Studious Tribes
And so, when Yaakov gave this curse upon the anger of his children and he said that they should be בֹ ֲ̃ﬠַי¿ּב ם≈ ̃¿ּלַחֲ‡ – they should remain landless, that was for their benefit that they should be able to overcome their nature and gradually change it. And the more they would listen and be aware of this function, the more of a blessing it would be.
Now, Shimon and Levi weren’t obtuse; they both listened carefully to their father and you can be sure that they and their children never forgot even one jot of his words. Every word, every letter, was impressed in their memory and they discussed it among themselves always; they studied what could be all the shades of meaning, all the nuances, in the words of Yaakov Avinu. And when Moshe brought down the Torah from Har Sinai and they saw that the exact words of the blessings were dictated to Moshe Rabbeinu to be a part of the Torah, so even though it was nothing new to them you can be certain that they paid attention to it even more now.
And yet, despite their assiduity, despite their diligence in studying Yaakov’s words, there was a difference in the results. You know, sometimes two people can know the same parsha by memory, they can repeat it word for word and it seems that both are equally impressed and yet there’s a tremendous difference between the way one has assimilated the lesson and the other. And we’re going to see now how big the difference was.
Levi Chooses Greatness
The descendants of Levi, even in Mitzrayim, when they studied the words of their zeide – “ם≈ˆיƒפֲ‡ַו ...ם≈ ̃¿ּלַחֲ‡, I’m going to disperse them,” – they listened well; so well, that they changed their personalities. After all, they couldn’t change the words of their grandfather, no. Once he said, ם≈ ̃¿ּלַחֲ‡, that they’re not going to get any land, it’s settled forever and ever that they’ll be a dispersed shevet. But what’s going to be the result of that dispersal, that’s the question?
And they answered that question by choosing with their free will to make that punishment into a blessing. The father said you don’t get land and that’s finished forever. But they got better than land! ‡ּהו 'הֹו ָ̇לֲחַֽנ – Hashem is his inheritance! (Devarim 18:2). Ah! That’s a big surprise! The tribe of Levi became especially attached to Hashem. םּƒיƒו¿לַה יƒלּיוָה¿ו – “The Leviim belong to Me,” Hashem says (Bamidbar 8:14). It’s a remarkable statement.
The Curse Becomes a Consolation
And the potential for all of that greatness, all of that achievement, lay in Yaakov’s bitter words of castigation. When he lashed out at his sons Levi listened and the end was that he took these words to heart so fervently that Hashem became his portion! Because Levi took the curse and he studied it and he saw the blessing in it: that he must use it to perfect his personality; to be humbled and to restrain his wrath and use it only for the most pure idealistic purposes. And that’s how ‘You won’t have a portion’ became ‘Hashem is your portion’.
And now when we read in the Torah that ה∆י¿הֽƒי ‡ֹל ל≈‡ָר¿ׂ ̆ƒי םƒע הָלֲחַֽנ¿ו ̃∆ל≈ח יƒו≈ל ט∆ב≈ׁ ̆ לָּכ םƒּיƒו¿לַֽה יםƒנֲהֹּֽכַל – there shouldn’t be any share and any inheritance in the land to the Kohanim and the Leviim among the people, (ibid. 8:1) we understand that even though this was a fulfillment of the curse, but the Torah adds to this words that are of the greatest importance: ‡ּהו 'הֹו ָ̇לֲחַנ – Hashem is Levi’s inheritance.
Oooohhhh! That’s not said about the other tribes. Yehuda was given broad lands. Binyamin had land. Reuven had land. All the tribes had land, but of them it’s not said that ֹו ָ̇לֲחַנ ‡ּהו 'ה. But of Levi, it is said. Levi became elevated above all the tribes and Hashem is his inheritance. That’s some consolation prize! Instead of a piece of land, Hashem became their estate! They became the closest and most dedicated to Hashem of all the tribes!
A Tribe of Greats
And from now on, the shevet Levi became the aristocrats of the Jewish people. If you look through our history, who are our greatest men? Shevet Levi! Not only in Mitzrayim when the criticism of Yaakov Avinu was fresh in their minds. That, surely – Moshe Rabbeinu was a Levite par excellence. Aharon Hakohen who was a Levite, was the father of the kohanim – but in the Midbar too. When a golden calf was made and Moshe Rabbeinu said, יָל≈‡ 'הַל יƒמ – “Who is for Hashem, let him come to me,” לָּכ יוָל≈‡ּפו¿סָ‡≈ּיַו יƒו≈ל י≈נ¿ּב – so all the shevet of Levi came to Moshe’s side! (Shemos 32:26). There wasn’t a single one who stayed home. The bnei Levi when they saw what was taking place, they were indignant. And they took this quality of anger and they transformed it into an implement to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
But even further and further, after they came into the land and began to labor under the curse of being scattered, they continued to achieve more and more greatness. If you look through the roster of the great men in our history, you find so many were kohanim and leviim. Shmuel Hanavi was a Levi. Eili Hakohen was from shevet Levi. Reb Elazar ben Azarya was a kohen. Shimon Hatzaddik was from shevet Levi. And who was the savior of our people in the time when they were in danger of being crushed to death in the days of Chanukah? Mattisyahu from shevet Levi. It’s remarkable how many kohanim and leviim occupy the most prominent places among our sages and our tzaddikim!
Now, we're used to the idea already so we don’t think too much about it but actually it didn’t have to be that way. It happened only because this family listened! All throughout our history the Leviim used their circumstances – circumstances that others would have complained about – in order to perfect their personalities. All the various forms of greatness of character that can be acquired in the difficult circumstances of Yaakov Avinu’s curse, they acquired. They squeezed out all they could and therefore, they took the curse and they exchanged it into a blessing.
A Different Tribe
Shimon however – now far be it from me to say any criticism of the son of Yaakov, Shimon. Certainly he was a perfect man and Shimon was a virtuous shevet, absolutely. But because his descendants didn’t listen as carefully as Levi did to their father’s words they didn’t make use of their circumstances to change.
Now I’m sure he did listen but there’s no question that the family of Shimon did not profit from Yaakov’s prophetic words as much as Levi did. They didn’t make use of the opportunity in the same measure as Levi, therefore Shimon lost out and never had any territory and never had any distinctions either. They remained without any inheritance, and they didn’t gain any especial greatness either.
If you look in the list of Shoftim, every shevet had a shofet. In the time of the Judges, every shevet had a shofet, but not Shimon. Shevet Shimon didn’t have a shofet (See Rashi, Sukkah 27b). They had tzaddikim and talmidei chachomim, yes, but there’s no question that when they left this world they came to the Next World regretting that they didn’t accomplish as much as their brothers, shevet Levi.
The Labor of Listening
So now going back, we see that Yaakov Avinu actually was blessing Levi. בֹ ֲ̃ﬠַי¿ּב ם≈ ̃¿ּלַחֲ‡ – They’ll be scattered and won’t have any land of their own? That’s the best thing that could have happened to them because they made it into a blessing! Although it’s not in the Chumash, all the details how it happened, but the Leviim labored and utilized the opportunities that were included in their great grandfather’s words until finally they made it into a blessing.
And that, you have to know, is the greatness of a person. It’s a lesson that applies to all of us no less than it did to Levi and Shimon because to a very great extent a person’s success depends on how much he utilizes his station in life and the opportunities it brings; how he takes what superficially appears to be a curse and manipulates it into a blessing, into perfection of his personality. That’s the great lesson ofּעו¿מƒׁ ̆, listening, and understanding what to do with your opportunities. It’s the lesson of turning stones into diamonds, curses into blessings.
Our Exile
And we have that opportunity every day in our times. Because don’t we know that being in golus, in exile, is a curse? We are accustomed to say י≈נ¿ּפƒמּנו≈ˆ¿רַ‡≈מּינוƒלָּ‚ּינו≈‡ָטֲח – we were exiled from our land because of our sins; that the whole story of being thrown out of Eretz Yisroel and dispersed among the nation is a curse.
And although it is certainly true, by no means is it a simple statement however. You’re making a big mistake if you think golus is just a tragedy, a misfiring of the whole plan of history; that the only time that’s worth living is to be in Eretz Yisroel, with Dovid Hamelech and with the Beis Hamikdash. Oh no! It wasn’t a misfiring of a plan. You’re living the plan! Right now wherever you are in golus, that’s where you belong. Right now, right here, that’s where you have your opportunities, opportunities to become very great just because of the golus!
And so even though Hakadosh Baruch Hu put a curse on the generations – it was foretold in the Torah that the Am Yisroel is going to be in the lowest kind of madreigeh when they’ll be dispersed in exile; there’ll be a lot of tzaros living scattered and dispersed among the gentiles – we have to realize too that just because of our exile we have opportunities that never existed before. And just like shevet Levi utilized the prophecy of their golus to achieve greatness, the same thing is all of us.
Joe and Harry
Now, he can be a nobody if he wants. He can be a plain Joe, a plain Harry. He can live according to the low levels of his times and be a nobody. But if he wishes he can choose and then it’ll be ‡ָ ̇¿ּלƒמ יƒ‡ָל¿‚ƒ‡ַﬠ≈ר¿פַמ¿ל, it’ll become revealed retroactively, that this was a great generation. If he chooses to make use of the opportunity that he was placed in he can create a great personality from himself, an oved Hashem. Instead of being a plain Harry, he can be a great Harry!
That’s what Koheles means, הָמ¿כָח≈מ ‡ֹל יƒּכ רַמ‡ֹּ ̇ לַ‡ה∆ז לַﬠ ָּ̇¿לַ‡ָׁ ̆ – don’t say, ה∆ּל≈‡≈מ יםƒבֹטוּיוָה יםƒנֹׁ ̆‡ƒרָה יםƒמָּיַה∆ׁ ̆ – that the olden days were better than now, ‡ֹל יƒּכה∆ז לַﬠ ָּ̇¿לַ‡ָׁ ̆ הָמ¿כָח≈מ – because you didn’t inquire of chochma regarding this. It means you didn’t take counsel of your wisdom when you say that because according to the opportunities now and according to your nature, that’s where you can make yourself great. You can do now, in your exile, what was never able to be done before; just because of our exile we have opportunities that never existed before.
And that’s what we’re learning now, that it’s possible to take a curse, a prophetic curse, and with
