1) We can cite a proof from Tosfos in Megilah (3a, DH Emesh) that Shevet Levi did not take part in the conquest. The Gemara there (end of 3a) relates that the Mal'ach rebuked Yehoshua for not offering the afternoon Tamid and for not learning Torah at night. Tosfos asks that we understand why they did not learn Torah at night, because everyone was making a siege on the city, but why did the Kohanim not offer the Tamid?

We learn from Tosfos that while the rest of the people were busy fighting, the Kohanim still had time to offer the Tamid. This is because the Kohanim are from Shevet Levi, and the Rambam (Hilchos Shemitah v'Yovel 13:12) writes that Shevet Levi do not wage war like the rest of Yisrael.

2) Rashi (Bamidbar 31:4) writes something which at first glance may seem to disagree with the aforementioned statement of the Rambam, that Shevet Levi do not wage war. The verse states, "A thousand for each tribe, a thousand for each tribe, from all the tribes of Yisrael, you shall send to the army" (Bamidbar 31:4). Rashi writes that the words, "from all the tribes of Yisrael," "comes to include Shevet Levi" and teaches that Shevet Levi also went to fight in this war. It seems to me that Rashi in fact does not disagree with the Rambam if we consider the background of the Rambam's statement.

The Rambam (Hilchos Shemitah v'Yovel 13:10) writes, "All of the Shevet of Levi are warned not to receive inheritance in the Land of Canaan." Then, in 13:11, the Rambam writes that this applies only in Eretz Yisrael.

In 13:12, he writes, "Why did Levi not gain inheritance in Eretz Yisrael? Because he was set aside to worship Hash-m and serve Him and instruct the public in Hash-m's just ways and righteous judgements. Therefore, Shevet Levi was separated from the ways of the world and do not wage war like the rest of Yisrael and do not receive an inheritance."

It seems clear that the war against Midyan, referred to in Bamidbar, chapter 13, was very different from the above. Bamidbar 31:3 states that the purpose of this war was "to give the revenge of Hash-m against Midyan." This was not connected to Eretz Yisrael specifically, so Shevet Levi also took part.

According to this, there is no reason to say that with regard to wars of Eretz Yisrael, Rashi differs with the Rambam. Therefore, both Rashi and the Rambam will agree that Shevet Levi did not take a part in conquering Eretz Yisrael during Kibush Yehoshua.

3) We see in Parshas Matos and Sefer Shoftim that all the other Shevatim fought but Shevet Levi and Yisachar did not fight:

The verse (Bamidbar 32:31) tells us that Bnei Gad and Bnei Reuven fought to conquer Eretz Yisrael, and 32:39 tells us that Bnei Menashe fought. Sefer Shoftim 1:3 states that Yehudah and Shimon fought, and 1:8-11 says that Yehudah fought to conquer Eretz Yisrael. See Shoftim 1:21 that suggests that Binyamin fought (but were unsuccessful against the Yevusi). See 1:22-23 that Yosef fought. See 1:27-28 that Menashe fought (with mixed success). See 1:29-31 and 1:33 that Efraim, Zevulun, Asher, and Naftali fought (unsuccessfully). See 1:34 that Dan fought.

So we find that the only two Shevatim who are not mentioned as fighting are Levi and Yisachar. The Rambam writes that Levi did not fight because they were set aside to teach Torah to Yisrael, and similarly Yisachar did not fight because Devarim 33:18 tells us that they sat in the tents of Torah, and Divrei ha'Yamim 1:12:32 states, "And from the children of Yisachar, who understood the times, to know what Yisrael should do." They learned and taught Torah so they did not go to war.

4) If a Levi wants to go and fight he may:

Before we go further, let us make a quick summary of what we have seen so far. We saw in Sefer Shoftim that the only two Shevatim who are not mentioned as fighting to conquer Eretz Yisrael are Levi and Yisachar, and we noted that these two Shevatim were outstanding in their learning and teaching Torah. We saw that the Rambam (end of Hilchos Shemitah) discusses at length the role of Shevet Levi. He writes that they did not receive an inheritance in Eretz Yisrael because they were set aside from the ways of the world to serve Hash-m and instruct the community in Torah and this is also the reason they did not go to war.

We then saw Rashi to Bamidbar 31:4 who writes that Shevet Levi did go to the war against Midyan, but we noted that Rashi does not disagree with the Rambam, because the war against Midyan was not connected to Eretz Yisrael, while what the Rambam writes about Shevet Levi applies only to Eretz Yisrael.

However, I will now point out that there are a few places in Shas from which it appears that Kohanim (and thus certainly Leviyim) did go to war. The Gemara in Kidushin 21b asks if a Kohen is allowed to marry a Yefas To'ar. Now, a Yefas To'ar is a special Heter during a war, so this question suggests that Kohanim went to war. In addition, the Gemara in Sotah 44a states that if a Kohen Gadol is engaged to a widow, or any Kohen is engaged to a divorcee, they do not return from the war because they are not allowed to be married to these women, and thus the exemption of a newly married man does not apply. We do, at any rate, see from this Gemara that Kohanim go to war. This would seem to pose a difficulty on the Rambam who says that Leviyim do not wage war.

Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt'l answers (in Derech Emunah, Hilchos Shemitah v'Yovel 13:12, end of DH Lo Orchin) that Kohanim and Leviyim may go to war if they want to, but they cannot be obligated to go.

So, to conclude this topic, we can say that Shevet Levi did not take part in the Kibush Yehoshua. (However, there may have been individual Kohanim or Leviyim who took part of their own free will.)

Dovid Bloom

How did Shevet Yisachar obtain its territory?

1) I have not yet been able to get a clear answer to this question but I will note here a few sources I have found.

a) The first source is from the Midrash (Bereishis Rabah, Parshas Vayechi 98:12) where Rebbi Eliezer said, "All the tribes, with the exception of Yisachar, left over remnants." The Matnos Kehunah writes that this means that Yisachar drove out all the residents of Canaan. This seems to suggest that Yisachar did a better job than the others.

b) The Malbim writes something similar in his commentary to Shoftim 1:30. The verse there states, "Zevulun did not drive out...," and the Malbim writes, "for Shimon and Yisachar drove out the inhabitants of their inheritance." The Malbim seems to imply that the reason why Shimon and Yisachar are not mentioned among those tribes who did not drive out the owners is because they in fact succeeded in driving everyone out.

c) See a different idea in the Ibn Ezra to Devarim 33:6. He explains the order of the tribes mentioned in Parshas v'Zos ha'Berachah on the verse (33:18), "Afterwards Zevulun is mentioned because he fought, and afterwards Yisachar." This suggests that Zevulun was a more active fighter than Yisachar.

3) Looking into this further, it seems that the main source of those that I cited above is the first one from Bereshis Rabah 98:12, so we will learn this in more detail, bs'd.

a) "Rabbi Eliezer said, 'All the tribes left remnants, but the tribe of Yisachar did not leave any remnants.'"

The Perush Maharzav on the Midrash Rabah explains that the tribe of Yisachar is not mentioned in Sefer Shoftim as one of those who fought, or, alternatively, as one of those who did not manage to drive out the inhabitants of the Land. However the reason is (unlike I wrote above that Yisachar did not fight) because they fought very well.

The Yefeh Toar writes that the tribe of Yisachar toiled very hard to drive out all its enemies and to subjugate them.

According to this, the reason why Yisachar is not mentioned as one of those who fought is the opposite of what I wrote above. It is not because they did not fight but, on the contrary, because they fought so well. I found that Sefer Divrei Tovah on Yehoshua 19:23 (page 856) writes that the reason why the first chapter of Sefer Shoftim mentions tribes who fought is because this is a criticism of the other tribes who did not drive out all the Caananites, while Yisachar did not need to be mentioned since no criticism is made against them.

I argue that if we look at the Midrash (98:12) we can see that the fact that the tribe of Yisachar was more successful than the others in thoroughly conquering his territory is in fact connected to his devotion to Torah learning. We see this from the way that the Midrash explains that Bereshis 49:15 is referring to Torah. "He saw a resting place that was good" refers to the goodness of Torah. "He bent his shoulder to bear burdens" refers to the burden of Torah. Then the Midrash continues and points out that Yisachar made his inheritance more independent of strangers in a more successful way than any of the other tribes. The Midrash is hinting that it was Yisachar's devotion to Torah that led him to be the most successful of the Shevatim in ensuring that his territory was free of foreign influences.

Kol Tuv,

Dovid Bloom

The Netziv of Volozhin about Shevet Yisachar:

4) Before we leave the topic of Yisachar I think it is important to see what the Netziv of Volozhin (Rav Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin) writes about this in his commentary on the Chumash, Ha'amek Davar. In Bereshis 49:14; on the verse, "Yisachar is a strong-boned donkey," Ha'amek Davar writes: "In the days when the judges judged, before there was a king in Yisrael, the practice was that every tribe would designate a certain number of soldiers and their expenses for guarding the country. The tribe of Yisachar did not set aside soldiers. We see this in the chapter 12 of the first book of Divrei ha'Yamim, which lists all of the tribes who came to Chevron to appoint David as the king. The only tribe (with the exception of Levi; see verse 26) which did not provide soldiers was Yisachar."

The verse in Divrei ha'Yamim I (12:32) states, "And of the children of Yisachar, men that had understanding of the times, to know what Yisrael should do, the heads of them were 200, and all their brethren did according to what they said." The reason why only 200 came from Yisachar, and these were clearly "intellectuals," is because the men of Yisachar were not men of war.

Ha'amek Davar also cites Divrei Hayamim I 7:2 which discusses the warriors that came from the tribe of Yisachar to the army of king Dovid as, "mighty men of valor according to their generations, to Tola, their number in the days of Dovid was 22,600." Ha'amek Davar writes that for no other tribe does it state the number of their soldiers. This is because before the time of Dovid, the tribe of Yisachar never provided soldiers. It was only when king Dovid decreed that they must be soldiers that Shevet Yisachar sent soldiers for the first time.

Did Shevet Levi go to any wars?

I will mention briefly one or two sources:

1) We find in Bamidbar 1:47, "But the Levites after the tribes of their fathers were not numbered among them." The Rashbam there writes that the reason is that they did not go with the army to war.

2) The verse in Divrei ha'Yamim I 12:26 states, "Of the children of Levi, 2,600." For the other tribes mentioned there, the number of soldiers are mentioned but for Levi no soldiers are mentioned. It is clear that the tribe of Levi did not go to war in the time of David ha'Melech.

3) The Rambam (Hilchos Melachim 13:12) writes that the tribe of Levi did not wage war, so if one claims that there were exceptions to that (apart from the war against Midyan, which is the only time we see that Levi went to war), I think one has to cite a proof.

Dovid Bloom