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Shiurim & Adult Education
THOUGHTS ON PINCHAS BY IAN DONOFF
Pinchas was outstanding. Despite a criticism of his lineage he was promised glory for what he did, that is, speared the brazen lovers, Zimri and Cozbi, to death.
In HaShem’s eyes, he acted in a way in which he drew peace for his family for the future. HaShem called for Moshe afterwards to initiate a census, just as a way of counting his precious Bnei Yisroel, just as a father would count all his children before he crosses the road. The census results were subsequently given in this Sedra for all to see.
The census gives the forthcoming divisions of the land in Israel in the names of the families. The daughters of Zelophehad were vociferous in stating that all women who survive the death of their father should be given a stake in the Eretz Yisroel. HaShem agreed and included them after they stated that their father didn’t follow Korach but relied on HaShem. The laws of inheritance follow in the Sedra. Yehoshua is appointed after Moshe left.
However, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z”l goes on to say that when the Sedra mentions that sacrifices are not the only forerunner of our prayers even though many prayers were spoken by figures in the Bible. These prayers were said without any accompanying offering, but the sacrificial system is a major tributary of the Jewish river of prayer. After the destruction of the Second Temple, prayer became a substitute for sacrifice.
How then do we come closer to HaShem? By giving something away.
The world exists because of HaShem. We exist because of HaShem. Nothing we have is ultimately ours. The fundamental gesture of sacrifice is, on the face of it, absurd. What we give to HaShem is something that already belongs to him. Yet to give back to HaShem is one of the most profound instincts of the soul. The sacrifices of the biblical age were ways in which the individual or the action itself said “what we have HaShem is really yours”.
The late Rav Joseph Soloveitchik emphasised the difference between the “ma’aseh mitzvah”, the external act specified by a commandment, and “kiyyum mitzvah”, the actual fulfilment of a commandment. The external act could no longer be performed but the internal act remained. That is the link between sacrifice and prayer.
Shabbat shalom
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