Day: July 26, 2024

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By Rabbi Shloimie Lindenbaum

בני בנימין למשפחתם…אלה בני דן (פרק כו פסוק לח-מד)

The Torah details a count of each tribe with the number of families [in the first generation] in a tribe and the total number of members. The tribe of Binyamin is counted as starting with seven major families, and in ספר בראשית, Binyamin is said to have had ten sons. Dan, however, is said to have had only one son, and here too the tribe of Dan is listed as having started with only one family. In addition, the Gemara in סוטה says that this one son of Dan was deaf. The Chofetz Chaim points out that anyone who saw the families of Dan and Binyamin in the first generation would have assumed with certainty that Binyamin’s tribe will grow and flourish quickly and vastly, while Dan’s would take a while to build up. However, the numbers of individuals in each tribe, as of our Parsha, are startling. Binyamin has 45,600 members and Dan has 64,400, that is almost 20,000 more people after just a few generations! We see from here that when Hashem wants a tribe to grow bigger, they will, regardless of their chances statistically, and so too if He wants a different tribe to not be as big. This applies to all areas of life as well, many times a person can be in a position where it seems obvious that they will have a hard time financially compared to others, and yet Hashem can flip the fortunes easily. Everything is in His Hand.

יפקד ה’ אלקי הרוחת לכל בשר איש על העדה (פרק כז פסוק טז)

When Moshe is informed by Hashem that he will not enter ארץ ישראל, he asks that Hashem appoint a worthy and qualified leader in his stead. He phrases his request, “the G-d of spirits of every individual should appoint a leader over the congregation”. R’ Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev would say that Moshe specifically referred to Hashem in this context as the G-d of everyone to indicate that just like Hashem loves each member of כלל ישראל equally so too should the new leader be equally caring, responsible, and loving for every individual in כלל ישראל. R’ Yitzchak Zilberstein quotes a story that illustrates a leader’s responsibility to think about each person in our nation. The Tchebiner Rav, Rav Dov Ber Weidenfeld (1881-1965), lived in Yerushalayim and had many beloved students. When his daughter got engaged, he was going to travel for his new son-in-law’s aufruf which was to take place in a different country. One of his close students was a renowned chazan and offered to travel along for the aufruf to enhance the davening with his tremendous talent. The Tchebiner Rav accepted this offer, and the student came along. When Shabbos came, the Rav told the student, “You will not be davening with me this Shabbos.” To his student’s surprise, the Rav explained, “I heard that there is an orphan who lives here who will be having his aufruf in a different shul this Shabbos. If you came to daven by me, the whole city will turn out to hear you and the orphan will be left with a practically empty shul for his simcha. You will go daven in the orphan’s shul and that way the city can hear your beautiful prayer and the orphan will have an honorable simcha.” Such was the concern of a Torah leader for each individual Jew, even one that he had no connection to previously. This is the quality that Moshe felt was essential for his successor.

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By Rabbi Naftoly Bier

In recognition of what פנחס, Pinchas, did to literally save the Jewish people from Hashem’s wrath, he was gifted with שלום, harmony (במדבר י:י״ב).

Immediately preceding the Torah states “את בקנאו קנאתי” (י:י”א). “When he zealously with a flaming rage” demonstrated with palpable passion his singular, selfless dedication to Hashem and His children, Klal Yisroel, despite extreme danger to himself.

Let us define קנאה. Usually, it is translated as jealousy. For example, “הקנאה… מוציאין את אדם…י” “Jealousy takes a person away from the spiritual world”.

In לא-כט: יא  ,פ’ בהעלותך, we learn of two people, אלדד ומידד, who were prophesizing that משה רבינו, Moses was to die and יהושע, Joshua would lead the people to the land of Israel. יהושע implored משה, “My master, cause them to stop.” Moshe retorted, “Are you jealous for my sake?”

Rashi explains that קנאה denotes a person who focuses one’s heart and mind on a given situation to either avenge or to aid. In פ’ פנחס, Rashi translates it to personify one who is “inflamed” (strives) to take vengeance for the sake of rectifying a situation.

While it seems to be different ideas, it points to a fundamental translation of קנאה, that being disharmony. When there is a situation that necessitates a solution or a reaction; that state of being is defined as קנאה, disharmony. One can rectify the situation by ridding oneself of the problem or one can correct the problem; in both cases, relentless, wholesome dedication is needed to create a lasting solution.

Jealousy is a direct result of a situation where one feels that it is unfair, or incorrect that someone possesses more than the other be it wealth, intellect, knowledge, beauty, etc. Rather than motivating oneself to aspire to utilize their own talents with greater dedication; one casts aspersion on the other, causing disharmony. Jealousy is the palpable result of a state of disharmony.

פנחס witnessed a discordance between Hashem and Klal Yisroel due to their degenerate behavior. Klal Yisroel justified their activities by arguing that after sojourning in the desert for forty years, completely detached and disengaged from the outside world, it would be impossible for the mortal human being to overcome their physical urges and drives, which had been latent due to their “living in the clouds”, ענני הכבוד. All their needs had been miraculously taken care of by Hashem; they hadn’t been exposed to a world culture antithetical to the Torah (אזנים לתורה). פנחס taught, indoctrinated כלל ישראל that the most barbaric, heinous act possible, that being murder, could be done completely, selflessly for the sake of Hashem, therefore being defined as a spiritual act. Not only is it possible to serve Hashem in a physical world environment, but more so, even murder can be sublimated. This being the true challenge of life, to transmute all actions into a spiritual framework.

Pinchas’s actions were predicated on his zealous desire to bring dignity and honor back to Hashem and to save Klal Yisroel from destruction. ( (תהלים ל:ק“ויעמד פנחס ויפלל”, And Pinchas stood (in front of Hashem) and he judged himself.” “Am I doing this act of “murder” totally for the sake of Hashem, or am I 1) doing it to gain fame or 2) to assuage my anger that I am directing at a great person, זמרי, for engaging in a depraved act?”

The Torah states; Hashem said, “אהרון בן …פנחס הכהן”, that Pinchas the descendant of Aharon the High Priest nullified My anger. Aharon HaKohen was the quintessential lover of all; this trait was endemic to Pinchas and therefore he was blessed that most of the subsequent גדולים כהנים, High Priests would be of his lineage. Pinchas was able to harmonize two opposite traits; passionate love and assertiveness in one action. Though dichotomous usually, one who solely lives for the betterment of the world can achieve this lofty status. In reward, he was benefacted the gift of שלום, harmony. פנחס either lived for 400 years or is הנביא אליהו, who never died the natural death of everyone. Death is a result of the inner tension of the different drives that constitute the human; since פנחס succeeded in merging them in equilibrium, he was gifted with the ultimate harmony, eternal life! (For a discussion of what it means that פנחס didn’t die, see the שו”ת חתם סופר (חלק ו’-ליקוטים צ”ח))

The ability to merge in harmony a person’s drive is dependent on living with integrity at all times. Only then can a person consistently focus all their drives toward one goal.

Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch explains that פנחס will be אליהו, for in the generation of משיח, there will be a wide gap between the generations. The ability of פנחס to harmonize will bring the world to unity and the coming of משיח speedily in our days.­­­­