Parshas Nasso begins with the count of the children of Gershon and Merari from the tribe of Levi, who would be hauling the coverings, curtains, posts and panels of the Mishkan and its courtyard, when the Jewish people traveled in the desert. It comes after the count of the children of Kehos, who carried the vessels of the Mishkan, which is written about at the end of the previous parsha, Bamidbar.
Everything in Torah is eternal, but these counts seem to be only pertaining to the time that they were in the desert. Why does the Torah tell us about this, which seems to be irrelevant today? Being that the Torah writes this, it must also be eternal and it must be relevant to every one of us. What is the eternal message here for every single Jew?
Levi had three boys, Gershon, Kehos and Merari, in that order, but when they were counted, Kehos was counted first. Why?
To understand this, we first have to answer a more general question. Why did Hashem have the Jewish people stay in the desert for forty years? It is true that they were punished not to enter the Holy Land for forty years because of the fiasco with the spies who gave a bad report, turning the hearts of the people against the land. But that only explains why they didn't enter the land. Why not take them to another country for forty years? Why did they have to be "in the great and awesome desert with snakes, serpents and scorpions, and thirst, for there is no water?"
Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi explains, "The reason for their travels in the desert with the Mishkan and its vessels, was to subdue the power the negative forces leach (off holiness) , because their ability to leech (off holiness) stems specifically from the desert." And even more, through subduing the ability of the negative forces to leach from holiness, "They drawed the revelation of G-dliness."
You see, there is a constant spiritual battle between the negative forces and the forces of good. But the negative forces don't get their nourishment directly from Hashem, rather, in a indirect way, they leach what they can from us. They find openings, due to our weaknesses and failings, and that becomes their nourishment. Our travels in the desert, greatly hampered their ability to leech off holiness, therefore, weakening them for all time. Being that we weakened them, we made more room for G-dliness. So the forty years we spent in the desert, laid the groundwork and gave us the spiritual upper hand in our mission as Jews. There is still a battle, but it is vastly easier than it would have been, without our accomplishments traveling in the desert.
Every spiritual accomplishment surfaces in the physical. That is why, wherever we traveled in the desert, the clouds of glory that protected us, killed the snakes, serpents and scorpions, the Mishkan was set up, and the well of Miriam gushed forth water, making the desert bloom with all kinds of greenery and trees. In other words, wherever we went ceased to be desert, ceased to be negative. So for the Jewish people, there was really no desert, because their travels made the desert civilized.
The ability to do all this came from the tribe of Levi, and specifically from those who dismantled, carried and erected the Mishkan and its vessels. What gave them the power to effect their surroundings so drastically? It was the count at the end of parshas Bamidbar and the beginning of parshas Nasso that raise them above and separated them, so that they weren't affected by the negative, rather, they affected the negative and turned it into positive, they made the desert habitable.
This idea of making the desert into a home is applicable to every person and in every generation.
When a person thinks about his life, he comes to the realization that he is flawed, because no one is perfect, everyone has failings of some sort. In other words, he and his surroundings is not habitable for Hashem, and even if it is, it is not a permanent home for Him. This can be disheartening and even depressing, and bring a person to run away from his purpose and mission that Hashem gave him.
This is where this lesson comes in, telling us that we are traveling in a desert and our job is to make our personal desert bloom. Just as in the desert, the Jewish people only traveled on Hashem's word, we too only travel on His word. In every situation that we find ourselves, it is Hashem Who specifically put us there and we have the ability to turn it in to an oasis for Hashem.
Everyone of us can be like a Levi, as the Rambam says, "Not just the tribe of Levi, but anyone... who will give of himself... to separate himself and stand before Hashem to serve Him... Hashem will be his portion and his inheritance... just as the Kohanim and the Leviim merited to have."
In other words, anyone who puts himself to the task of, "teaching His virtuous ways and His righteous laws to many," will be given the strength and prestige from above, he will be raised higher and higher, he will reach the level of the children of Gershon, and then the level of the children of Kehos, the highest level of the tribe of Levi. And through this, he will be able to effect his place in the world, and make it into a home for Hashem.
There is another lesson here. One might look back at his bleak past and think to himself, "The way I acted in the past was negative, I've been acting that way so long. How am I going to change now?" Thinking this way, he can give up hope of ever becoming a better person, or a follower of Hashem's ways.
To him the Torah says, that the children of Gershon, Kehos and Merari, first began their service at the age of thirty, notwithstanding their previous life, and they were able to reach the highest levels, they started to carry the Mishkan and turned the desert into an oasis. Same is true for us, we don't have to dwell on the past, it is never too late to begin, and if we make the effort, we can reach the highest levels, we will be given the strength to rid ourselves of any negativities or bad habits and addictions, and make ourselves and our surroundings into a beautiful home for Hashem.
How does one go about doing this? There are two parts to this effort, "refraining from doing bad," and "doing good." When you want to make a home fit for a king, first you have to clean out the junk and then you can bring in the furnishings and make it beautiful. The same is true when you want to make yourself and your surroundings into a home for Hashem, first you have to "refrain from bad," stop the negative actions, and then you have to start "doing good," doing what Hashem wants.
These two, "refraining from bad," and "doing good," are hinted in the names of the sons of Levi. Gershon is from the word gerush, which means to divorce, and Merari is from the word mar, which means bitter. Together they mean to separate from the bad or "refrain from bad." Kehos is from the word yikhas, which means to gather, which is doing something positive or "doing good."
Gershon was born before Kehos, because the order is first "refrain from bad," and then "do good." However, when it comes to counting them, which counting raises the status of the things being counted, Kehos was first, to show that "doing good" is more important. If you think about it, even though refraining from bad is very difficult and of course, nothing bad is being done, but it doesn't accomplish anything positive. Its whole purpose is to create a wholesome environment, so you can "do good."
This idea is also brought out in the work they did. Gershon and Merari carried the parts that made the house of the Mishkan, just as a home provides protection. It symbolizes "refraining from bad," protecting yourself from negative actions. Kehos carried the vessels of the Mishkan, the vessels are what all the services in the Mishkan were done with. The house is there to protect and create the perfect environment for the people living in it, so they can do positive action with the vessels, and that is what makes it a home.
May we merit to see our deserts become a everlasting home for Hashem, with the coming of Moshiach. May he come soon.
Dedicated in honor of my son Mendel, who celebrated his birthday this week, may Hashem give you an amazing year, Mommy and I are so proud of you.
Beautiful. Amen!
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