Parshas Naso 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- May 28
- 2 min read
נשא את ראש בני גרשון גם הם לבית אבתם למשפחתם ... (ד-כב)
The Levi’im were split into three groups: Kehos, Gershon and Merari. As the Jewish nation traveled through the wilderness, the bnei Kehos were to carry the holy keilim of the Mishkan, the bnei Gershon were to carry its various curtains and partitions, while the bnei Merari were responsible for transporting the heavy beams of the Mishkan. When counting the bnei Gershon, the pasuk uses a strange expression - "נשא את ראש בני גרשום גם הם" that we should also count the bnei Gershon. What is the posuk coming to emphasize with the phrase "גם הם"?
It is a well-known, though unfortunate phenomenon in classrooms that the Rebbi or Morah gives attention mainly to the highest tier of the class who shine and excel, and the lowest tier, who need constant chizuk and encouragement. The ones stuck in the middle, though, usually fall through the cracks. These are the quiet, well behaved students who don’t do well enough to warrant especial consideration but also don’t rock the boat enough to attract the teacher’s ire, and in an environment where the teacher’s attention is split among a multitude of students, they are often lost among the crowd and are not given the focus and attention they deserve. Now, if Kehos is the “top of the class” as it were, Gershon is this middling group. Thus, the Torah exports us: When you are "נושא ראשי בני קהת" - when you lift up and shower the “Kehos-niks” with attention and praise, don’t forget the “bnei Gershon”! "נשא את ראש בני גרשון גם הם" - lift them up as well; don’t let them fall between the cracks! They, too need and deserve our praise and recognition, even if their accomplishment are not as dazzling as their better peers.
In these days leading up to Tammuz and the Three Weeks, let us be mechazek ourselves in seeking the good in every yid, no matter how plain he may seem to us, and injecting him with the warmth and encouragement he or she needs to grow. Aside from being an important exercise in ahavas yisroel in its own right, what they eventually become - perhaps due to your short words of chizuk - may just surprise you.