NUM240 Take the first tithe for the Levites. Having chosen the tribe of Levi to serve in the Beis HaMikdash on a permanent and consistent basis, Hashem kindly gives them their sustenance in an honorable manner. It is the way of the world that a king's closest assistants have all their needs provided for them, so that they are free to devote all of their time and energy to the important task of serving the king and furthering his interest in every possible way. Also, owing to their special status, the Levites are given a larger portion of the land’s produce than what is taken by the remaining tribes. After all, there are twelve tribes, so one could expect that the Levites would receive only one-twelfth of the produce. Nevertheless, Hashem increases their portion, for the portion of the Levites amounts to one-tenth, and they incur no expenses that reduce their portion. When someone gives of his produce to sustain Hashem's attendance in the Beis HaMikdash, the blessings of Hashem will rest upon all that he has.

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NUM241 The Levites shall give a tithe of their tithe to the Kohanim. Hashem chose the tribe of Levi to serve in the Beis HaMikdash on a permanent and constant basis., but He chose one of them in particular, Aharon, to be the Kohen, chief of staff over everyone else. Aharon and his descendants are the Kohanim for all time, and they, too, are permanently appointed to stand before Hashem in the Beis HaMikdash on a steady basis. In fact, the main avodah in the Beis HaMikdash is the task of the Kohanim. The Levites are secondary to the Kohanim and are there to assist them. Since the Kohanim perform the main avodah in the House of our God, they receive twenty-four gifts. The Levites, as assistants of the Kohanim, also merit good without toil in the form of ma’aser rishon from the rest of the tribes of Israel, from which the Levites have nourishment. So that the Levites appreciate that their goodly portion is due only to their service in the House of God, they are commanded to give one-tenth of their portion to the Kohanim-- those who attend to the main avodah in the House of God. Thereby, the Levites will recognize that there are others over them, and above everyone is God Himself. Also, this mitzvah provides merit and honor to the Levites, for they are not denied the mitzvah of giving ma’aser. They, too, have a share in providing sustenance to the Kohanim.

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NUM242 Recall the definition of humility we developed in the chapter on that soul-trait: humility means occupying your appropriate space, neither too much or too little. The Torah provides a story about order that links clearly to humility. It describes how the people of Israel were told to organize themselves in formation for camping and traveling in the desert: "The Israelites shall camp with each person near the banner, under the flag of their ancestral house. They shall camp at a specified distance around the Tent of Meeting" [this verse]. We read in a midrash that when God told Moses that the Jews were to be arranged in this specific formation, Moses complained that if he specified such an organization, there would be protest. "If I tell Yehuda to camp in the east, they will say they want the south, and so it will be with each and every tribe" (Midrash Rabbah). This story underlies the human tendency to rebel against imposed order. It doesn't matter if the order that is being forced to foisted on us is good, right, useful, or sensible. As long as our "rightful space" is being imposed, we don't want it: "If I tell Yehuda to camp in the east, they will say they want the south." Not that the south is necessarily better than the east or the north, it's just not what you told me to do, and that's the point. Sound familiar? Disorder is often the child of a rebellious ego that resists humbly occupying a rightful space. All that it whispers in your inner ear can be reduced to "I want" or "I don't want." I want to have fun, cleaning up after myself is no fun. I want to keep accumulating stuff, and organizing it is not something I enjoy. I want my leisure, and setting things in order is work. Or… I don't want to take responsibility for my stuff. I don't want to do that. I don't have to. No matter what follows the word "I," there is no mistaking that the subject is "me." Hence the antidote here it would be humility. All the methods for cultivating humility that the Mussar Masters have formulated over the centuries come into play here. … Order is, after all, a kind of a submission of will, and humility fosters submission in place of the ego's self–assertion.

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NUM243 See [[NUM152]] Numbers 15:2 speak OXFORD 13-4

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NUM244 Observe the laws of the red heifer. As to this mitzvah, my hands are weak and I am afraid to say a word of explanation, even on a simple level, for our Sages spoke at length about the depth of its secrets and its great importance. They also said that due to his formidable wisdom and powers of comprehension, Shlomo HaMelech [i.e., King Solomon–AJL] understood what all of the reasons for the Torah’s mitzvos, except for this one. The mitzvah of the red heifer is supremely important, for through this mitzvah a person becomes cleansed of the high degree of spiritual impurity that he contracts from the dead. Without this mitzvah, someone who was defiled by such impurity cannot bring a Pesach offering, which is a central mitzvah for the Jewish faith. For this reason, the custom is to read the Torah parashah about the red heifer immediately before the parashah about Rosh Chodesh Nisan and the Pesach offering.

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NUM246 Ben Bag-Bag said: Turn and turn about in it [the Torah] for ... there is no better portion for you than this. Pirkei Avot, Perek V, mishnah 25. ... From eighty to one hundred, says the earlier mishnah [24], man deteriorates and declines, on his way to his ultimate passing. Says Ben Bag-Bag, ובלה בה -- literally, "disintegrate in it." Even in these last decades, when health wains and fails, remain immersed in Torah. Said R. Jonathan: "Never should a man keep away from the beth midrash and the words of Torah, not even about the time of death; for it stated: This is the Torah, should a man die in a tent… Even at the time of death, be occupied with the Torah" [this verse, T.B. Shabbath 83b].

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NUM247 Observe the laws of impurity associated with a corpse. Basic ideas about this type of spiritual impurity are discussed in: See [[LEV867]] Leviticus 21:1 impurity CHINUCH 167-8

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NUM248 R. Yonathan said: Let a man never keep himself from words of Torah, even at the time of death, it being written: "This is the Torah: A man, if he died in a tent." Let him occupy himself with Torah even at the time of death (Shabbath 84b)

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NUM249 See [[DEUT1731]] Deuteronomy 34:5 mouth AGUS 146-7

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NUM250 R. Simeon b. El'azar said: … do not question [your fellow] at the time he makes a vow. Pirkei Avot, Perek IV, mishnah 23. Whence do you learn this?--From Moses. When he said to the Israelites, "Listen now, you rebels," [this verse] the Holy One vowed that he would not enter the [promised] land.… Said Moses, "This is a time of oath – taking; I have no need to speak now." Forty years he waited, and then he began to plead before Him. Said the Holy One to him, "Because you waited, go up to the top of Pisgah [and behold it with your eyes]" (Deuteronomy 3:27). This much his patience availed.

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