Weekly Parsha

Pray for Refuah Sheimah: Rafael ben Gladis

Continue Pray: Mariana bat Zulay 

Mazal Tov to: Esther bas Raizel  for her birthday.

Pinchas 

Numbers 25:10 - 30:1

In last week's Torah portion, Pinchas acted to stop a public display of immorality. He thus stemmed the plague of retribution which was killing the multitudes. He is rewarded by being made a Cohen -- by Divine decree.

The Almighty commands Moshe to attack the Midianites in retribution for the licentious plot the Midianites perpetrated upon the Israelites. A new census is taken of the Jewish people revealing that there are 601,730 men available for army duty. God directs the division of the Land of Israel amongst the tribes. The Levites are tallied. The daughters of Tzelafchad come forward to petition Moshe regarding their right of inheritance. Moshe inquires of the Almighty Who answers in their favor.

Moshe asks the Almighty to appoint a successor and the Almighty directs Moshe to designate Yehoshua (Joshua). The Torah portion concludes with the various offerings -- daily, Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and holidays.

***

"And the Almighty spoke to Moshe saying: Pinchas the son of Eliezer, the son of Aharon the priest has turned away my anger from the Children of Israel in that he was zealous for My sake among them, so that I did not consume the Children of Israel in My jealousy" (Numbers 24:10-11).

Why does the Torah add the words "among them" which are seemingly extra words?

The seemingly extra words "among them" are to focus us on the fact that Pinchas' zealous action was not very popular among the people; there were those who were ready to kill him for his zealousness! Nevertheless, Pinchas was ready to sacrifice everything to do the will of the Almighty. He took action even though many people disapproved of what he did.

There are many instances in life in which the correct thing to do is not always the most popular. For example, if a group of people are speaking lashon hora(gossip) against others, they usually do not appreciate someone's telling them to stop talking negatively. However, a person whose focus is on doing the will of the Almighty will not be deterred even if others will insult him for his behavior. 

Love people for what they are; don't judge them for what they're not.

You can't change the truth, but the truth can change you.

The truth only hurts for those who live in lies.

We must translate pain into action, and tears into growth.

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Ovadiah Tank

Online Learning

Rabbi Tank is a professor at the American Jewish College of New York where he teaches classes on Talmud, Chassidism, Jewish History, Contemporary Jewish Law and Jewish Music. Rabbi Tank is dedicated to finding modern usefulness and meaning in ancient wisdom texts, providing spiritual, cultural, social and educational programming for communities around the world.

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The wise man seizes the opportunity to do mitzvot" (King Solomon). The lazy person says -- someday I'll do it.