ספר שמות

It is important to realize that the tribe of Levi who was ‎singled out by G’d to perform special religious duties on behalf of ‎the whole nation, was appointed twice. The male members of this ‎tribe became distinctive at the time they had completed the first ‎month of their lives. (Numbers 3,15) They were included in the ‎census already at that tender age, whereas the other Israelites had ‎to await their 20th birthday before they could be included in the ‎census. (Numbers 1,3).‎The concept of 12 tribes [excluding the Levites, ‎Ed.] alluded to the commandments of the Creator handed ‎down in the Torah, and that is why they had been given the ‎collective name ‎מטות‎, “staffs,” as the commandments by which ‎Israelites guide themselves, and which are their main support ‎during their lifetime on earth serve as their support, [in the sense ‎of a walking cane.] They draw on this support to maintain and ‎reinforce their faith in G’d. Performance of the commandments ‎refines our intellect. The tribe of Levi is a special example of this ‎as pointed out in Bamidbar Rabbah 1,12 where the author of ‎the Midrash draws our attention to the fact that this tribe ‎had to be counted in the proximity of the Tabernacle, as it had ‎proven during the episode of the golden calf that it had absolute ‎faith in G’d, and although a tiny minority (about 5%) of the ‎nation, had risked their lives on behalf of G’d, by executing idol ‎worshipping members of the nation. (Exodus 32,27-28).We already explained that there are two levels of faith in G’d, ‎and corresponding to that the Levites were counted on two ‎levels. (at 30 days, and again when they reached the age of 30 ‎years, (compare Numbers 4,23 et al) By that time their intellects ‎had matured to the extent that they could be described as their ‎faith in G’d reflecting the higher level. Their duties in and around ‎the Tabernacle made it mandatory that they had spiritually ‎matured enough to carry them out while thinking the ‎appropriate religious thoughts.‎Initially, G’d had commanded Moses to teach the Jewish ‎people first about the Tabernacle, i.e. to instruct them in the ‎ways to have faith in G’d on the basic level, i.e. to believe that He ‎is the Creator of all phenomena perceived by the senses. The ‎visible symbol of that faith was the structure called ‎משכן‎. Only ‎afterwards was Moses to teach them about the furnishings in the ‎Tabernacle, the variety of attributes of the Creator, as symbolized ‎in the Tabernacle by the various vessels and furnishings, or in the ‎Torah by the various commandments. Moses, believing that the ‎Jewish people as a whole had already attained the second and ‎higher level of faith, considered it appropriate to acquaint them ‎immediately with the details of the vessels to be used in the ‎Tabernacle. Betzalel, having a more realistic view of the spiritual ‎level of his peers, considered that they should first become ‎familiar with more basic aspects of faith in the Lord as symbolized ‎by the structure called ‎משכן‎, Tabernacle.‎Having said this we can also solve the problem raised by ‎Nachmanides in connection with Exodus 19,4 where the Torah ‎writes: ‎אתם ראיתם אשר עשיתי למצרים....ואביא אתכם אלי‎, “you have ‎seen what I have done to Egypt……. and I have brought you to ‎Me.” Nachmanides questions the wording there as at that point ‎the Jewish people had not yet experienced the revelation at ‎Mount Sinai and had not yet been given the Torah. We may best ‎understand this by remembering that while in Egypt the Jewish ‎people (the generation experiencing the redemption, not the ‎Israelites who had come to Egypt with Yaakov and their children) ‎had not believed in the G’d of Avraham at all, -to wit their failure ‎to circumcise their male children- so that the redemption was the ‎starting point from which their faith in G’d as the Creator and as ‎the G’d of Israel must be counted. True faith of the whole people ‎did not commence until the first day of the month of Sivan, when ‎for the first time, the Torah describes the Jewish people as united, ‎i.e. ‎ויחן ישראל ‏‎, “Israel encamped,” (singular mode) as opposed to ‎all previous encampments when the Torah always writes: ‎ויחנו ‏ישראל‎, Israel encamped, (plural mode). At that time they did not ‎know yet how to serve the G’d Whom they all believed in as the ‎Creator and as the G’d of their forefathers. This nuance is also ‎evident in Onkelos’ rendering the end of Exodus 19,4 ‎ואביא אתכם ‏אלי‎, usually translated as “I have brought you to Me,” as: ‎וקרבית ‏יתכון לפולחני‎, “I have brought you near to perform service for ‎Me.” ‎ ‎