many vessels. It was also the task of the Levites to assist in performing the sacrifices of the general population.
But perhaps the most awe-inspiring sight for the average Israelite would be that of the Levites guarding the Tabernacle. Seeing guards in front of G-d’s palace must have been a spectacle imprinted on the memory of even the youngest Israelite.
I imagine it was even more impressive than seeing Franz Josef’s palace in Vienna.
- Rabbi Scott Hoffman
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