A Tribe Forbidden to Work

This past week's parsha states very clearly that the levite was forbidden to work; he was allowed to have no creative endeavor, or engage in any form of labor besides that of the holy tabernacle, the mishkan.

This, in essence, posed few questions - perhaps - in the time of the desert, but thereafter, in the land of Israel, a levite was limited in many respects; it's almost as if his life was scripted from birth. To the best of my knowledge, a Cohen was allowed to work. A Cohen, far more on a pedestal than the Levi, served in the Beit Hamkidash, but was allowed to engage in creative endeavors, in work, in craftsmanship, and for most intents and purposes, didn't find his life circumscribed or delineated by biblical prohibition. He perhaps could not become impure, and could not marry certain persons, and when a loved one passed, may have limited in his ability to bury the deceased were they not one of the 7 closest relatives, father, mother, brother, sister, wife, son, daughter. 

That notwithstanding, the Levi, was expected to live in certain cities, and was relegated to a life of piety whereby he could not own land, and found himself in a pedagogical, teaching role - or alternatively, a musical one, performing in the orchestra of the Beit Hamikdash. There were few, it would seem, roles he could play besides one of those designated by the Torah. 

This, in my humble opinion, brings to the fore, questions of determinism, and self-actualization, a question that looms in many minds. A divorced Cohen, a dear friend, middle-aged, once said to me, "I'm not allowed to marry a woman who's a convert, or a divorcee. I can't marry a ba'al teshuva who slept with a goy. I know those are the rules, but why can't women just keep their mouth shut. What they did is their business! Why do they have to say?!" 

This Cohen has been trying for years to get married; few are the women who become widows at the age of 45-50 - and he feels that something from above has been imposed on him, against his will, that he has no control over. He dutifully does birkat hakohanim day in and day out, but has a bone to pick, about the pick that he's been chosen - against his will. 

And the same question goes for the levi'im, it would seem. Nowadays, the Hareidi world, sees the Levi as the exemplar of service to God, and seeks to emulate that tribe's role; and, indeed, the Rambam writes that a person whose heart yearns, and desires to learn, and not work, is entitled to do so, and trust that Hashem will provide for his minimal needs. My question, though, is the opposite. To what extent, in the biblical sphere, were lives determined by divine mandates that may not have jibed with the predilections of those whose lives were shaped by them, and circumscribed by them?