Overview
of the Weekly Reading
To be read on Shabbat Pinchas - 21 Tammuz 5773
/June 29
Torah: Numbers 25:10-30:1
Haftorah: Jeremiah 1:1-2:3 (1st of 3 "Haftorahs
of Punishment")
Pirkei Avot:
Chapter 1
Pinchas is the 8th Reading out of 10 in
Numbers and it contains 7853 letters, in 1887
words, in 168 verses
Pinchas
receives priesthood as reward for his zealous act (see end of
Balak) of killing a tribal prince who acted immorally.
After that is the census of all the tribes followed by instructions
for dividing the Land of Israel according to families. The five
daughters of Tzelofchad came to Moshe saying that their father
died leaving no male heir to inherit his portion of land. G-d
commands that these women be given their father’s portion and
also commands what should happen in all future cases where a
direct heir is not available. Before his death, G-d tells Moshe
to view the Land from Mt. Avarim, as he will not enter it; instead,
Yehoshua, his main pupil and attendant, is publicly commissioned
as future leader of the Jews. The parsha concludes listing details
concerning daily, Shabbat, new month, and holiday offerings.
 An
essay from
Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter, director of Ascent (4173/Pinchas)
(for a free weekly email subscription, click
here)
The Talmudic sage, Rabbi Yehuda, says that one way to lengthen
the years of a person’s life is to spend a long time at the
dining table. The scholars of the Talmud (Berachot 55a, Menachot
91a) explore this statement, one opinion suggesting that it is
in the merit of the words of Torah that are said at the table,
and another suggesting that a lengthened dinner allows a person
to feed the poor immediately, because the food is ready for him
when he arrives at the door.
The Talmud continues by asking, what is so special about a table?
The verse says (Yechezkel 41:22), “The altar was wood, three
cubits high and two cubits long, and its corners, and its length
and its walls were wood. And he spoke to me, ‘This is the
table that is before the Lord.’” The Talmud explains
that the verse begins by speaking about the altar but ends by
referring to a table. Just as the altar and the offerings that
were brought on it atoned for the sins of the Jewish people while
the Temple stood, now it is our dining room tables that atone
for our sins!
This Tuesday, we enter the three-week period of mourning the
destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. The
tragedy of the Temple’s destruction is that we lost G-d’s
dwelling place on earth, the place where we could meet Him here.
However, there is also a subtle, hidden advantage in the Temple’s
destruction, one that will ultimately bring more divine revelation
into the world and hasten the redemption.
During the time of the Temple, most of the divine service was
done by the cohanim, the priests. After the destruction, the connection
to divinity that occurred in the Temple was not simply lost. Rather,
that holiness was apportioned to the space (6 feet) that surrounds
each Jewish person when he or she is engaged in Jewish activities.
In this time of exile, each of us has a spiritual power similar
to a priest, serving in our own miniature temple: the space around
us, our homes, workplaces and communities. The Talmud’s teaching
about replacing the altar with dining tables means that when we
sit at our tables we are like the priests eating their portion
of the food from the altar, elevating every bite to an act of
divine service. This is one of the reasons for the ancient custom
to wash our hands before eating bread, the way the cohanim would
wash before eating from their portions from the altar. On Shabbat,
we are especially priest-like: we light candles (like the menorah)
and sing (like the Levites). Two thousand years ago there was
one Temple. Now there are millions of temples, each one transforming
the mundane and shining divine light into the world. With the
Temple’s destruction, each of us became an agent of light,
all together capable of bringing the final redemption.
There is a beautiful hint to this idea in a verse from this week’s
Torah portion. Once a person of some importance traveled to the
town of Sqverer to see the Sqverer Rebbe. The rebbe asked him
if he was hungry after his long journey. The man admitted that
he was, but said that he did not wish to trouble the rebbe to
arrange food for him. The rebbe said that he must eat something;
it was a great merit to give a Jewish person food to eat.
The rebbe explained it as follows: The verse says (28:2), “My
offerings are food [bread] for My fires.” Rashi explains
that this means that the blood and the fat of the offered animal
are “food” for the fires of the altar. But the verse
can also be read, “What is my offering for G-d? Bread for
my people (the word for “fires” can also be read “my
people”). When I feed Jewish people it is like bringing an
offering on the divine altar in the Holy Temple.
This Sqverer rebbe had a daughter who died young, while her father
was still alive. The rebbe told his disciples to take the dining
table—where the young lady had served food to so many visitors—and
use it to make her coffin. This table that she used for so many
mitzvahs with such devotion and happiness is like the altar
where the temple sacrifices were offered.
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev would have many, many guests
for Shabbat. His wife would complain: We have no money, let them
pay for their food! And Rabbi Levi Yitzchak would respond: The
verse says, “What is my sacrifice? Food for my people!”
While our holy intentions when washing our hands, eating food
at our tables, as well as the Torah we say, and the poor we feed,
are all important and bring merit and long life, simply having
guests—feeding Jewish people—has a merit similar to
that of the offerings in the Holy Temple.
Shabbat Shalom, Shaul
(for a free weekly email subscription,
click
here)
For last year's essay by Rabbi Leiter on this week's Reading,
see the archive.
____________________________________________
This
week's story from Yerachmiel Tilles, managing editor of ascentofsafed.com
and kabbalaonline.org
From
the Kabbalah Commentaries on the Chumash ("5
Books of Moses")
13th
century - "RambaN"
- Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman
14th
century - "Bachya"
- Rabbi Bachya ben Asher
16th
century - "Alsheich"
- Rabbi Moshe Alshech of Tsfat
17th
century - "Shelah"
- Rabbi Yeshaiya Horowitz
18th
century - "Ohr
HaChayim" - Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar
a sample for this week:
Alsheich
"..Go up on this mountain Avarim and behold the
land" [27:12]
Moses is shown the land, whereas those who died in the
desert, had not been granted that privilege as is stated
in Numbers 14:23. 'Behold the land!' points out the contrast
between Moses and Aharon and the rest of their generation.
But there is also a spiritual dimension to the land of
Israel. Therefore, the first reference was to the physical
land of Israel, the second to the spiritual land of Israel.
Moses was shown both. He would die only after having been
granted a glimpse of this spiritual level of the land
of Israel. (compare Zohar Parshat VeYechi on 'you will
be gathered to your people')
The Zohar compares the immediacy of entry into a higher
world by those whose physical death occurs in the land
of Israel, with the delayed ascent by those who die outside
of Eretz Yisrael. Those who die the kind of death that
Moses died, even though outside the land of Israel, do
not need to traverse the way stations reserved for ordinary
people dying outside the land of Israel. Possibly, the
letter heh at the end of the word ve-ra-ita
in verse 13, (which is most unusual) is a hint to Moses
that he will enter the hereafter without delay, that his
soul would not need a cleansing process.
(Adapted from
Torat Moshe - the 16th commentary of Rabbi Moshe Alshech,
the "Preacher of Zefat" on the Torah, as translated
and condensed in the English version of Eliyahu Munk)
For the rest of "The Masters of Kabbala and Chumash"
on this Weekly Reading;
and on all the
other Readings.
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FROM
THE SAGES OF TSFAT AND GALILEE ON KabbalaOnline.org
Specifically,
for an overview of the recommended articles in the columns:
Holy Zohar, Holy Ari, Mystic Classics, Chasidic Masters, Contemporary
Kabbalists, and more,
click to Pinchas
one sample:
Chasidic Masters
 High-Powered
Transmission
By Binyomin Adilman, based on Toldot Adam of Rabbi
Yechiel of Ostravoh
The essential quality of a leader of the Jewish people is to be
concerned not only with the general welfare of the nation, but
also with the personal needs of each and every Jew. In turn, each
disciple must be willing to accept upon himself the influence
and guidance of the Tzadik, thus insuring that the chain of transmission
will always be strong.
To continue, click
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