Parashat Pinchas
Numbers 25:10 – 30:1

Topics (click on any link)
Synopsis of the Torah portion
Spiritual insights into Parashat Pinchas
Key verses
Creative Midrash for Parashat Pinchas

       

Synopsis                                       return to top
Chapter 25
God praised Pinchas for his act of slaying an Israelite who offered a Midianite women for sexual pleasure to one of his kinsmen. His impassioned act brought expiation upon the Israelites and turning back God’s wrath upon them. God then commanded Moses to attack the Midianites and defeat them.

Chapter 26
Once the plague was over Moses was told to take a census of the Israelite community of men twenty years and over who are able to bear arms. The enrollment was taken of each tribe and its clans; the total amounted to 601,730. God then decided that the land they were to inherit was to be apportioned by lot, with larger groups receiving a larger share of the land. A census was also taken of the Levites and priests however they were not part of the total enrollment, since no share of the land was to be assigned to them. This census took place on the plains of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho. Among the people, there was not one of those counted in the first census taken when the Israelites left Egypt because the Lord said none of them shall survive.

Chapter 27
At this time, five women appeared before Moses arguing their case. Their father died in the wilderness, as a result of his own sin and left no sons to inherit their share of the land. These women felt they should inherit their rightful share even though there were no males left. Moses brought the case before God. God decided that their plea was just and they should receive their fathers share. God then legislated new rules regarding families to whose father died and the circumstances by which the land should be inherited.
God now tells Moses to view the land that will be given to the Israelites. Once he has seen it, he will be gathered to your kin for disobeying God’s command regarding the waters of Meribah. Moses then requested that someone by chosen to take his place after his death and God selected Joshua son of Nun to succeed Moses. Joshua is to take his place alongside Eleazar who shall seek the Lord’s instruction from the Urim instead of from Moses.

Chapter 28
God directs Moses to command the Israelites to be conscientious in presenting God with the food offerings that are due Him. Moses repeats the commandments of offerings at established times beginning with the daily burnt offering of two yearling lambs. The rules continue to include the special offerings for the Sabbath day; the offerings for each Rosh Chodesh (the new month), the Passover sacrifices and on the day of the first fruits, Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks).

Chapter 29
This chapter is a continuation of the catalog of offerings that were presented in the preceding section. It begins with the sacrificial offerings due on Rosh HaShanah, the new year; in that same month on the tenth day specifications for the sacrifices of Yom Kippur are described. Finally the longest list of sacrifices of the festival cycle are described for Succot (the Feast of Booths). Each day’s sacrifices of the eight-day festival contains a greater number of animals than on any of the previous holy occasions. Moses explained all of these rules to the Israelites just as God commanded him.

Spiritual insights into Parashat Pinchas                                        return to top
The story of Pinhas actually began at the end of the previous Parashah. While the Israelites were encamped at Shittim, they were induced to having sexual relations with the Moabite women, who also invited them to the sacrifices for their god. The Lord was incensed with Israel and commanded Moses to have all the ringleaders publicly impaled. Just then one of the Israelites came and brought a Midianite woman over to his friends. When Phinehas, a priest, saw this he took a spear in his hand and stabbed both of them, the Israelite and the woman.  Then the plague against the Israelites was checked. This episode of  valiant behavior seems to end the rift between God and the Israelites.

Once more God commands Moses to take a census of the of the whole Israelite community from the age of twenty years up, by their ancestral houses, all Israelites able to bear arms. This was the same kind of census taken at the beginning of the Book of Numbers. Though apparently still discounting the women, children and the aged, this census, by tribe or ancestral house is now taken with the intent of apportioning the land which the Israelites are about to enter: the larger tribes to receive larger claims to the land with the smaller tribes receiving less.
The unsaid teaching is that as each one of us inwardly consists of the entire nation of Israel, so that the land, our spiritual inheritance, we receive in proportion to the strength of which particular aspect of ourselves is more dominant. In other words if we develop our nature more in line with the larger tribes, the larger piece of spiritual landscape we're entitled to.

Key verses                                       return to top
This page is not a commentary on the text, but a chance for you to express your own comments and feelings in order to gain deeper insight into your own life.

Numbers 25:13
It shall be for him [Pinchas] and his descendants after him a pact of priesthood for all time, because he took impassioned action for his God, thus making expiation for all the Israelites.
Food for thought:
1. Do you think it was admirable for Pinchas to take the punishment of the sinful Israelite in his own hands? Don’t forget that God punished others for taking matters into their own hands.
2. Do you think that it was his impassioned zeal that granted him God’s favor?
3. How do you feel about performing acts in your own life, passionately? Would that grant you God’s favor or not?

Numbers 25:17-18
Assail the Midianites and defeat them—for they assailed you by the trickery they practiced against you—because of the affair of Peor and because of the affair of their kinswomen Cozbi, daughter of the Midianite chieftain, who was killed at the time of the plague on account of Peor.
Food for thought:
1. Why did the Midianites have to be defeated? What did they do that was so sinful? After all the curses Balaam prepared turned into blessings, and Balak never denied passage to the Israelites.
2. Who was more sinful, the Midianites or the Israelites who took to lusting with the Midianite women.
3. What was the trickery? Whose fault was it anyway? Couldn’t lusting be just a normal practice of the Midianites?

Numbers 26:53
Among these shall the land be apportioned as shares, according to the listed names: with larger groups increase the share, with smaller groups reduce the share. Each is to be assigned its share according to its enrollment.
Food for thought:
1. Do you think this is the fairest way to apportion the land? What other ways could the land be apportioned, just as well or even better?
2. Do you think this land is actually a geographical location or could it be the landscape of spiritual reality?
3. What do you think each tribe represents in the spiritual domain?

Numbers 27:7
The plea of Zelophehad’s daughter is just: you should give them a hereditary holding among their father’s kinsmen; transfer their father’s share to them.
Food for thought:
1. Do you think this was the only dispute that took place regarding the division of the land? What other issues may have arisen? Why has the Torah not discussed other disputes?
2. If you ever had the occasion to share in property what were some of the issues that came up for you?
3. What could have happened if God did not deem Zelophehad’s plea as just?

Numbers 27:16
Let the Lord, Source of the breath of all flesh, appoint someone over the community who shall go out before them and come in before them, and who shall take them out and bring them in, so that the Lord’s community may not be like sheep that have no shepherd.
Food for thought:
1. Can you find any indication from this verse or those closely connected that the Israelites ever actually crossed over the Jordan into the land of Canaan?
2. Who was the person appointed to be the community’s shepherd? Why was he selected? What specific qualifications does he have?
3. Must we have shepherds, leaders to teach us right from wrong? Do we have them today? Do we need them at all?

Numbers 28:1-2
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Command the Israelite people and say to them: Be punctilious in presenting to Me at stated times the offerings of food due me, as offerings by fire of pleasing odor to Me.
Food for thought:
1. At this particular juncture, just before Moses was about to be gathered to his kin, why would God have Moses repeat all the laws regarding offerings at auspicious times, the holidays and festivals?
2. Why does there seem to be an emphasis on being precise and conscientious regarding these offerings?
3. Why is God’s food to be by fire of pleasing odor? What happens to food burnt over fire? What is the symbolism the Torah is trying to express

Additional questions to ponder:
1. What is it about the story, a verse, a word that seems to resonate with some aspect of your life?
2. Is there something about the story that rings a bell?
3. Can you recall experiences in your life when you have experienced something similar to this story?
4. How would you describe the characters in the story? Who do you know who's like them?
5. Can you personally identify with any one of the characters in the story? Which one?
6. Can you find a similarity between yourself and all the characters in the story?
 

Reflections:
The Rabbis of old would meditate on such questions, sometimes for weeks at a time, to help find deeper meaning in the
verses. You may wish to contemplate just one or a few of these questions at a time, rather than tackling them
all. In what ways we any of your responses to the questions personally meaningful?

Suggestion:
Some of the questions here are of a personal nature which in some cases could be emotionally upsetting. If so, try
relaxing your body as much as possible and takes long slow breaths of air. That usually helps to relieve anxiety.

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Creative Midrash on Parashat Pinchas                                       return to top
 
Numbers 27:21
But he [Joshua] shall present himself to Eleazar the priest, who shall on his behalf seek the decision of the Urim before the Lord. By such instruction they shall go out and by such instruction shall they come in, he and all the Israelites, the whole community?

The Rabbis of old would create parables, stories and narrative connections around such selected verses. What do you see between the lines, the sentences and the letters. The following questions can provide a launch pad upon which to create your own meanings of the Torah.

Why was Joshua selected become the leader of the Israelites after Moses’ demise? Why must Joshua seek the decision of the Urim? What is the Urim? Why didn’t Moses need to consult the Urim? How do you feel about oracles to help you make decisions in your life? What do you think is the difference between human prophecy and oracles? Do you think the Torah itself is an oracular document? Do you think that prophecy and oracles are suggestive of soothsaying? What does the Torah have to say regarding soothsaying? How do you feel about soothsaying? Is it ominous and foreboding? Why did God institute the Urim in the first place? Why do we need such sources of instruction?