ספר שמות

Still another exegesis of the first verse of our portion, this ‎time including the concluding words of that verse:‎עבודת הלוים ביד ‏איתמר בן אהרן הכהן‎, “through the service of the Levites under the ‎direction of Ittamar, a son of the High Priest Aaron.”‎It is a generally accepted rule that G’d constantly channels ‎loving kindness and mercy to His people Israel, and if nonetheless ‎we find that from time to time the Jewish people appear to be ‎victims of evil, this is only a prelude to their eventually being ‎rehabilitated and elevated to a higher level than previously. G’d ‎would never allow evil to happen unless this evil were capable of ‎serving as a prelude to good. In other words: G’d does not channel ‎evil in the direction of the Jewish people, period. In our verse this ‎concept is also alluded to when both the Levites and priests are ‎mentioned, the former as representing Justice and Judgment, ‎‎[as when the Levites executed the idol worshipping ‎Israelites during the episode of the golden calf, Ed.] The ‎word ‎כהן‎ is an allusion to the attribute of ‎חסד‎, loving kindness, an ‎attribute personified by Aaron during all the years that He was ‎High Priest, whereas the attribute of Justice was something that ‎had to be called upon only on rare occasions. What this means is ‎that the attribute of Justice is not even able to function unless ‎the attribute of ‎חסד‎ “supervises” i.e. tempers it, so that it does ‎not take center stage exclusively. The ‎משכן‎ itself may be viewed as ‎an instrument designed to “sweeten” even the attribute of Justice ‎when it momentarily overshadows the attribute of loving ‎kindness. [all this refers , of course, only to how G’d deals ‎with the Jewish people. Ed.] The line stating that a priest, ‎i.e. Ittamar, son of Aaron, was in charge of what the Levites did in ‎connection with the Tabernacle, is meant to alert the reader to ‎these concepts.‎