Pinchas (parsha)

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Pinchas, Pinhas, or Pin’has (פנחס – Hebrew for “Phinehas,” a name, the sixth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parshah) is the 41st weekly parshah or portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the eighth in the book of Numbers. It constitutes Numbers 25:10–30:1. Jews in the Diaspora generally read it in July.

1 Summary
2 In Rabbinic interpretation
3 Commandments
4 Haftarah
5 The Weekly Maqam
6 Further reading
7 External links

[edit] Summary

[edit] After the sin of Baal-Peor

God announced that because Phinehas had displayed his passion for God, God granted Phinehas God’s pact of friendship and priesthood for all time. (Num. 25:10–13.) God then told Moses to attack the Midianites to repay them for their trickery luring Israelite men to worship Baal-Peor. (Num. 25:16–18.)

[edit] Another census

God instructed Moses and Eleazar to take a census of Israelite men 20 years old and up, and Moses and Eleazar ordered it done. (Num. 26:1–4.) The census showed the following populations by tribe (Num. 26:4–51):

Reuben: 43,730
Simeon: 22,200
Gad: 40,500
Judah: 76,500
Issachar: 64,300
Zebulun: 60,500
Manasseh: 52,700
Ephraim: 32,500
Benjamin: 45,600
Dan: 64,400
Asher: 53,400
Naphtali: 45,400

totaling 601,730 in all.

The text notes parenthetically that when Korah’s band agitated against God, the earth swallowed them up with Korah, but Korah’s sons did not die. (Num. 26:9–11.) God told Moses to apportion shares of the land according to population among those counted, and by lot. (Num. 26:52–56.) The Levite men aged a month old and up amounted to 23,000, and they were not included in the regular enrollment of Israelites, as they were not to have land assigned to them. (Num. 26:57–62.) Among the persons whom Moses and Eleazar enrolled was not one of those enrolled in the first census at the wilderness of Sinai, except Caleb and Joshua. (Num. 26:63–65.)

[edit] The daughters of Zelophehad

The daughters of Zelophehad approached Moses, Eleazar, the chieftains, and the assembly at the entrance of the Tabernacle, saying that their father left no sons, and asking that they be given a land holding. (Num. 27:1–4.) Moses brought their case before God, who told him that their plea was just and instructed him to transfer their father’s share of land to them. (Num. 27:5–7.) God further instructed that if a man died without leaving a son, the Israelites were to transfer his property to his daughter, or failing a daughter to his brothers, or failing a brother to his father’s brothers, or failing brothers of his father to the nearest relative. (Num. 27:8–11.)

Moses strikes water out of the rock (painting by Nicolas Poussin)

[edit] Moses’s successor

God told Moses to climb the heights of Abarim and view the Land of Israel, saying that when he had seen it, he would die, because he disobeyed God’s command to uphold God’s sanctity in the people’s sight when he brought water from the rock in the wilderness of Zin. (Num. 27:12–14.) Moses asked God to appoint someone over the community, so that the Israelites would not be like sheep without a shepherd. (Num. 27:13–17.) God told Moses to single out Joshua, lay his hand on him, and commission him before Eleazar and the whole community. (Num. 27:18–20.) Joshua was to present himself to Eleazar the priest, who was to seek the decision of the Urim and Thummim on whether to go out or come in. (Num. 27:21.)

[edit] Offerings

God told Moses to command the Israelites to be punctilious in presenting the offerings due God at stated times. (Num. 28:1–2.) The text then details the offerings for regular days, the Sabbath, Rosh Chodesh, Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Shmini Atzeret. (Num. 28:3–30:1.)

[edit] In Rabbinic interpretation

Rava found support in Numbers 26:8 for the proposition that sometimes texts refer to “sons” when they mean a single son. (Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 143b.)

Abba Halifa of Keruya asked Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba why Genesis 46:27 reported that 70 people from Jacob’s household came to Egypt, while Genesis 46:8–27 enumerated only 69 individuals. Rabbi Hiyya reported that Rabbi Hama bar Hanina taught that the seventieth person was Moses’ mother Jochebed, who was conceived on the way from Canaan to Egypt and born as Jacob’s family passed between the city walls as they entered Egypt, for Numbers 26:59 reported that Jochebed “was born to Levi in Egypt,” implying that her conception was not in Egypt. (Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 123b–24a.)

blowing the shofar (by Alphonse Lévy)

[edit] Commandments

According to Maimonides and Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are six positive commandments in the parshah.

To carry out the laws of the order of inheritance (Num. 27:8)
To offer two lambs every day (Num. 28:3)
To bring additional offerings on the Sabbath (Num. 28:9)
To bring additional offerings on Rosh Chodesh (Num. 28:11)
To bring additional offerings on Shavuot (Num. 28:26)
To blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah (Num. 29:1)

[edit] Haftarah

The haftarah for the parshah is 1 Kings 18:46–19:21. Note that this haftarah is read once every fifteen years or so because this week usually coincides with a week that requires an alternative haftarah reading.

[edit] The Weekly Maqam

In the Weekly Maqam, Sephardic Jews each week base the songs of the services on the content of that week's parasha. For Parasha Pinchas, Sephardic Jews apply Maqam Saba, the maqam that symbolizes a covenant (berit). It is appropriate, because in the very openning of this parasha, Pinchas is told by God that due to his heroic acts, he will be granted eternal covenant of peace with God.

[edit] Further reading

The parshah has parallels or is discussed in these classical sources:

Exodus 6:24.
Numbers 1:1–46; 20:2–12; 25:6–9; 31:6–18; 36:1–12.
Deuteronomy 3:21–22.
Joshua 1:6–9; 17:3–6; 22:11–34; 24:33.
Judges 20:28.
Psalm 106:28–31.
Ezra 7:5.
1 Chronicles 5:30; 6:35; 7:15; 9:20.
Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 3:10:1–4; 4:6:12–13; 4:7:1–2.
4 Maccabees 18:12.
Instruction for Catechumens, and A Prayer of Praise of God for His Greatness, and for His Appointment of Leaders for His People, in “Hellenistic Synagogal Prayers,” in James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 2, 687–88. New York: Doubleday, 1985.
Pseudo-Philo 28:1–4.
Mishnah: Pesachim 7:4; Yoma 7:1–3; Sukkah 5:6; Taanit 4:2; Megillah 3:5; Sotah 7:7; Bava Batra 8:2–3; Sanhedrin 9:6; Shevuot 1:3; Zevachim 10:1; Menachot 4:2–3, 8:7–9:2.
Numbers Rabbah 21:1–25.
Zohar 3:213a–241b.