The firstborn males aged one month and upward, according to the number of names, was twenty two thousand, two hundred and seventy-three (Bamidbar 3:43)

This week’s parsha includes a counting of all of the tribes and Levi is by far the smallest tribe. All of the other tribes were counted between the ages of 20 and 60, but the Tribe of Levi were counted from one month old and above. Even though the tribe was counted from a younger age, Levi was still smaller than all of the other tribes. The commentators tell us why.

During the years of slavery in Egypt, Pharoah and the Egyptians did all they could to stop the Jewish slaves from having babies. Hashem responded by giving a blessing to the Jewish mothers to have more babies. Babies were being born six at a time! There was one tribe, though, that did not get this blessing: Levi. This is because the tribe of Levi were not enslaved. Therefore, when the counting is done in this week’s parsha, the tribe of Levi is much smaller than the other tribes because they did not get the blessing of having multiple births at once.

Blessing comes to those that are suffering. Ever go through a tough time? Don’t be depressed – because blessing will follow.

Look at all of our great leaders and think about the life they lived. In two weeks is Shavuos – let’s look at the lives of two of the heroes of Shavuos: Rus and Dovid HaMelech.

Rus was a princess and could have anything she wanted. She married a nice Jewish man, but after some time, he died. She was left penniless and traveled to a foreign land with her mother-in-law. She needed to collect food that was left for the poor. Think of how terrible she must have felt. She went from living in a palace to digging in the dirt.

Dovid’s yahrzeit is on Shavuos. Look at his life. His father disowned him and threw him out of the house. Years later, his own son tried to kill him. His father-in-law, King Shaul, wanted to kill him. He definitely suffered.

Both Rus and Dovid suffered tremendously, but they were both given a great blessing. From them comes Moshiach. When a person goes through suffering, blessing comes.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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