Weekly Parsha

Mazal Tov to: Bracha Malka Tank 15th B-day and for the Waller family on the birth of David Trevor Waller. Wishing your family a lifetime of happiness and love.

Ore por Refuah Sheimah: Stephen Waczkiewicz (Shimon ben Sarah), Yossefa (Josie) "bat Sharon", Rafael ben Gladis e Esther Bracha "bat Sarah".

Continue orando por: Teddy Welz, Miriam (Mariana) "bat Zulay", Adina (Heidi) "bat Sarah" e Yosefa (Josie) "bat Sharon".

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.

"These are the children of Dan according to their families ... sixty-four thousand and four hundred (Numbers 26:42-43).

"These are the sons of Benjamin ... forty-five thousand, four hundred" (Numbers 26:41).

What lesson for life can we learn by comparing these numbers?

Benjamin had ten sons; Dan had only one son, Chushim. Yet, Dan had more descendants that Benjamin!

From here we can learn, that if the Almighty wants a person to be successful, he will succeed (Chasdei Hashem - By the mercy of the Almighty) even if it appears at first that he has less of a possibility than someone else. We must put forth our every effort, but realize that in the end success is out of our hands -- it ultimately depends on the Almighty ("man proposes, G-d disposes").

We should at least appreciate what we have. After all, it too is a gift from the Almighty. A wise man once asked, "If you don't appreciate what you have, how will you appreciate anything else that you will receive?"

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

Shabbat Shalom!

'R.Tank'

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Rabbi Tank is a professor at the American Jewish College, where he teaches classes on Talmud, Jewish History, and Contemporary Jewish Law. Rabbi Tank is dedicated to finding modern utility and meaning in ancient wisdom texts and is happy to provide spiritual, cultural, social and educational programming to communities around the world. 

Rabbi Tank was educated at Chabad Yeshivas in New York and Miami. He majored in Biblical Archeology from Bar Ilan University and from Harvard in Jewish Studies. He graduated in Business Administration and also graduated in International Economic Development from the University of Oxford. 

Rabbi Tank is actively involved in peace negotiations and relief operations and is a Member of the White House National Religious Leaders, an Executive Office of the President of the United States.

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