A THOUGHT ON PARSHAS KORACH

"...b'artzam lo tinchal v'chelek lo yi'yeh lecha b'socham..."

"...you will not inherit their land nor have a portion among them..." (18:20)

The Holy Land was apportioned for each of the Tribes of Israel. Each inherited a province. The Tribe of Levi and their Kohanim kinsman did not get a portion of the land. HaShem promised them that "Ani chelkecha v'nachalascha b'toch Benei Yisroel" - I shall be your portion and your inheritance in the midst of the tribes.

The Levites and Kohanim were given sacred tasks. They devoted their days and years to the service of HaShem, through their avoda and through their readiness to guide and teach those who turned to them. Rather than sustain themselves through working the land, they were given the tithes and other field offerings which came from the other tribe's produce.

The Ralbag finds in these offerings a deeper message. The tithes were more than a means of supporting those devoted to the sacred work. Recall that there were twelve tribes of Israel. By rights and numeric precision, each tribe would be granted one twelfth of the terrain. However, Levi did not get a share. What became of his twelfth?

The answer the Ralbag proposes is that each of the other tribes gave up a tenth of its own produce. Collectively, that was an equivalency to the portion which Levi had missed out on. Getting a tenth of each tribe's produce was in lieu of getting the land which would produce such produce. On very technical grounds, a tenth (tithe) is a greater amount than a twelfth, but the Ralbag reasons that this larger amount took on additional significance. Ten, in our tradition, holds a sacred message. Ten signifies a point of transcendence, as we see on Yom Kippur, which is ten days into the New Year, and ten is the number signified in the scripturally-based concept "asiri kodesh." There are nine major celestial bodies in our visible heaven, and ten symbolizes that reality far beyond human grasp, which is our symbol for the Holy. Hence, the Levites and the Kohanim were given their "share" which also captured the message of their dedication to the Holy. Ten is the holiest number that you'll ever do.

We can understand the ruling of Chazal that in giving tithes, one should never give via estimate or imprecise reckoning in a way in which he might give less, or even more, than the required tenth. Giving a portion of that exact amount was a reminder to us about the holy status of the avodos, and receiving a tenth was a reminder to the Levites and Kohanim that it was HaShem who was their Portion, and their inheritance was above and beyond the tribal territories. Their inheritance was a mission of holiness.

Good Shabbos. D Fox