דברים פרק יב, יט ןֶ פ
ךְל רֶמָּ שִּה -ת ַעֲזֹב אֶת -לָּ כ יִּו
לַה-לַע
ךיֶמָּי- :
ךֶתָּמְדַא
ספרי פרשת ראה פיסקא עד פן תעזוב את הלוי כל ימיך אפילו שמי טות ויובלות: על אדמתך ולא בגולה
The intent is to include Shmitos and Yovlos, even though Maaser (for the Levi) is not taken in these years, nevertheless, it is forbidden to forsake the Levi and must give to him in order that he might live. The special reason is that even though the Jews had no usage of the land in those years (and, as such, were similar to the Leviim), they were owners of the land in the previous years and had the ability to stock food, which the Leviim did not possess such a possibility. However, this does not apply when outside of Israel, since no one has a portion of that land and thus, Leviim were like everyone else.
The sefer, Beer Sheva, asks about this derasha from הוריות י"ג א'. We know the general principle that a Cohen takes precedence over the Levi and the Levi takes precedence over the Yisrael, yet no distinction is made whether this occurs in Israel or in Galus. T.T. This is a wonder since the Beer Sheva refers matters of holiness and giving of honored positions (like an Aliyah to the Torah). And certainly, the Leviim have special holiness for honors even in Galus. But in this derasha from the Sifrei the subject is gifts of the Leviim that the Torah provides, Maaser to the Leviim. In the time of Galus special care needs to be taken not to forsake the Leviim, since they have no land they need to receive special care. But this logic does not extend outside of Eretz Yisrael and thus, no distinction is made for Leviim.
The Bais Yosef, the Gra, and others learned these different matters together and discuss whether the Leviim receive special honors in our time in Galus. T.T. It appears that the Leviim certainly receive special honors in our time just as done for the Cohanim.
