In Parashat Shemot, when Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon came to Pharaoh to speak about letting the Yidden out of Mitzrayim, so the pasuk says in קאפיטל ה׳, פסוק ד׳, ויאמר אלהם מלך מצרים, the king of Mitzrayim said to them, למה משה ואהרן תפריעו את העם ממעשיו, why should Moshe and Aharon disturb the nation from their actions, לכו לסבלתיכם, go back to your work. So the Chazal tell us in Midrash Shemot Rabbah Parashah ה׳, ט״ז, brought down in Rashi on the pasuk, and in Tanchuma, וארא ו׳ it's also mentioned, that when Pharaoh said לכו לסבלתיכם, go to your work, that means to the work of Moshe ve-Aharon, not to maasav, not to the same as the maasim of the nation. He said, \"Why you disturb the people from their maasim, the nation from his maasim? Go to your work.\" Obviously, the work of Moshe ve-Aharon was a different type of work than the work of the other Yidden. So that proves that Moshe ve-Aharon were free from the work in Mitzrayim. And the reason is because שבטו של לוי פנוי היה מעבודת פרך, because the shevet of Levi was free from the hard work in Mitzrayim. But the question that comes up right away, that there was a gezeirah by the ברית בין הבתרים between Hashem and Avraham Avinu, when Hashem said גר יהיה זרעך בארץ לא להם, that your children will be a stranger in the land which is not theirs, which means מצרים, ועבדום וענו אתם ארבע מאות שנה, and they will make them work hard, make them suffer for 400 years. As the pasuk says this in Parashat Lech Lecha, קאפיטל ט״ו, פסוק י״ג. So how is it possible that a complete shevet was not included in the melachah of the shiabud? Which means since Hashem said to Avraham Avinu that your children will be in Mitzrayim and be part of the shi'bud, so how could it be that one whole shevet, which is a twelfth, so to speak, of Klal Yisrael, of the זרעך of Avraham Avinu, should be patur, should be free from the shi'bud? Which really is a question that the Gur Aryeh asks on Rashi in Parshat Lech Lecha there. And the question is even stronger. We understand that the promise of השם, ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול, that afterwards they will go out with a great treasure, this depends on the shi'bud. That being that they will be in shi'bud, that's why when they will go out, they will go out with a great treasure. And as Rashi actually brings in Parshat Bo, קאפיטל י״א, ב׳, taken from the Gemara in ברכות, דף ט׳, עמוד א׳, that the reason Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu, \"Please go tell the Yidden to borrow gold and silver, etc. from the מצרים, שלא יאמר אותו צדיק אברהם, that Avraham the tzadik should not say, ועבדום וענו אתם קיים בהם, to make them work hard, that promise you fulfilled in them, ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול לא קיים בהם, but then to go out with a rechush gadol you didn't fulfill. And that's why Hashem said to Moshe, 'Please make sure that they take out gold and silver.'\" So we see from there that they connect the two, that the ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול is in connection to the ועבדום וענו אתם. So it comes out lichorah, that being that Shevet Levi was not included in the ועבדום וענו אתם, that they were not part of the shi'bud of Mitzrayim, so it seems as if they were also not part in the promise that ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול.

Now the truth is that the Ramban in במדבר, פרשה ג׳, פסוק י״ד says that since the shevet of Levi was not part of the shi'bud of מלאכת מצרים, therefore takeh they missed out on the zechuyot. The other Yidden who were part of the shi'bud, so they multiplied in an abnormal way. But Shevet Levi, since they were not in the shi'bud, so they multiplied k'derech kol ha'aretz in a normal way, and they didn't have the berachah where the pasuk says כאשר יענו אתו כן ירבה וכן יפרץ, in, says in the parshah, that as much as they made them suffer, the same much they multiplied. So the Ramban says since the Shevet Levi was not part of the shibud, so they also did not multiply. And that is the reason why we find that in the population of Shevet Levi was very little. So lichorah according to the Ramban, they takeh missed out. The question is still, why should they miss out? But the truth is that according to Rashi, Rashi obviously doesn't learn like that, because Rashi in פרשת במדבר, קאפיטל ד׳, פסוק י״ח says שהארון היה מכלה בהם. He gives a different reason why their population was so small: it was because they carried the aron, and because of that, many of them would die. So obviously Rashi doesn't learn that they missed out in the berachah of כאשר יענו אתו כן ירבה וכן יפרץ. Now in the Parshat Derachim, דרוש ד׳, the fourth derush, and there also he talks about it in the fifth derush, and also in the Chidushei HaGeonim to Masechet Sotah, so there it says that שבט לוי לא היה בשיעבוד, לא היו בכלל החן, that since Shevet Levi was not part of the shibud, therefore they were not part of the grace. Hashem said that He will give grace, that the Yidden will have grace in the eyes of the Mitzrayim, and therefore the Mitzrayim will give them כלי כסף וכלי זהב, vessels of silver and vessel of gold. Now since Shevet Levi was not part of the shibud, he says, therefore they were not part of the חן, וממילא לא קיבלו ביזת מצרים, so they takeh didn't get ביזת מצרים. They didn't get any loot going out of Mitzrayim. So they takeh missed out in the יצאו ברכוש גדול. But the truth is Rashi doesn't seem to hold like that, because Rashi in פרשת בא, קפיטל י״ג, פסוק י״ג, taken from the Gemara in בכורות דף ה׳ עמוד ב׳ says, שאין לך אחד מישראל שלא נטל, not not one Yid did not go out without taking donkeys טעונים מכספם ומזהבם של מצרים, full, loaded with the silver and gold of Mitzrayim. And the Gemara in Bechoros says even more, שאין לך כל אחד ואחד מישראל, not not one Yid, and it uses the lashon ״אחד״ double, not each one, none of the Yidden went out without carrying כסף וזהב. So it seems that according to that, also the members of Shevet Levi took out כסף וזהב. Now according to that opinion, the question is: if the inyan of יצאו ברכוש גדול depends on their being part of the שעבוד מצרים, so since they were not part of the שעבוד מצרים, how was it that they were zocheh to the אחר כך יצאו ברכוש גדול?

So the explanation to this is: this inyan that Shevet Levi did not have upon itself the מלאכת השעבוד, didn't have to work in the שעבוד, it is not because they did not have a share in the גלות מצרים. If that would be so, then the question would be a good question: if they didn't have a share in the גלות מצרים, how would they have a share in the יצאו ברכוש גדול, in the treasure that they took out from גלות מצרים? But the truth is it doesn't mean that they did not have a share in the גלות מצרים. Adrabah, the fact that they did not have upon themselves the work of the שעבוד, this itself was a form of how they had a share in the שעבוד מצרים. What does that mean? Because we understand that the purpose of the שעבוד מצרים was not, chas veshalom, to make the Yidden suffer. The purpose was, as the pasuk says, ואנכי אעלך. In ויגש, קפיטל מ״ו, פסוק ד׳, השם said, \"You're going down to מצרים, ואנכי אעלך, I will bring you up,\" which means that the Yidden, through being in Mitzrayim, elevated themselves to a higher level. Because Mitzrayim was the כור הברזל, as it says in ואתחנן, קפיטל ד׳, פסוק כ׳, that Mitzrayim was like a furnace, a metal furnace, which means that just like a metal is put into a furnace, and the purpose is to purify the metal, because when you chop the metal out of the mountain, it is full of dirt, in order to get rid of the dirt and come out with pure metal, you have to put it through a כור, a furnace, so the Yidden, when they were in Mitzrayim, they went through a כור, which means this caused a zichuch, a purification, and an aliyah, an elevation in the Yidden. Because in order for the Yidden to be able to receive the Torah on Har Sinai, they had to be in a high madregah, so in order to reach that madregah, they had to go through the purification of Galus Mitzrayim, going through the shibud, and this was like the כור הברזל, and when they came out, then they were ready to receive the Torah. But on the other hand, being that they were in Mitzrayim under such circumstances, it could have been that the Yidden would not reach the proper goal that they were supposed to reach through the shibud. On the contrary, being that they were like עבדים, they were slaves in Mitzrayim, and they were under the קושי השעבוד, all these hardships, it's possible that they should be נשקע, חס ושלום, that they should get absorbed in Mitzrayim. And Mitzrayim shows on a very low spiritual level, which is called the ערות הארץ, as the pasuk says in Miketz, קפיטל מ״ב, פסוק ט׳. And the Midrash explains even more in Kohelet Rabbah, פרשה א׳, ד׳, that כל מה שברא הקדוש ברוך הוא באדם, ברא בארץ. Whatever Hashem created in the person, He created in the world. And then he continues and he says, אדם יש לו ערוה, a person has an ערוה, the ארץ has an ערוה. What is that? That is Mitzrayim. So we see how low Mitzrayim was. And as Rashi explains it in Parshat Lech Lecha, קפיטל י״ב, פסוק י״ט, in Parshat Acharei, קפיטל י״ח, פסוק ג׳, etc., etc. So the Yidden being in Mitzrayim under such circumstances, with such hardships, it's possible, chas veshalom, that instead of reaching the goal, which reaching means reaching the zichuch, the purification, they would instead be sunk in Mitzrayim and be affected by the evil of Mitzrayim. Therefore, there had to be a certain amount of Yidden, a certain group of Yidden, that they should remain, while they're in Mitzrayim, higher than the shibud. And they would be mashpia, and they would give from themselves to all the other Yidden, that the other Yidden should be able to utilize the yeridah, the fact that they came down to Mitzrayim, and the fact that there was an avdut, that they worked hard in Mitzrayim, that they should be able to reach the aliyah that Hashem said, \"I will elevate you,\" and the יצאו ברכוש גדול they should be able to go out. Because if all the Yidden would be completely under the shibud of Mitzrayim, then, as we said before, they might have stayed within this kelipah of Mitzrayim. So there had to be some Yidden, a group of Yidden, in Mitzrayim. during the time of shibud, that they should be higher than the shibud. They certainly would not have been affected by the evil of Mitzrayim, and they would bring this feeling that they had of elevation to the other Yidden. And that was the job of Shevet Levi. As the Ramban explains in פרשת שמות, קפיטל ה' פסוק ד', also in the Bachya, the Chizkuni explains that, that מנהג בכל עם, the custom in all nations is להיות להם חכמים that they should have chachamim, scholars, מורי תורתם, to teach them their Torah. ולכן הניח להם פרעה שבט לוי, therefore Paroh left them שבט לוי, שהיו חכמיהם וזקניהם, they were their scholars and their elders, in order that they should be able to teach the Yidden their Torah. And then the Ramban adds, והכל סיבה מאת השם. All this came as a sibah, as a cause from Hashem. That Hashem made it so that there should be a group of people in Mitzrayim who should not be affected by the shibud, in order that they should be mashpia to the other Yidden, influence the other Yidden, that they should also not be affected spiritually by the shibud.

So it comes out that it's not the peshat that not all the Yidden had a share in the shibud of Mitzrayim. It couldn't be. All the Yidden came down to Mitzrayim as one nation, as one being, as one unit, as the pasuk actually says in פרשת ויגש, קפיטל מ\"ו פסוק כ\"ז, \"כל הנפש הבאה מצרימה\", every nefesh that came to Mitzrayim. And it says נפש לשון יחיד, in singular, because they all came as one group, so it can't be that some will be part of the galut and some will not be part of the galut. But what it really was, they were all part of the galut, but there was like a partnership between them how to go through the shibud. A shutaf, when you have a partner, it means that there are two partners that each one does his share. The same thing here. There was a partnership amongst the Yidden in the shibud, each one should do his share. Which means like this, that by some of the Yidden, what was their share in the shibud? The fact that they actually worked. Shevet Levi, what was their share in the shibud? That they gave the koach, the strength, because they were the מורי תורה, they were the ones that taught the Torah to the Yidden, so they gave the strength that the shibud should have its proper effect, not chas veshalom should have an opposite, a negative effect. So it comes out that they were also part of the shibud, but in another way. Their part was to make sure that the shibud will accomplish what it's supposed to accomplish. And as we actually see it later on also, when the Yidden entered Eretz Yisrael, so we know that Shevet Levi did not have any share in Eretz Yisrael, as the pasuk says in שופטים קפיטל י\"ח פסוק א' וב', but הובדל לעבוד את השם לשרתו, they were separated to serve השם, ולהורות דרכיו הישרים ומשפטיו הצדיקים לרבים, that they should teach the proper ways of Hashem to the community, to the public, as the Rambam says in הלכות שמיטה ויובל פרק י\"ג הלכה י\"ב. And as the pasuk says in Shoftim, \"השם הוא נחלתו\", Hashem was his nachalah. So it comes out that the Shevet Levi, their share constantly was in teaching the Yidden, but this was their share in their accomplishing what Hashem wanted them to accomplish in Eretz Yisrael. And as we takeh see that Rashi says in Parshat Bamidbar, קפיטל ג' פסוק ח', \"שכולם היו זקוקים לצרכי המקדש\", that be'emet all the Yidden had to work in the Beit HaMikdash, \"אלא שהלויים באים תחתיהם בשליחותם\", but the Leviyim came instead of the Yidden in their shlichut. So it comes out that what Hashem wanted to accomplish He accomplished through all the Yidden. Some of the Yidden, the accomplishment that they were supposed to do was working in the field. The Leviyim, or בכלל שבט לוי, their accomplishment was their share in doing what Hashem wants was through doing working in the Beit HaMikdash instead of the Yidden. And the same thing is concerning the Galut Mitzrayim. They were part of the galut, but their share in the galut was that they taught the Yidden the Torah, they gave the Yidden the encouragement, they held up the spirit of the Yidden, to make sure that the shi'bud would accomplish what it's really supposed to accomplish. So this answers the question that how is it possible that Hashem, who said to Avraham Avinu, \"גר יהיה זרעך בארץ לא להם ועבדום וענו אותם ארבע מאות שנה\", that your children will be strangers in a land that's not theirs, and they will be under a shi'bud, and here we have a whole group of his children who were not under the shi'bud? So what we explained shows that it's not true, they were also under the shi'bud, but their share in the shi'bud in Galut Mitzrayim was a different part than the other Yidden. And also the other question, that since the treasure that the Yidden were supposed to take out of Mitzrayim was dependent on them being in the shi'bud, and the question was how did Shevet Levi get the treasure when they were not part of the shi'bud? The truth is that they were part of the shi'bud, just that their share in the shi'bud was different than the other Yidden.

This explains another question. We explained in the shiur in Parshat Vayechi that the reason that Levi and Yosef did not carry the aron of Yaakov Avinu was because taking Yaakov Avinu out of Mitzrayim was another step in the shi'bud of Mitzrayim. As Rashi says in the beginning of Parshat Vayechi that after Yaakov Avinu passed away, that's when the eyes and the hearts of the Bnei Yisrael was stopped up from the צרת השעבוד. So we see that his death, and certainly when he was taken out of Mitzrayim as it says in the Zohar, that was another stage in the shi'bud, in the galut of Mitzrayim. Levi and Yosef were two people that they were higher than the galut and the shi'bud of Mitzrayim, like it says in Midrash that כל זמן שיוסף היה קיים לא היה להם משא של מצרים, as long as Yosef was alive they didn't have the yoke of Mitzrayim. מת יוסף נתנו עליהם משא, when Yosef died they did put the masa on them. Concerning שבט לוי, Rashi says that when Levi died, that's when the real shi'bud started. So Yosef and Levi were both people that held back certain stages of the shi'bud, so they did not participate in carrying the aron of Yaakov, because carrying the aron of Yaakov meant another stage in shi'bud, and they were the ones that held back stages of shi'bud rather than causing the stage of shi'bud. But instead of them who carried? Menashe and Ephraim. But the question that comes up is, if they didn't have to participate because it was not what they represented, then why did they have to have שלוחים? Why did Menashe and Ephraim have to be instead of them? But based on what we said before, it's understood. Even though they were higher than the shibud, but as we said before, the job of Shevet Levi, and this also represents what Yosef and Levi himself stood for, was not just to be beyond the shibud, but to be mashpia, to influence the other Yidden who were in the shibud, that the shibud should have the proper effect. Now if they would not have any connection to the shibud at all, they wouldn't be able to influence their madreigah to the other Yidden. So therefore they had to participate in taking the aron of Yaakov out of Mitzrayim, because that represented the shibud, and they did have a connection to the shibud, because otherwise they couldn't influence the people who were in the shibud. On the other hand, they had to do something, something had to show that they were beyond the shibud. So how was that shown? It was shown by both. The fact that Levi and Yosef themselves did not carry, that showed that they were beyond the shibud. The fact that there were shluchim instead of them means that they did have a connection to the shibud, so there was both. So they had their maalah that they were higher than the shibud, and they were not affected by the shibud, therefore they were able to be mashpia, to influence the other Yidden, and they did have a connection to the other Yidden, therefore Menashe and Ephraim were their shluchim, and since they were shluchim it's as if Levi and Yosef themselves carried the aron, which means as if Levi and Yosef themselves had a connection to the shibud, because if they wouldn't have a connection they wouldn't be able to be mashpia their madreigah. And in a very practical way this means that Shevet Levi, when they were in Mitzrayim, even though they were not meshuabad, which means they didn't have a share in the shibud, they held the spirit of ruchniyus the way they were supposed to, nevertheless they were connected to the other Yidden because they were mashpia to the other Yidden from their madregah that the other Yidden should also reach the goal of what was expected with the galut.