Weekly Parsha

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

Continue praying for: 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. G-d 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).

The Torah also states that:

"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?

The Chofetz Chaim, Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan, the greatest rabbi of his generation, points out something very interesting: Benjamin had ten sons; Dan had only one son, Chushim. Yet, Dan had more descendants that Benjamin!

From here we can learn, said the Chofetz Chaim, that if the Almighty wants a person to be successful, he will succeed 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?"

No one knows less than the person who knows it all.

Shabbat Shalom!

R. Ovadiah 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 pleased to provide spiritual, cultural, social and educational programming to communities around the world. 

Rabbi Tank was educated at Yeshivas in New York and Miami. He studied Biblical Archeology at Bar Ilan University and Jewish Studies at Harvard University. Rabbi Tank has a Bachelor degree in Business Administration and he is also graduated in International Economic Development from the University of Oxford. 

Rabbi Tank Tankéis a Jewish Chaplain actively involved in peace negotiations and relief operations. Rabbi Tank is the director of international affairs at the World Jewish Confederation headquarters in New York and He is member membroof the White House National Religious Leaders , an Executive Office of the President of the United States in Washington, D.C.

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