Why are there dots on the word "Aharon"?
Rashi: Because he was not counted together with the Levi'im. 1
See Oznayim la'Torah who elaborates.
Why was Aharon not counted together with the Levi'im?
Torah Temimah: In deference to Aharon, who was worthy of being counted independently. 1
Oznayim la'Torah: Because, bearing in mnd that Hashem chose the Levi'im to replace the Bechorim who worshipped the Eigel, and Aharon the Levi'im were had a hand in the Eigel - albeit inadvertently - it was not fitting to include him in the census.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that Aharon is on a par with Moshe (See Rashi, Va'eira, Sh'mos 6:26), and consequently, just as Chazal say that Moshe was equal to all of Yisrael, so too was Aharon equal to all the tribe of Levi. See also Sifsei Chachamim.
Why does the Torah omit three hundred Levi'im from the total (Gershon, 7,500; K'has - 8,600; and Merari, 6,200), which would have enabled them to redeem the extra two hundred and seventy-three Bechoros?
Rashi: Because they were themselves firstborn, and it would suffice for them to exempt themselves from having to be redeemed.
Rashbam (in Pasuk 49): Because one firstborn cannot redeem another firstborn.
Why were the numbers of the Levi'im so small compared to the other tribes, particularly bearing in mind that the were counted from one month to fifty years - as opposed to the twenty to sixty of the other tribes?
Ramban (in Pasuk 14): Because the other tribes only increased due to the slavery - as the Torah wrote in Sh'mos, 1:2 "The more they afflicted them the more they increased". 1 Consequenly, the Levi'im, who were exempt from the slavery, increased at the normal rate. 2
Oznayim la'Torah #1 (citing the Midrash Rabah): Because they were close to the Shechinah. 3
Refer to 3:43:2:2.
Oznayoim la?Torah: This is a clear proof o what Chazal said - that the wives of the tribes that worked in Egypt gave birth to sextuplets. Refer to Sh'mos, 1:7:1.1.1 and note.
See Ramban, who rejects the explanation that the Levi'im died because they came too close to the Aron - on the grounds that they had not yet carried the Aron for that to happen. See also Oznayim la'Torah, who queries the Ramban and, based on the respective numbers of their firstborn (Refer to 3:45:2:1*), proves that the Levi'im proliferated at an even higher rate than the other tribes.
See Oznayim la'Torah (DH 'Shenayim ve'Esrim Elef #), who, citing the Rashash, points out that they the Levi'im been chosen already from the time the Mishkan was erected or even immediately following the episode of the Eigel - and that they had died during the months leading to the census. See also end of Dibur.
How is it possible that the numbers of all the tribes - including the Levi'im - ended in round figures (and contained no units)?
Oznayim la'Torah: By all the other tribes it is possible to answer that the Torah does not 'bother' to mention the units. 1 One cannot say this by the tribe of Levi however, since they came to redeem the firstborn of Yisrael of whom and two hundred and seventy-three remained unredeemed.
See also Oznayim la'Torah.
If the Bechorei Yisrael, who had sinned by the Eigel, needed to be redeemed by the Levi'im, what had the lambs (the Pitrei Chamor) done wrong? Why did they need to be redeemed by the firstborn lambs of the Levi'im?
Oznayim la'Torah: Because the only Kohanim at that time were Aharon and his two sons, and, seeing as 'there was not a person who left Egypt who did not own ninety donkeys', had they been obligated to give a lamb for every firstborn donkey to a Kohen, what would the three Kohanim have done 1 with such an influx of lambs? 2
The Oznayim la'Torah presents the same argument regarding the five Shekalim of the Bechorei Adam, only it is not necessary to say that, since they needed to be redeemed because they sinned by the Eigel, as the Oznayim la'Torah himself explained. The difficulty also remains that the same problem remains with regard to the firstborn of the Tahor animals which they had to give to the Kohanim? Refer to 3:45:3.1:1. In any event, see Oznayim la'Torah, who elaborates.
The Oznayim la'Torah also bases his answer on the fact that they had already been commanded to sanctity their firstborn people and animals in Egypt, only, not having been instructed the amount of the redemption money and to whom o give it, the sanctified animals had accumulated, though it is not clear as to why that is relevant. Refer t 3:45:2:1*.
What is the significance of the number twenty-two thousand ?
Da'as Zekenim: It corresponds to the number of angels that Hashem brought on to Har Sinai by Matan Torah - in honor of the tribe of Levi 1 who were destined not to sin by the Eigel. 2
Gur Aryeh (in 10:36): the Shechinah does not rest on less than twenty-two thousand Yisre'elim (Yevamos 64a), and the Levi'im comprised the camp of the Shechinah. 3
Da'as Zekenim: As the Pasuk writes in Tehilim, 68:18 "Ribosayim Alfei Shin'an".
Really there were twenty-three thousand Levi'im (refer to 3:39:2)! For this, there is no reason not to count the firstborn (PF).
Refer to 3:39:152:1*. Also among the other tribes, the smallest was just over this number (Shimon in the census in inchas, 26:14 had twenty-two thousand). Perhaps this is why B'nei Yisrael said that a tribe was lost from Yisrael when only six hundred men remained from Binyamin. See Shoftim 21:3 (PF).
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes that the dots hint that Aharon was not counted together with the Levi'im. But everywhere, dots detract from the simple meaning, and here, the simple meaning is that Moshe and Aharon counted the Levi'im?
