Hey everyone, I hope you're all doing well. In one of Moshe Rabbeinu’s final speeches to Klal Yisrael, the Torah tells us: “וְלֹא נָתַן ה׳ לָכֶם לֵב לָדַעַת וְעֵינַיִם לִרְאוֹת וְאָזְנַיִם לִשְׁמֹעַ, עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה” — Hashem has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, or ears to hear until this day. Rashi explains that “this day” refers to the day Moshe gave a copy of the Torah to Shevet Levi. When that happened, the rest of Klal Yisrael came to Moshe and protested: “That’s not fair! We were also at Har Sinai. We received the Torah too! How can Levi claim it’s theirs alone?” Moshe was thrilled. He responded, “הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה נִהְיֵיתָ לְעָם” — today, you have become a nation.
Rav Moshe Feinstein asks two questions. First, why would the other tribes even think Levi could claim the Torah as their own? Everyone knew the whole nation stood at Har Sinai. And second, what about their reaction made Moshe so excited that he declared them a true nation?
He answers: Shevet Levi wasn’t given a portion in Eretz Yisrael because their job was to teach Torah to the rest of Klal Yisrael, as it says in V’zos HaBracha, “יוֹרוּ מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ לְיַעֲקֹב וְתוֹרָתְךָ לְיִשְׂרָאֵל.” That was their role. But the rest of Klal Yisrael stood up and said, “Just because we’re working the land doesn’t mean we don’t want a part in Torah too! Our primary goal is also to learn, teach, and pass Torah on to the next generation.” That was the moment Moshe realized this was a people who truly accepted responsibility. Torah wasn’t just a Shevet Levi thing — it was everyone’s mission. They all wanted to be links in the chain.
There’s a famous story with the Chofetz Chaim. Someone once asked him, “Are you a Kohen?” He answered yes. The man asked why, and the Chofetz Chaim replied, “Because when the call went out, my ancestors stepped forward.” Then he added, “You could’ve been a Kohen too — if your ancestors had said yes.” When there’s an opportunity to step up, to say “I’ll carry the Torah forward,” the people who answer that call are the ones who keep it alive. You don’t have to be born into Shevet Levi. You just have to care enough to say, “I’m in.”
Have a wonderful Shabbos.
Rabbi Nussbaum
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