B"H
Thursday, Tammuz 19, 5784 / July 25, 2024
This week’s Parsha is Pinchas. Pinchas was the grandson of Aaron the High Priest (Kohen Gadol). Due to a heroic act which Pinchas performed, in which he put his own life in danger, he managed to stop a plague which G-d sent on the Jewish people as a result of their immoral behavior. As mentioned before, Pinchas was rewarded for this with becoming a Kohen (Priest) and was given the covenant of Shalom (peace) for his and his descendants after him forever.
In the Parsha we also read that as a result of the plague, G-d commanded Moshe to count the people. The counting was for men from the age of 20 to 60. The total was 601,730, except for the Tribe of Levi who were counted from one month old and up. Their count was 23,000.
In the Parsha we also read that G-d tells Moshe that he will not go into The Promised Land and will die in the desert. G-d tells Moshe to appoint his dedicated student, Joshua, as the leader of Israel after him, who will bring the Jewish people into the Promised Land.
Our sages compare Moshe to the brightness of the sun and Joshua to the moon. Moshe’s greatness was more than Joshua. Just as the moon gets its brightness from the sun, so too Joshua’s illumination came from Moshe. Although Moshe passed away physically, our sages say that the spirit of Moshe lives on in every generation through the spiritual leaders of that generation.
The second half of the Parsha is about the various sacrifices which G-d commanded to be brought in the Holy Temple each day, on Shabbat and on each of the holidays. Excerpts from this Parsha are read during the year, as pertaining to each of the holidays.
Parts of this Parsha are read on the three festive holidays, also on Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and every Rosh Chodesh, concerning the sacrifices of that particular holiday. Thus, excerpts from Parshat Pinchas are read during the year more than from any other Parsha in the Torah.
Q.Shabbat sacrifice is also mentioned in the Parsha. Why don’t we read that portion each Shabbat?
A.The minimum we must read in order to qualify for someone to be called to the Torah needs to be at least three verses. Because the passage in the Parsha which speaks about the Shabbat Sacrifice is mentioned in only two verses, no special reading was set from this Parsha on Shabbat.
Q. What was special about the sacrifices in the Temple?
A. The Torah commands that a fire burn on the altar at all times. When a sacrifice was brought upon the altar to be burnt, in addition to the fire which the Kohanim (priests) lit on the altar, a G-dly fire would descend from heaven and consume the sacrifice. One could visibly see this great miracle. The sacrifices connected the physical and the spiritual and brought spirituality down here in the physical. This was a visible sign that when a Jew performs a mitzvah he or she becomes connected with G-d.
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY
UNITED WE STAND WITH OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CAPTIVITY. MAY THEY ALL BE RELEASED NOW