This week's Torah Gems were prepared by
Adam Solomon
Parashat Pinchas
This week's parasha, Pinchas, is greatly concerned with the issue of leadership and the need to prepare for a transfer of power from one generation to another. This is in preparation for entering Eretz Israel. The tititular Pinchas and his descendants are awarded with the permanent status of kohen as a reward for his zealous actions in last week's parasha. According to the prolific French Medieval commentator Rashi, this was made explicit since Pinchas' birth preceded Aharon and his sons being anointed and as a result Pinchas and his offspring would not otherwise have been kohenim.
HaShem tells Moshe that he will not be entering Eretz Israel and that he needs to designate Joshua as a successor. In this instance, Moshe displays the humility for which he is so well known in our tradition and doesn't argue that he should be allowed to enter the land.
In preparation for a generational transfer and the subsequent conquest of Eretz Israel, another census is taken, inheritances among the tribes are designated. We also have the famous incident with Zelophehad's daughters in which the initial laws of inheritance are amended to allow daughters to inherit if they have no brothers. To a modern eye this patriarchal bias is troubling, though we can take some comfort in realizing that even as Jewish law was being formulated, it was open to amendment and interpretation.
The parasha finishes with a description of the some of sacrifices to be offered on the festivals, going into some detail for the Sukkot sacrifices. Rashi notes that through the whole holiday of Sukkot sacrifices are made for the benefit of all the nations of the world, but on the last day only one is made, being for Israel alone. This last day (Shemini Atzeret) is a day for Jews and HaShem only -- making Shemini Atzeret into Sukkot's "after party", if you will.
"one bull, one ram". These correspond to Israel. [God said,] "Remain with Me a little longer." It expresses [His] affection [for Israel]. It is like children taking leave of their father, who says to them, "It is difficult for me to part with you; stay one more day." It is analogous to a king who made a banquet, etc. [and on the last day, his closest friend makes a small banquet for the king] as is stated in Tractate Sukkah [55b]. In the Midrash of R. Tanchuma (Pinchas 16) [it says]: The Torah teaches common courtesy. Someone who has a guest, [and wants him to feel at home,] on the first day, he should serve him fattened poultry, on the following day he should serve him fish, on the following day beef, on the following day pulses, and on the following day vegetables, progressively diminishing, as in the case of the festival bulls. - from Rashi's commentary on Pinchas
Former chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Ismar Schorsch noted that Rashi departed from previous interpretations of Sukkot that were universalist in nature. It was traditionally thought that Sukkot was the time when HaShem decided how much rain the entire world would receive and the sacrifice of 70 bulls was on behalf of all the nations of the world. (see http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/
The Jewish values illustrated by this parasha are invaluable - humility in leadership, preparation for handing off responsibilities to the next generation, the importance of hospitality. These are values that I hope we can carry out of this Shabbat and into the rest of the week.
SHABBAT SHALOM
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