וללוי אמר, "and concerning Levi, he said:" The preposition ל in the word וללוי must be understood as בעבור, "for the sake of;" Moses is addressing God in this verse. He adds the words לאיש חסידך, "for Your pious one," referring to his brother Aaron. He continues with אשר נסיתו במסה, "whom You have tested at Massah," referring either to the incident at the waters of strife which was the only time Aaron had ever failed. Alternatively, Moses referred to the location Massah formerly known as Refidim [it is not clear to me how Aaron was involved there. Ed.]
תריבהו על מי מריבה, "You strove with him at the waters of מריבה; "a reference to the sin involving the striking of the rock instead of speaking to it. This was the only sin Aaron had ever been guilty of. Moses did not mention Aaron's involvement in the sin of the golden calf, seeing Aaron's intentions at that time had been 100% honourable. If Moses had entertained the slightest doubt about Aaron's sincerity at that time, he surely would have mentioned it now in order to ask forgiveness for that sin.
The fact that Moses uncharacteristically mentioned the תומים here before the אורים, needs analysis. The Torah always mentions the אורים ahead of the תומים. The reason is that they represent the principal names of Hashem. The reason Moses reversed the sequence here is to make plain that they are mutually interdependent, that the אורים, though preceding the תומים, are a totally ineffectual tool for communicating with Hashem unless they are accompanied by the תומים. I have explained this in greater detail in my commentary on Exodus 28,30. This is also the opinion of Nachmanides. They are perceived as representing a certain level of Holy Spirit; any High Priest who wore these folded over parchments inside the folds of His breastplate was equipped with this level of Holy Spirit while wearing same. This is what prompted Onkelos to translate the words תומיך ואוריך לאיש חסידך, as תומיא ואוריא אלבשת לגבר דאשתכח חסידא, "I dressed a man who is pious in Your Urim and Tumim." The matter is similar to what we read in Chronicles I 12,19: "and a spirit 'dressed' (seized) Amashai."
There are four distinct levels of prophecy. Bat Kol, Urim veTumim, Ruach haKodesh, and full-fledged prophecy. They are listed here in ascending order, but all of them are derivatives of the emanation tzedek; this is the meaning of Job 29,14: "I clothed myself in righteousness and it robed me; Justice was my cloak and turban."
Let me explain something about the differences between the four levels of prophetic power I have listed. There is a mystical element to the phenomenon known as בת קול which accounts for the name בת קול as opposed to the masculine בן קול. Similarly, there is a mystical reason why the Talmud speaks frequently of בנה אב to describe an exegetical method more familiarly known to us by a masculine expression, i.e. בנין אב (in the Baraitha de Rabbi Yishmael which we recite in our daily morning prayers). Why, for instance, do they not call it בנה אם? Similarly, the expression יש אם למקרא or יש אם למסורה is strange, seeing we might have expected the expression יש אב למסורה or יש אב למקרא to convey that there is a valid tradition justifying a certain way of reading or writing a word in the written Torah. All of these expressions have been formulated by our sages with extreme care and reveal a deep insight into the different levels of divine inspiration which they reflect.
[Rabbi Chavel, in his notes, quotes a certain Rabbi Ezra bar Shlomoh (a kabbalist from Gerona, hometown of Nachmanides, author of commentary on aggadot in Talmud, disciple of Rabbi Yitzchak the blind (also Gerona) who found that the only five times the Talmud uses the masculine expression בנין אב is when it refers to a direct verse from the written Torah, i.e. a more direct link to the divine origin of such an exegetical tool.]
Actually, every single verse in the written Torah is in the nature of something directly revealed, and the sages could have been expected to refer to it in the masculine form every time, i .e. בנין אב, or בנה אב, but certainly not as אם למקרא, or אם למסורה. The fact is that matters handed down to us by the oral tradition, i.e. תורה ש-בעל פה, the sages usually preface with the word אם, in order to make the distinction of the origin of the tradition. If we keep these principles in mind, we can understand that the expression בת קול was used, seeing that the listener received his instructions via what the Torah itself describes as only a קול and not from the mouth of God. Compare Deut. 28,1 which states clearly and unambiguously והיה אם שמוע תשמע בקול ה' אלוהיך, "it will be when you will surely heed the voice of the Lord your God." Also in Numbers 7,89 the Torah speaks of Moses hearing the voice speaking with him from above the lid of the Ark." It is appropriate to call that "voice" בת, "daughter"
[like the subsidiary companies in Israel are called חברת בת, literally: "daughter companies." Ed.], seeing that the instruction was heard through an intermediary. The author describes as yet another reason why the sages called this relatively low key form of divine communication בת קול, their perception of it as an illustration of the "throne" of God which is perceived as broad at the top, tapering off towards the bottom. He claims that אש, fire, is similarly perceived as broad at the top and narrow at the base. The term בת קול therefore reflects something which originates at the throne of God rather than in His Essence. This type of communication from celestial regions was a fairly commonplace one even during the period of the sages of the Talmud (
Eruvin 12, et al). Moreover, the pious people during the second Temple experienced this kind of communication from celestial sources after there were no more prophets and the High Priest did not have the breastplate with the Urim veTumim embedded in them to facilitate direct communication with God. This latter form of communication from celestial sources was one rung higher than the Bat Kol. The form of this communication was representative of what is termed אספקלריא שאינה מאירה, "an unclear vision," which characterized the type of prophetic visions experienced by most prophets in varying degrees. We had explained already in connection with Numbers 12,6 that the Urim veTumim were a device confirming the truth of the communication received,
(compare author on Exodus 28,30). The word אורים itself suggests spiritual enlightenment. The function of the אורים was to visually make the High Priest aware of the letters representing the divine communication, whereas the function of the תומים was to enable him to arrange the letters in question in the appropriate order, to avoid misunderstanding the message.
The third level of divine communication is commonly known as רוח הקודש, which is equivalent to or an outgrowth of the tenth emanation. The author appears to feel that a person is able to attain this level of spirituality if he applies to himself Deut. 23,10 ונשמרת מכל דבר רע, "to guard yourself against anything evil." This level of divine inspiration appears as if it was self-generated by the recipient, who was granted insights without hearing any outside voice or seeing any vision as do prophets. People who experience this level of spirituality are apt to make statements regarding future events without appearing in the least captive to outside communicators. They neither dream the message nor go into a trance or anything like that. It is simply that what they say is perceived as inspired from a higher source. The person uttering such messages has no idea of where they originated from.
The fourth level of prophetic insights is prophecy uttered by an acknowledged man of God, someone who, while doing so, completely divests himself of his normal personality, becomes merely an instrument of God communing exclusively by means of his disembodied intellect with the source from whom he receives his message/instructions. Once he has divested himself of his bodily functions so that they do not represent an impediment to his receiving clear and undistorted messages from a celestial origin, this may occur either in a dream or even during his waking hours. There is no point in elaborating on this at this point as I have already done so in a book called חשן משפט.
[The book does not seem to be extant. Ed.]
On the other hand, Nachmanides appears to feel that the level we know as רוח הקודש is superior to the level known as נבואה, prophecy. According to his view, the levels starting from the highest to the lowest are: רוח הקודש, נבואה, אורים ותומים, בת קול. According to his view the level of spirituality we call Ruach Hakodesh, "Holy Spirit," is derived form very lofty spiritual regions such as have been described in Exodus 35,31 (concerning Betzalel) וימלא אותו רוח אלוהים בחכמה, "He filled him with divine spirit, with wisdom, etc."
You will also find in the Sefer Yetzirah 1,9 that חכמה is referred to as רוח אלוהים חיים ברוך ומבורך, that the name of God is both דבור קול, רוח i.e. that all these manifestations of God's name are called רוח הקודש as they are all disembodied, incapable of being perceived visually. At any rate, the author of the Sefer Yetzirah describes חכמה as רוח אלוהים חיים, "spirit of the Living God," and lists it as first and foremost in a list of spiritual attainments.
The foundation of prophecy, נבואה, is anchored in the tetragrammaton; Urim and Tumim, the level of spirituality ascribed to true Torah scholars, rank below the spiritual level of prophecy, but above that of Bat Kol, seeing that the Bat Kol has its origin not in the tetragrammaton but in the Shechinah (attribute kavod). All the various spiritual attainments by man (of a lower level than Bat Kol) are also traced back to the Shechinah. At any rate, seeing that the phenomenon of Bat Kol is rated so low, it is clear why the sages stipulated אין משגיחין לבת קול, "that pronouncements from heaven reaching us via the phenomenon of Bat Kol have no binding force halachically"
(Baba Metzia 59). [when opposed to rulings based on other forms of exegesis. Ed.] Such pronouncements cannot countermand halachic rulings based on נבואה, prophecy, for instance, either. The reason we are in the habit of referring to נבואה also as רוח הקודש is that this is the celestial source of all spiritual attainments which devolve from it.
[The term רוח הקודש, then is used loosely as a collective term for all that is divinely inspired.]
לאיש חסידך, every High Priest from the tribe of Levi is given the title חסיד, 'the devout one.' The reason for this is that it is the function of the High Priest to draw down to his people the heavenly attribute of חסד, (loving kindness). This is why the priests bless the people in order to channel this attribute and its beneficial effects to as many of his people as possible. The blessing is pronounced by invoking the tetragrammaton, the holy name not allowed for others to pronounce. The blessing originates in the tenth emanation, and this is why the Torah prefaces the formula of the words of the blessing with the word כה which is the attribute of Justice, as we know from Exodus where Moses tells Pharaoh in the name of God הנה לא שמעת עד כה, "here you have not listened until כה," i.e. from now on the attribute of Justice will be invoked against you
(Exodus 7,16) [This announcement had been the prelude to the first of the Ten Plagues. Ed.] Moses followed this (verse 17) by telling Pharaoh בזאת תדע, "through the attribute זאת you will know, etc.," i.e. clear proof that both כה and זאת are כנויים,
[similes for the attribute of Justice, most commonly appearing as elo-him. Ed.] At any rate, Moses refers to the fact that the whole world is blessed by means of the Priest, hence Psalms 145,10 וחסידך יברכוכה, "and Your devout ones shall bless You." Instead of reading this as one word, David may mean that the word is to be read as יברכו כה, "will bless the attribute of Justice."