Parshat Bamidbar
by Rabbi Avi Billet
When we go through the census of the tribes, we find that most tribes’ population are in the 40,000s and 50,000s. The largest tribe is Yehuda with 74,600. The next is Dan, with 62,700.
The smallest tribes are Ephraim, Menashe and Binyamin, with 40,500, 32,300, and 35,400 respectively. A reasonable perspective to add is that Yosef’s tribe is second to largest, because Ephraim and Menashe together would equal 72,800. This would make Binyamin the actual smallest at 35,400, as long as we count Levi separately (as the Torah does). They are counted from age 30 days and up (everyone else is 20 and up), and their total – the way the Torah summarizes it – is 22,000. A number of commentaries note that it’s actually 22,300 – a point beyond the scope of our topic here.
Ramban pins their relatively stunted growth on the tribe of Levi somehow not being subjected to slavery, and therefore not being blessed in the manner described in Shemos as פרו וישרצו וירבו ויעצמו במאד מאד – the population explosion that other tribes had. Incidentally, when counted from the ages of 30-50, to see how many could serve in the Mishkan, the tally was 8,580.
And yet this is still not such a great method of measurement. How many slaves died? How many children weren’t born due to tiredness or the threat of Pharaoh’s soldiers? How many babies did Pharaoh have murdered? Was a particular tribe treated differently than the others by God? Surely population growth is not a competition.
Rav Yechezkel Levenstein (quoted by Rabbi Scheinbaum in Peninim Al HaTorah) noted that Dan only had one child - Chushim. Binyamin had 10 sons. One would assume that, allowing for the course of nature, Binyamin’s tribe, should be fairly sizable. Dan, on the other hand, who had only one child, should probably have a much smaller number of descendants. Yet when we look at the final tally, Binyamin’s tribe was half the size of the tribe of Dan.
We can look in Parshas Pinchas, for example, and see that only 5 of Binyamin’s ten sons are included in that tribe’s census. What happened to his other 5 sons? Did they marry and have children? Were they bachelors? Did they die in Egypt before they could build families?
Rabbi Levenstein derived from the comparison between Dan and Binyamin that God listens to the pleas of the weak and downtrodden. We have no one upon whom to rely but Him. One who foolishly relies on his own talents and attributes quickly discovers that, without God‘s divine assistance, his God-given gifts are of little use.
There are other ways to look at the census of the Leviim. Daas Zekenim notes that the verse in Tehillim 68 - רֶ֤כֶב אֱלֹהִ֗ים רִבֹּתַ֣יִם אַלְפֵ֣י שִׁנְאָ֑ן אֲדֹנָ֥י בָ֝֗ם סִינַ֥י בַּקֹּֽדֶשׁ – indicates that 22,000 angels came down at Har Sinai to give the crowns to the Bnei Yisrael (which they later took away), because God knew that the Golden Calf would happen, and only the tribe of Levi – 22,000 – would steer clear of it completely. Thus the number of angels paralleled that tribe.
This idea is also advanced by Kli Yakar who describes the number 22,000 as being the minimum size of a Machaneh Shechinah.
At the same time, Kli Yakar mentions another reason for Levi to not be so large a tribe is to ease the financial burden they present on the rest of the nation, since the rest of the nation is supposed to support the Tribe of Levi. He rejects this, however, because that demonstrates a lack of Emunah in God’s ability to save and support those who are fulfilling his divine mission for them.
He also suggests that the tribe of Levi fell behind during the time of the decree of Pharaoh, when Amram separated from Yocheved and encouraged everyone to separate from their wives, a decree Kli Yakar attributes ONLY to the Tribe of Levi. Women who were enslaved were giving birth in fields. There was simply no way to monitor all of them. But the Levites, who weren’t enslaved, were easy to monitor and see if and when they had children.
He concludes from here that there is something special about smaller tribes – that Levi serves in the capacity they serve, and that even within Levi, the families of Kehas and Gershon are given greater responsibilities with the holiest vessels than was Merari, who had a larger population. And of course, he points to the basic reality of the Jewish people – The verse in Devarim 7:7 – God did not love you because of your population size… for you are the smallest of nations. לֹ֣א מֵֽרֻבְּכֶ֞ם מִכָּל־הָֽעַמִּ֗ים חָשַׁ֧ק יְקֹוָ֛ק בָּכֶ֖ם וַיִּבְחַ֣ר בָּכֶ֑ם כִּֽי־אַתֶּ֥ם הַמְעַ֖ט מִכָּל־הָעַמִּֽים:
While this is nice “Toirah,” I think most of us would probably presume that a larger population is a greater blessing! Kli Yakar references his comment on the birth of Dan, back in the book of Bereshis, chapter 30, in which, somewhat ironically, he lumps together Yehuda, Dan and Levi.
There the pasuk describes the birth and naming of Dan, concluding על כן קראה שמו דן. “Whenever it says “Al Ken” is an indication that they will have a greater population, except for the tribe of Levi, because the “Aron” prevents them.
Yehuda is the Gur Aryeh who will become King. Dan is blessed by Yaakov to be the judges of Israel, which is perhaps why Dan is later referred to by Moshe ALSO as גור אריה. Kli Yakar notes a parallel between the tribe of Dan and King David.
The Tribe of Levi SHOULD HAVE been great in number. They have the crown of Torah – through Moshe. The crown of Kehunah – through Aharon. They are the tribe that serves God most directly, and ברוב עם God’s glory is more revealed. And yet the Aron stunts their growth.
He explains that the Aron isn’t referring to the Ark of the covenant, because their growth was stunted even before they were given that responsibility. It’s referring to the Aron (coffin) of Yaakov, from which they were exempted from carrying, because Yaakov knew they’d one day carry the Ark itself. And because of the honor Yaakov gave to Levi, the Egyptians took note and exempted them from slavery.
He concludes suggesting that the promise to Avraham was that those who were enslaved would leave with great wealth. And this is why the tribe of Levi was to be supported by the rest of the nation. That they weren’t enslaved left them poor.
So… the bottom line is that we can’t put much stock in numbers, because there are much larger considerations in how tribes grow or shrink. Sometimes we can figure things out pretty clearly, such as how the tribe of Shimon loses 37,100 of its tribesmen between the beginning of Bamidbar and Parshas Pinchas. That can easily be attributed to the events of Baal Pe’or and Zimri at the end of Balak and the beginning of Pinchas. Menashe, Binyamin, Asher and Yissachar have significant GROWTH between those two censuses as well, while Ephraim, Naftali and Gad have LOSSES of double digit percentages 20, 15, and 11 respectively.
This is why Rabbi Levenstein’s point is the real answer to the conundrum.
We have to do our hishtadlus, but in most ways – it’s up to God.
Sometimes people who seem to do everything right seem blessed and rewarded. Sometimes, what looks like the same script turns out differently for someone else. In the last 15 years, two Jewish women, Rachel Krishevsky and Yitta Schwartz were reported as having over 1400 and over 2000 descendants respectively at the time of their passing. They each had a lot of children, who in turn had a lot of children, and they were also blessed to live to be close to 100. So you can do the math.
That’s an extreme in one direction. There is every spot on the spectrum of multiplication, of course. For everyone, the degree of growth of our people can only be pointed to as potential.
Rabbi Sheinbaum, in his Peninim Al HaTorah, shared a story that the Chafetz Chaim would tell over. In Galicia, there was a practice to recite Tehillim Shabbos afternoon. One man saw another VERY fervently reciting Tehillim, and thought, who better to stand next to when I’m doing my Tehillim. Soon, they’re both crying – each elevated by his kavannah and his emotional expression.
After Maariv, the one who joined the first man said, “It’s none of my business. But you are obviously anguished. What bothers you? Perhaps I can help.” “I have a daughter of marriageable age who has no prospects. During the week I’m working and don’t see her. But on Shabbos, I see how every day for her she is depressed and dejected. It breaks my heart that I can’t help her. I can’t afford a dowry.”
The second man said, “I have a son who has wonderful Middos, and is a yarei Shamayim. I also have no money. If you are willing, perhaps we can make a shidduch between them. I am willing.”
They were married! And in addition to having companionship, they were blessed to have 4 gedolei Yisrael come from them – Rav Chaim HaKohen, Rav Mordechai HaKohen, Rav Yehuda HaKohen, author of Kuntres HaSfeikos, and Rav Aryeh Leib Hakohen Heller, author of the Ketzos HaChoshen.
We do our part, and with the blessings from above, God should get ourselves and our people us to where we deserve to be.
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