Everyone Plays a Part- Bemidbar 5786

One of the things I love about my job is that there’s no such thing as a “typical” day. Being a pulpit rabbi is not your typical 9-to-5 job like many others. Depending on the schedule and needs of our community, my day can look any number of ways. Reviewing this past week (and, please realize, this is in no way a complaint), amongst other things, I’ve:

attended two evening committee meetings; sent a mountain of emails; paid pastoral visits to members of our congregation who are ill; taught 8th grade Tanakh upstairs in the day school; helped with arrangements for our SholomPlex weekend; prepared my teaching for our Tikkun Leil Shavuot next Thursday night; taught our weekly parsha class on Zoom; and, cutting it a little close to the wire but got it done nonetheless, wrote a sermon. 

The variety of my job, to me, is a draw. Some days I’m working in my office, and on others I’m out in the world. Some days I may have some free time, and others I might be “wall to wall” with work. 

Another rabbi, who’s a friend and teacher, once said to me only half joking: “70% of being a rabbi is setting up tables and chairs”; which might seem mundane, but is integral. There are some things which can be delegated, and other things which cannot be. Some things can be prioritized, while others can be done a little later. But at the end of the day, they’re all important in their own way. 

The variety which I encounter in my day to day professional life is the opposite of that of the Levites. The tribe of Levi, unique among the Israelites, are the tribe to which both the priesthood and the upkeep of the Tabernacle are entrusted. They’re the ones who set up, quite literally, the tables and chairs. They’re set apart from the rest of the people, and later on in the book of Numbers are not assigned a specific land holding- G-d, and the people at large, provide for their sustenance. The priests themselves are the direct descendants of Aaron and his family, constituting a subset of a subset of the whole people. 

In parshat Bemidbar, the Levites are further divided into clans, each of whom bear a specific responsibility regarding the upkeep, maintenance, and porterage of the Tabernacle during the people’s desert journey. Each group is given specific tasks and instructions which belong to them alone.

The Midrash in Bemidbar Rabbah 5:1 brings a dispute amongst the Sages regarding this aspect of the parsha. Regarding why the Torah takes such care to assign these duties, Rabbi Elazar Ben Pedat states that this is because, if given a choice, “the Levites would shirk the more difficult duties in favor of those demanding less responsibility. Conversely, Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman felt that had the tasks not been carefully delineated, the easier duties might go undone in favor of those involving more responsibility and, therefore, more prestige. For this reason, Numbers 4:19 states: ‘Let Aaron and his sons go in and assign each of them to his duties and his porterage”.

I’m not sure that I totally agree with either of these arguments. Maybe I’m more of an optimist than either Rabbi Elazar Ben Pedat or Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman, but I don’t think we are entirely one or the other. Sometimes we’re up to doing hard work, and sometimes we need to take a step back. Sometimes major tasks occupy a great deal of time- or, conversely, minor tasks can sometimes get lost in the shuffle and present a problem, like when I realized a few years ago I had to renew my passport with only a few weeks to go before it expired. (My new one came in time, but it was a close call.)

It’s also noteworthy that over time, apart from the assigned tasks according to their clans, the job description of the Levites varied according to their ages. As our chumash notes on chapter 4 verse 3: “A Levite male, in the prime of his life, during the years from 30 to 50, would be given responsibility for the arduous tasks of maintaining the tabernacle (and later the Temple). After age 50, his new tasks would require more wisdom and less physical strength: singing the Psalms, opening and closing the gates, and acting as mentor to younger Levites.”

It’s the latter portion of this cycle that’s drawing my attention as I study the parsha this year. No matter whether a person continues to perform a certain task or has retired from it by a certain age, there comes a time when they are qualified to counsel others. In fact, the lesson of the Mishnah in Pirkei Avot, chapter 5 mirrors the trajectory of the Levites:

בֶּן עֶשְׂרִים לִרְדֹּף, בֶּן שְׁלשִׁים לַכֹּחַ, בֶּן אַרְבָּעִים לַבִּינָה, בֶּן חֲמִשִּׁים לָעֵצָה

“[Judah Ben Tema taught:] At twenty for pursuit [of livelihood]; At thirty the peak of strength; At forty wisdom; At fifty able to give counsel.”

During the course of the book of Numbers, the generations of Israelites that knew slavery are washed away, so that 40 years later when Moshe begins speaking at the start of Deuteronomy, he is speaking to the new generation that will enter the land. But that generation is guided by what came before, and that generation’s council. Even though they did not merit themselves to enter Canaan, their descendants are cognizant of both the good and bad actions that they did, so that they can learn from them. Moses exhorts the new generation towards the end of the Torah:

זְכֹר֙ יְמ֣וֹת עוֹלָ֔ם בִּ֖ינוּ שְׁנ֣וֹת דֹּר־וָדֹ֑ר        שְׁאַ֤ל אָבִ֙יךָ֙ וְיַגֵּ֔דְךָ זְקֵנֶ֖יךָ וְיֹ֥אמְרוּ לָֽךְ׃

Remember the days of old,

Consider the years of ages past;

Ask your parent, who will inform you,

Your elders, who will tell you:

As we go about our various tasks and obligations, both big and small, we should remember that they are each important in their own way. So-called “light” or easy mitzvot are just as important as more weighty ones; carrying the holy ark is as important as carrying a tentpole; and we each, Levite or not, have an integral role to play in our community.