דברים

האומר לאביו ולאמו לא ראיתיו. על כלל השבט ידבר, כענין שכתוב (שמות ל״ב:כ״ו-כ״ז) מי לה' אלי ויאספו אליו כל בני לוי, ואמר להם מלאו ידכם היום לה' כי איש בבנו ובאחיו, ולאו דוקא בנו ואחיו ממש, וכן בכאן לאחיו ולאמו ואת אחיו ואת בניו, אין לפרש אביו ממש ולא אחיו ממש מאביו וגם לא בניו ממש, שהרי לוים גמורים הם ובשבט לוי לא חטא אחד מהם כלל שהרי כתיב ויאספו אליו כל בני לוי, אבל ענין הכתוב לאביו אבי אמו מישראל, ואת אמו אחיו מאמו מישראל, ואת בניו בן בתו מישראל, ולא היו לוים ממש.

האומר לאביו ולאמו לא ראיתיו, “who says of his father and his mother : ‘I have no regard for them.’” Moses speaks of the tribe of Levi as a whole here, just as at the time of the sin of the golden calf he had simply called out: “whoever is for Hashem, to me!” (Exodus 32,26) In response to that call all the members of the tribe of Levi responded with alacrity (same verse) Moses had then instructed them to execute all those who had actively worshipped the golden calf, and not to spare even family members if there were such who were guilty. Just as in that instance, although Moses mentioned ‘his son and brother,” this was not meant literally, so here too the words ‘his father and mother,” are not meant literally, as there never had been a father or mother of a Levite who had been guilty of that sin so that their son could have demonstrated that he was prepared even to kill father or mother in response to that call. If even a single Levite had been guilty of worshipping the golden calf, how could the Torah have testified that “the entire tribe of Levi assembled around Moses in response to his call?” The meaning of the words: “father, mother, brother, etc.,” in the verses mentioned referred to such relations who were not from the tribe of Levi. If a Levite had married a woman from the tribe of, say, Zevulun, and the son of that woman found his maternal grandfather worshipping the golden calf, then her son would have had the duty to execute his grandfather seeing he was not a Levite and was guilty of execution. In other words, Moses referred to a possible grandfather, calling him “father,” something not unusual in those days. [the Torah constantly calls the ancestors ‘your fathers’, not your grandfathers or your great-grandfathers.”

כי שמרו אמרתך. לא יהיה לך. ובריתך ינצורו. זה ברית מילה, כי ישראל לא מלו את בניהם במדבר, אבל שבט לוי מלו את בניהם. ואע"פ שהוא מדבר על השבט בכלל נרמז בו גם כן שמואל הנביא הלוי, ועליו יאמר האומר לאביו ולאמו לא ראיתיו, כי כאשר נגמל היה בבית ה' להיות פרוש ונבדל לעבוד את הש"י, ואת בניו לא ידע שהוליד בנים לעבודת הש"י.

כי שמרו אמרתך, “for they have carefully observed Your words;” a reference to the second of the Ten Commandments: ‘you shall not have any other gods.’ ובריתך ינצורו, “and Your covenant they have preserved.” This is a reference to the covenant of circumcision. We have a tradition according to which the Israelites did not circumcise their male children while in the desert, whereas the tribe of Levi did perform this commandment also in the desert (Sifri Behaalotcha 67). Even though Moses speaks here of the tribe of Levi in general, there is also a specific allusion to the prophet Samuel (a Levite himself) concerning whom Moses said that he did not see his father or his mother seeing that as soon as he had been weaned, his mother took him to the Tabernacle and entrusted him to the High Priest Eli to raise and train in the service of the Lord. The words: “and he did not recognize his brothers nor knew his sons,” also apply to the prophet Samuel; the idea is that he sired children for the service of the Lord rather than in order for them to be his personal convenience [as many fathers considered their children then. Ed.]