For the source text click/tap here: Chullin 24
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The Mishna on our daf teaches that the things that disqualify kohanim do not disqualify levi’im; similarly, the things that disqualify levi’im do not disqualify kohanim. This is explained by the baraita as follows:
Physical blemishes disqualify kohanim from performing the Temple service (see Vayikra 21:16-23), but there is no age limit for them.
Levi’im remain unaffected by physical blemishes and can continue their work in the Temple, but they can only serve between the ages of 25-50 (see Bamidbar 8:24-25).
These laws, however, are limited by our Gemara only to the Tabernacle in the desert, based on the passage in Sefer Bamidbar (4:47) that restricts the age limitation only to carrying the Tabernacle. The Gemara concludes that in Shiloh as well as in the permanent Temple, these age restrictions did not apply.
We explore how levites in their scribal role initiated the tradition of torah study.