Of what were the sons of Gershon potentially jealous?
(4,22) Take a census of the sons of Gershon, also them, according to their fathers’ houses, according to their families.
The Midrash says that the posuk in Mishlei (3,15) “It is more precious than pearls (peninim), and all your desirable things cannot be compared to it”, is speaking about Kehas and Gershon. That even though Gershon was the firstborn, and we find everywhere that the Torah honours the firstborn, nevertheless, since Kehas carried the Holy Ark which contained the Torah, the Torah spoke of them before Gershon - in the beginning it says “take a census of the sons of Kehas”, and afterwards “take a census of the sons of Gershon”. This is the posuk in Mishlei “He (Kehas) is more precious than peninim” - the word peninim meaning first or earlier - more precious than those who came first.
Behold, this Midrash is a puzzle - why, in parshas Bamidbar, when we already see that the sons of Kehas were being counted first, was the Midrash not bothered by the question of why the sons of Gershon were not being counted first? Only now, when it came to the counting of the sons of Gershon, did it gave a reason why Kehas was first - because of the honour of the Torah.
But behold, by the sons of Gershon it says “raise up the head (take a census) of the sons of Gershon, also them”, but by the sons of Merari it does not say ‘raise up’. It says only “the sons of Merari, according to their families, according to their fathers’ houses, count them”. We can explain that this is because the superiority of the sons of Kehas was acknowledged by their being counted first. And so if the sons of Gershon were counted immediately afterwards, their superiority of being the firstborn would not have acknowledged, and thus they would have been jealous of the sons of Kehas. Therefore, Hashem commanded that he should make an break after counting the sons of Kehas, and then start counting again the sons of Gershon, and afterwards, together with them, he sons of Merari. By doing so, He is giving honour also to the sons of Gershon, since they are also being counted first. Therefore it says “raise the head of the sons of Gershon, also them” - just as the sons of Kehas had a raising of their head by being counted first by themselves, so too were the heads of the sons of Gershon raised by being counted first by themselves, in order that would not be jealous. Therefore, with the sons of Merari, who were not counted by themselves since they had nothing to be jealous about, it does not use the expression ‘raise the head’, but just “count them according to their families”.
According to this, it seems to me that before we see that the Torah used this expression - raise the head - to demonstrate the the sons of Gershon were being counted first by themselves, it would not have been necessary to give a reason why the sons of Kehas were counted first - because they carried the Holy Ark. Rather, we could have explained that since Moshe was from the children of Kehas, he was counted first, together with them. However, we know from experience that a person is not jealous of his fellow man unless he has a superiority that he himself could possibly attain, and thus be like him. For example, a wise person may be jealous of a wiser person, and somebody rich may be jealous of someone who is richer, where it is possible that he could be as rich, or richer, than him. But a person is not jealous of his fellow man when he could not possibly achieve his superior level. Thus, a Yisrael is not jealous of a Kohen, wishing that he was a Kohen, to bless Klal Yisrael and to receive the priestly gifts, since he knows that he cannot possibly be a Kohen.
Therefore, since the Torah gave honour to the sons of Gershon by counting them by themselves so that they would also be first, in order that they would not be jealous of the sons of Kehas, then the reason for preceding Kehas must be because of the Holy Ark and the Torah, since this is a superiority that the sons of Gershon could attain, and thus be a cause for jealousy, since they could say that they should carry it. And if they were told that the sons of Kehas are more fitting for this, this itself is something they might be jealous of. Therefore, it was necessary to give them honour, to avoid this potential jealousy.
However, if the superiority of the sons of Kehas was due to Moshe Rabbeinu being from Kehas, then there is no place for jealousy, since it is impossible to compare themselves to them, thinking that they also have someone like Moshe Rabbeinu amongst them, since this evidently not so, and so it would not have necessary to raise the head of the sons of Gershon with a separate counting. And since the Torah did so, it is evident that Hashem commanded this to avoid jealousy, and thus the Midrash knew to teach that this was because “he is more precious than peninim” - that the potential jealousy was due to the duty of the sons of Kehas to carry the Holy Ark which contained the Torah, which was more precious than Gershon being the firstborn.
Over what exactly were Aharon and his sons appointed?
(4,27) According to the command of Aharon and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of Gershon, in all their burden and in all their service, and you shall appoint them over them, to be in charge of their entire burden.
The conclusion of this posuk, “and you shall appoint…”, is not at all understood, since it appears to be completely superfluous.
But it seems to me that the meaning is according to Chazal’s statement, that only someone who involves himself with Torah is a free man. And from the Midrash that we brought above it is evident the sons of Kehas are considered being involved in Torah by their carrying the holy Ark. Therefore, it was not proper that there should be an authority appointed over them, since one who is involved in Torah is a free man. Thus, in parshas Bamidbar (4,16) “The charge of Elozor…the charge for the entire Mishkan and all that is in it, of the Holy and its furnishings”, it mentions the appointment and authority only over the items over which the sons of Kehas were appointed, and not over the sons of Kehas themselves, over whom they are not fitting to be appointed. But with regards to the sons of Gershon it says, “and you shall appoint them over them, to be in charge of their entire burden” - Aharon and his sons were appointed over the sons of Gershon, themselves.
To take the matter further, by the sons of Kehas, where the appointment was only over the things which they were in charge of, and not them themselves, this appointment over them was relevant only at the time when they started to travel, when they allocated to each one what they should carry. But once the sons of Kehas had received their charges, it was no longer relevant that the sons of Aharon will be appointed over them. But with the sons of Gershon it says, “and you shall appoint them over them, to be in charge of their entire burden”, that even at the time when they are already in charge of their entire burden, the sons of Aharon are still appointed over them, since this appointment is over the sons of Gershon themselves, and this is relevant at all times.
With this we can understand that which is written “according to the command of Aharon and his sons shall be the service of the sons of Gershon…”, which is difficult, because the next posuk says that their supervision was “in the hand of Elozor, the son of Aharon the Kohen”.
But it appears to me that the meaning is that there were two appointments, one, at the time of the allocation of the vessels when the camp travelled, and the second, at the time when they were actually carrying them, and I already wrote that the first appointment refers to the vessels only, but the second refers to the people themselves. Thus, the appointment at the time of allocation of the various items was in the hand of Elozor alone, since for the vessels it was sufficient for him to be appointed over them. But it would not have been honourable for the sons of Gershon to have Elozor alone appointed over them at the time when they were travelling, and so the Torah honoured them by having Aharon and his sons appointed over them at that time.
This is the meaning of our posuk - “According to the command of Aharon and his sons shall be the service of the sons of Gershon”, and then continues to explain over what all of them together were appointed - “and you shall appoint them over them to be in charge of their entire burden”, at the time when they are carrying their burden. But the appointment over the distribution of the various items will be only in the hand of Elozor.
