The Hand that Rocks the Cradle...(Num. 1:1-4:20)

"These are the offspring of Aaron and Moses...These are the names of the sons of Aaron..."(Num 3:1-2). Aaron's children are listed while Moses' children are not listed.  Why aren't Moses children listed?

Moses's children are not listed here because the Torah is listing here only the Priests, the Kohanim, and Moses' children are not Kohanim. But if so, why are the children of Aaron called also the "offspring" of Moses ("These are the offspring of Aaron and Moses")? To teach us a very important principle. Anyone who teaches and guides another individual in the ways of studying and observing G-d's laws they are considered to have given birth to them. Aaron's children are counted here as Moses' children because Moses was their teacher in the ways of the Torah, and so it is as if he gave birth to them.

This can be explained further based on the verse in Psalms (119:89):"Forever, Hashem, Your word stands firm in the heavens"- meaning that the world was created and is forever being created with G-d's speech: "G-d said, Let there be light...G-d said...G-d said...etc. (Gen. 1:1-29). So every object, physical or spiritual (light, firmament, land, organisms, etc.) was created through a process that could be best compared to speaking. This is a power reserved for the Infinite One to create ex-nihilo, something from nothing, and must continue at every moment in order to keep the creation from collapsing back into Him.

How do we preserve the creative process and raise an object's or individual's longevity? By revealing in them their role in G-d's creation. The more the creation becomes aware of its purpose, the more it is maintained as part of the ongoing creative process. This is why we say of the Torah and its commandements that "they are our life and length of days". So also when a Jew learns Torah or fulfills one of their 613 commandments they are endowed with life and length of days beyond what they received when they were born, so it is as if at this moment they are born again, and the person who helped to teach them is like their parent.