Kevin Bemel ·
You’re Never Too Spiritual to Count Yourself Out
“But the Tribe of Levi you will not count and their census you will not do among the Children of Israel” (Bamidbar/Numbers 1:49). G-d tells Moses that the Levites will not be included in the census he takes of the Israelites. Why are they excluded?
This coming Sabbath we begin the fourth book of the Torah with Parshas Bamidbar. It starts with G-d commanding Moses to take a census of the Children of Israel: first of the Twelve Tribes and then a separate one of the Levites. Next G-d gives the arrangement of the Tribes into four camps that will travel with and encamp around the Aron, the Holy Ark. Then the Levites are appointed to the service of the Tabernacle in place of the firstborn, giving us the mitzvah of Pidyon Haben, the redemption of the firstborn, still done today.
Our intrepid commentator Rashi gives a thought about why the Levites were excluded. He notes G-d left them out of the census because they would be not be included in those who were decreed to die in the Wilderness since they did not participate in the sin of the Golden Calf. The strange thing is the judgment to die in the wilderness resulted from accepting the negative report about the Land of Israel given by the spies. The Levites did commit that sin. The Sifsai Chachomim, a collection of commentaries on Rashi’s insights, resolves this conflict by noting that the decree applied to those who were guilty of both sins. Since the Levites did not take part in the sin of the Golden Calf, they were spared.
From this distinction, Rabbi Baruch Sorotzkin derives a valuable lesson. Even though the Levites were elevated enough to refrain from participating in the Golden Calf incident, they still succumbed to the sin of believing Loshon hora, literally evil language, about the Land of Israel.
If people on such a spiritually elevated plane fell prey to this sin, how much more so may we? Though we justify listening to gossip by saying we will not believe it, too often we pass it along thereby enticing others to pay credence to it even if we do not. Better that we should ask the person to refrain from saying negative things and if not, walk away
Question – How do you deal with gossip?
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