PARASHAT BAMIDBAR: THE LEVITICAL ENCAMPMENTS

The Levites, like their brethren, are assigned encampments. Their encampments make up the inner perimeter of the Israelite encampment, closest to the Tabernacle, which sat in the center of the Israelite encampment.

"The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the Tabernacle, to the west." (Numbers 3:23)

"The families of the Kohathites were to camp along the south side of the Tabernacle." (Numbers 3:29)

"The chieftain of the ancestral house of the families of Merari was Tzuriel son of Avichail. They were to camp along the north side of the Tabernacle." (Numbers 3:35)

"Those who were to camp before the Tabernacle, in front — before the Tent of Meeting, on the east — were Moshe and Aharon and his sons, attending to the duties of the sanctuary, as a duty on behalf of the Israelites; and any outsider who encroached was to be put to death." (Numbers 3:38)