“הקרב את מטה לוי והעמדת אותו לפני אהרן הכהן ושרתו אותו. ושמרו את משמרתו ואת משמרת כל העדה לפני אהל מועד לעבוד את עבודת המשכן.”
רש”י: ‘ושרתו אתו‘ – ומהו השירות, ושמרו את משמרתו, לפי ששמירת המקדש עליו שלא יקרב זר… והלווים הללו מסייעין אותם, זה הוא השירות.
(במדבר ג’ פס’ ו’-ז’)
Rashi: “And they will serve him- And what is this service? And they will safeguard his charge, since the guarding of the Mikdash is upon him (Aharon), that no non-Kohen should come too close… and the Levites assist them, this is the service.”
How many security officials are there guarding the White House at any given moment? Fifty? A hundred? Hakadosh Baruch Hu assigned the entire Shevet Levi the task of guarding the Mikdash. If such an extensive security force was called for, Klal Yisroel must have been tremendously drawn to the Mikdash. This is in fact a recurring theme throughout Sefer Bamidbar: Klal Yisroel wanted to break through all barriers, to come closer and closer to Hashem. Thus, in Parshas Korach, they protest against the principle that only Aharon and his sons may serve as Kohanim. And in Parshas Behaaloscha those who are taamei meis declare “למה נגרע” – we also want to offer the Korban Pesach to Hashem!
This is a powerful and important attribute, to desire and push for more, but it is also a dangerous one. It was the responsibility of Shevet Levi to ensure that Klal Yisroel would not go too far. But Hakadosh Baruch Hu did not choose the Levi’im because they would be particularly effective at getting everyone to “calm down”. Neither Levi
nor Shevet Levi were renowned for their calm; to the contrary, they were exceptional in their mesirus hanefesh. (וישלח כ”ג, כ”ה ורש”י שם. זאת הברכה ל”ג, ט’ ורש”י שם) So why were they the ones chosen to keep Klal Yisroel “in check”?
Shevet Levi distinguished themselves at the cheit haegel (sin of the golden calf), because they alone were able to discern between what was avodah and what was avodah zara, a distinction that was not so simple to make. That is, even though they were passionate and ambitious, they possessed the ability to be “מבחין” – to perceive and to differentiate – between what is still okay and what is too much. And this was their task in safeguarding the Mikdash: to recognize at which point close becomes too close. This requires a specific intellectual faculty: to identify exactly where the border lies, when to say, “This is no longer avodah, it is zar (foreign)” or “Stop, you are coming to too close to the kodesh.”
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Many of you may feel that this idea does not apply to you: “When was the last time I was too passionate about my Avodas Hashem?” But if you think about it, you will realize that it does happen. One example is tefillah. In essence, prayer is comprised of a “marriage” between two distinct forces: “כוונה” – devotion – and “הכנעה” – humility before Hashem. At times, a person can have too much כוונה, in the sense that it comes at the expense of his הכנעה. He becomes so passionate, he feels so close, that he loses the awe necessary when standing before Hashem. Those Gedolim who were known to have davened quickly did so for a reason; they understood what it meant to stand before Hashem.
This is where “Shevet Levi” comes in. We remain passionate and driven, but we are continuously being מבחין in our actions, checking that they remain true to the ratzon Hashem.