B"H

Wednesday Tammuz 18, 5777 / July 12, 2017

This week’s Parsha, Pinchas, is usually read during the Three Weeks, when we mourn and remember the destruction of the Holy Temples. Last week’s Parsha, Balak, and this week’s Parsha, Pinchas, are both named after a person.

While Parshat Balak is named after Balak the king of Moab, who wanted to have the Jewish people killed, Pinchas through his heroic act, saved the Jewish people.

In reward for saving the Jewish people, G-d gifted Pinchas with, “The covenant of peace.”

The Parsha begins, "And the L-rd spoke to Moshe, saying: Pinchas, the son of Elazar the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the children of Israel...  Therefore say: Behold, I give unto him My covenant of peace (Shalom).  And it shall be to him and to his seed after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood."

The "covenant of peace," which G-d gave to Pinchas, was that from then on, Pinchas and his descendants will be Kohanim - priests.

Although being a kohen (priesthood) is inherited from father to son and Pinchas was a grandson of Aaron the High Priest, and the son of Elazar, who became High Priest (Kohen Gadol) after Aaron’s passing, yet, Pinchas himself was not a kohen until this time. It did not apply to any of Aaron's grandchildren already born at that time. 

Thus, Pinchas was not a Kohen until G-d rewarded him the priesthood for his heroic act of saving the Jewish people from a plague which had already killed 24,000. G-d then give him the gift of priesthood and made him and his future descendants, kohanim.

The Talmud tells us that from Pinchas came 380 High Priests, who served in the two Holy Temples.

Q.  Why is the priesthood referred to as "the convent of Shalom - peace"?

A. In the first chapter of Pirkei Avot (Chapters of our Fathers) which we will recite this Shabbat, Hillel the Elder gives the following instruction, "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow and bringing them closer to the Torah." One of the special mitzvot a kohen has is to bless the Jewish people (Birkat Kohanim) with love, thus bringing peace to Israel.

The reason we read Pinchas during the Three Weeks is because our sages say that Pinchas is Elijah the Prophet, who will announce the coming of Moshiach and the final redemption. Thus, reading Parshat Pinchas, gives us hope during these Three Weeks of the coming of Moshiach.  

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY