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B"H

Tuesday, Tammuz 20, 5776 / July 26, 2016 - Hakhel year

 

This week’s Parsha (in the Diaspora) is Pinchas. It is one of only a few Parshiot in the Torah which are named after a person. Pinchas was the grandson of Aaron the High Priest.

 

The Parsha begins, G-d spoke to Moshe saying, “Pinchas the son of Elazar the son of Aaron the priest, has turned My anger away from the children of Israel by zealously avenging My vengeance and as a result I did not destroy the children of Israel because of MY anger. Therefore say to him, I am hereby giving him My covenant of peace. This covenant will be an eternal covenant of the priesthood for him and for his descendants after him.”

 

At the end of last week’s Parsha, Balak, the Torah tells how the people of Israel became involved with the Midyonite women and committed immoral acts, which resulted in G-d sending a plague upon the people. One of the heads of the tribe of Shimon brought a Midyonite woman before Moshe and the congregation and performed an immoral act with her. Moshe was standing and crying not knowing what to do. Pinchas, rose and killed them both.

 

With his action Pinchas stopped a plague which killed 24,000 people. He made peace between G-d and the Jewish people. As a reward and show of approval, G-d gave the covenant of peace and priesthood to him and to his descendants. 

 

Q.What connection is there between the priesthood (kohen) and peace?

 

A.The world is made up of two parts; physical and spiritual. There is heaven above (spiritual) and the earth below (physical).

 

In the Aleinu prayer, which we recite three times daily, we say, “Know this day and take unto your heart that G-d is G-d, in the heavens above and upon the earth below there is nothing else.”

 

Heavens represents spiritual worlds and earth identifies physical matter. The role of the kohen (priest) was to serve in the Temple, which was the holiest place on earth. His role was to elevate the physical matter which was brought to the Temple, through sacrificing it on the holy altar. Thus, the kohen’s role is to make peace between physical and spiritual, by connecting the physical and the spiritual.

 

Q.The priesthood (kohen) is passed down through paternal lineage. G-d appointed Aaron and his sons as kohanim, 38 years earlier, when the Mishkan was erected. Pinchas, being a descendant of Aaron, should have already been a kohen. Why did he become a kohen only now?

 

A.When Aaron and his children were anointed to be kohanim it was for them and their children who will be born after that time. Pinchas was already born then. Thus, he wasn’t included. He gained it on his own as a reward for his act of saving the Jewish people from the deadly plague.

 

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY