Being Zealous for God

Num. 25:10-30:1 is called Parashat Pinchas, named for the grandson of Aaron. Without a court decree, he kills an Israelite prince and a Midianite princess for copulating in public, simultaneously slaying the couple with a single plunge of a spear. Instantly, a plague that had taken 24,000 Israelites is stopped. God bestows an eternal priesthood on Pinchas. Is God condoning vigilantism? No. Technically, there would have to be a court proceeding to determine if the couple should have been executed. However, there were thousands of witnesses and there was a plague rapidly spreading through the camp. The outrageous behavior of Zimri, a prince from the tribe of Shimon and Cozbi, daughter of Zur was a blatant act of war as decreed by Balak, the king of Moab and the chieftan Zur of Midian.

Publicly sinning by a Jewish soul is considered hilhul Hashem, the desecration of God's name. The Talmud, in Yoma 86a, emphasizes that such a deed affects the entire community.

After being counseled by Bilaam, the enemies of Israel dispatched their women to subvert Israel through sexual idol worship. Moab is explicitly the kingdom whose daughters are named as seductresses. Midian's formal role is less visible in the Torah's written narrative, but the Ramban understands that Midian's elders were the architects of the scheme, working alongside Moab to corrupt Israel. Both kingdoms were allies, but Moab's daughters were the visible instruments.

Israel's leaders stood by in shock as the couple copulated in front of them. If no one had acted, the nation would have ceased to exist. Pinchas knew treason when he saw it. He possessed a blameless character, otherwise God would not have honored him.

Purity and the Will to act for Torah is what God expects from a His Nation of Priests.

Later, there is a census of the people yielding a count of 601,730 men between the ages of twenty and sixty.

Moses begins the division of the Land, via a lottery. The five daughters of Tzelafchad ask Moses to be awarded the portion of the land belonging to their father, who died without sons; HaShem their claim and becomes part of the Torah's laws of inheritance.

In preparation for entry into the Land, Moses begins the process of turning over the leadership to Joshua and does so by laying on his hands in a symbolic sharing of his spirit. The Oral Tradition tells us that Moses and Joshua had a long-standing association that began while they were still in Egypt. Midrash Tanchuma (Shemot 1:12) even suggests Joshua may have indeed grown up in Pharaoh's palace! The Midrash states that when Moses was placed in the Nile River, Pharaoh's daughter, Bityah, found him and raised him as her own son. According to this tradition, Joshua, who was born around the same time as Moses, was also taken in by Bityah and grew up alongside Moses in the palace.

The parsha concludes with the specifics of the offerings brought before HaShem, including those brought during the annual festivals. Significantly, at the head of this list is the Tamid—the Daily Offering of two lambs (considered a “whole” offering)representing the Pesach lamb. The fire of the Daily Tamid and its altar represents Mount Sinai and the awesome consuming holy blaze witnessed by the multitudes. Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch wrote that the Tamid Offering, “Symbolizes the everlasting daily renewal of the vow, ‘We will do and we will hear’. The Tamid fire is a daily call to the Jewish People to restore the Temple, to restore its offerings and Israel's national commitment to live a life of Torah in their role as Light to the nations