Naso 2022
Isaac’s Parsha Corner · 2022
In Parshiot Bamidbar and Naso, we read about the dismantling of the Mishkan and its movement through the desert. This job was given to the three Levite families: Gershon, Kehat, and Merari. The last section of Parshat Bamidbar details the tasks assigned to the family of Kehat, tasks that pertain to the holy vessels. Parshat Naso begins with a listing of the tasks assigned to the families of Gershon and Merari. The family of Gershon was responsible for the various tent materials, both outer and inner structures. Merari was tasked with moving the boards and the base sockets. The division of the weekly Torah reading is such that the work of the Kehat family is read separately from the work of the other two Levite families. One wonders why this is so. The Kehat family was charged with carrying the holy vessels by hand, without the help of wagons. The boards, sockets, and tent materials were loaded on to wagons, donated by the Nesiyim (leaders of the tribes):
“And they (the leaders) brought their gift before God; six covered wagons and twelve oxen, one wagon for each two leaders and one ox for each leader and they brought them before the Tabernacle. And God said to Moshe as follows; Take it from them and give it the Levites according to their tasks. And Moshe took the wagons and the oxen and gave them to the Levites. He gave two wagons and four oxen to Gershon as befitted their work. And the four wagons and eight oxen were given to Merari, all under the leadership of Itamar, son of Aaron the priest. And to the tribe of Kehat he gave no wagons, as the holy work was theirs and they must therefore carry the work on their shoulders.” (Num 7: 3-9)
These wagons may have been the same wagons that Joseph sent up to Jacob as a signal that he was indeed still alive and in Egypt. The Midrash tells us that those wagons were used by Jacob to transport trees, eventually used for the construction of the Tabernacle. It was important to Jacob that the materials used for the Holy Tabernacle be sourced in the land of Canaan. These trees were transplanted from Canaan into Egypt and then uprooted, loaded onto wagons, and brought out of Egypt to be used by Moshe for construction of the Tabernacle. Once the construction of the Tabernacle was completed, these wagons were being used once again, this time by the Levites to transport the Tabernacle through the desert.
The Midrash reports that Moshe was hesitant to accept the gifts of the leaders. He was worried that a fate similar to what befell Nadav and Avihu for bringing a “fire that had not been commanded” would befall these leaders for bringing a gift that had not been commanded. This hesitancy did not extend to the gift of the wagons, because God specifically commanded Moshe to accept this gift.
The wagons returned to play an important role in the biblical narrative. It was also important therefore to separate the work of Kehat, done without wagons, from the work of Gershon and Merari, which depended on them.
Dedicated to the memory of Joel Shulman A’H