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“And the gift which you set apart shall be reckoned unto you as though it were the corn of the threshing floor.” (18:27)

The Torah enjoins the Levi that when he receives his due (tithe) from the Yisroel, he himself is then obliged to give a tithe to the Kohain. This halacha requires clarification, since according to Torah law one is obliged to tithe only produce which is gathered from one’s own field, not that which he purchases or receives as a gift. Why then are the Leviim required to give maaser to the Kohein from the gifts of maaser which they themselves receive? If we study the words of the posuk, we will see that the Levi should not view the maaser…

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“And behold there budded the rod of Aharon for the house of Levi and it put forth buds and blossomed blossoms and bore ripe almonds. (17:23)

It is stated in the Torah that Aharon’s rod continued to maintain all these qualities at the same time. This is peculiar, since blossoms bloom after the buds have fallen. The Tosfos Yeshanim in Yumah (52b) asks this question, and responds by saying that this was a miracle. This answer heeds further explanation. What reason was there for such a miracle? To teach us that physical things which shrivel, dry up, and wither away into oblivion. However, spiritual entities do not wither, they perpetute themselves and last forever. The fruit of a mitzvah is the actual performance of a mitzvah,…

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“And Korach, the son of Yitzhar, the son of Kehas, the son of Levi, took.” (16:1)

  Rashi explains that he took himself to one side to be set apart from the congregation to argue against the priesthood. The name Korach serves as the paradigm of one who came with destructive, rebellious scorn, initiating a quarrel with the sole purpose of self-aggrandizement. As the Mishna in Avos (5:20) states: “Every controversy which is for the sake of Heaven will endure in the end, and every one which is not for the sake of Heaven will, in the end, not endure. Which is the controversy for the sake of Heaven? Such was the conflict of Hillel and…

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