3,823. Be Like a Levi!

Hilchos Shemittah v’Yoveil 13:12

The reason the Leviim don’t receive an inheritance in the land and a share in the spoils is because they’re designated to serve God, to minister before Him and to teach the people His proper paths and righteous judgments. To this end, Deuteronomy 33:10 teaches: “They will teach Your laws to Jacob and Your Torah to Israel.” For this reason, they were separated from secular concerns. They don’t go to war like the rest of the Jews, they don’t receive an inheritance in the land, and they don’t acquire for themselves through their own efforts. Rather, they are God’s army, as per Deuteronomy 33:11: “God, bless His army.” He personally sustains them, as per Numbers 18:20: “I am your portion and your inheritance.”

Hilchos Shemittah v’Yoveil 13:13

This is true not only of the Leviim. Rather, anyone in the world whose spirit moves him and who understands to separate himself and stand before God, to minister before Him, to serve Him and to know Him, to walk justly as God made him, and to remove from upon his neck the yoke of the many concerns that occupy people, he is sanctified as the holiest of the holy. God will forever be his portion and inheritance, and He will supply him with whatever is sufficient for him in this world just like He provides for the kohanim and Leviim. This is what David stated in Psalms 16:5: “God is my allotted portion and my cup; You support my lot.”

This concludes Sefer Zeraim, the seventh of the fourteen books in the Mishneh Torah. In our next installment, IY"H, we will begin Sefer Avodah.