Pinchas: Love for the Holy Land

Much goes through my mind on a weekly basis, from writing one paper to the next. At times I scramble my mind to see what topics or lessons I learnt over the week and which ones I’d like to cover, and at times the Parshah speaks out to me. As we see in Rashi 26:54 this week, the raffle was drawn for each tribe as they divided the land; the ticket itself screamed out, “Shevet this to this plot!” Sometimes the words just scream out to me and tell me to speak of them.

First let’s discuss the overall pattern in this week’s Parshah. The concept of love for Eretz Yisrael. Pinchas, the aforementioned raffle, daughters of Tzelafkhad asking for a plot, and Yehoshua Bin Nun becoming leader.

Pinchas was born to Elazar ben Aharon, his mother was the daughter of Yitro as the Gemara in Sanhedrin 82b is mentioned in the first Rashi in the Parshah (25:11), “Because the Shevatim shamed him [by saying], have you seen the son of this animal stuffer, whose mother’s father stuffed calves for idols, killed a Nasi of a Shevet of Israel?” When did Elazar marry Yitro’s daughter?

When we look into Parshat Yitro we can find it hidden between words. But first we must go back all the way to Shemot (2:20) as Moshe saved the daughters of Yitro from the shepherds at the well, “And why have you left the man, call him so he will eat bread?” Rashi points out that ‘eating bread’ is a euphemism for marriage, as we see Potiphar called his wife ‘his bread.’ Now let’s go forward to Parshat Yitro, as he arrives at the camp it says (Shemot 18:12), “…and Aharon and all the elders of Israel came to ‘eat bread’ with the father in law of Moshe before Hashem.” It seems like it was at this point that Elazar got married, as proof, we see that only Aharon was present at the meal.

There is another point that must be addressed. We know that Pinchas was born before Aharon and his kids were anointed as Kohanim on the first of Nissan, year 2 of Yetziat Mitzrayim, as Rashi notes in 25:12. The Gemara in Zevachim 116a hears an argument of the timeline of when Yitro came to the camp, was it before Matan Torah or after. Either way if the marriage occurred when Yitro came, it barely gave them time for Pinchas to be born. It must’ve been around his own Brit when the Brit of Kehuna was given to his family.

He lived for 603 years until after the reign of Achav’s son Achazyah, the total equivalent to the words of the Pasuk 25:13, “תחת אשר קנא לא-לקיו ויכפר על “בני ישראל. Also, as well known, he became Eliyahu, as clear from the other word in the same Pasuk לא-להיו which are the letters of אליהו.

In the beginning of Sefer Yehoshua he is appointed to be one of the spies that went to the house of Rachav Hazonah, as Rashi points out in Yehoshua 2:4. It is clear that it is Pinchas since we have a clear connection to him through the words in the Pesukim. In Bamidbar 25:1, as the story of Zimri unfolds, it starts with the words, “And the Yidden sat in Shittim.” And as Yehoshua sends his spies to the Holy Land in Yehoshua 2:1 it states, “And Yehoshua son of Nun sent two people, spies, from Shittim.”

He and Caleb were the first to enter the land from the people in the Midbar. Entry into the land was a significant step toward fulfilling the promise of Hashem, and who better to take the lead than the person/angel who took the lead once before. So, he was a baby who missed his chance, but for the act of standing up for Hashem he merited Kehuna, longevity, became an angel, and our future announcer of redemption and final return to the Holy Land.

26:64,27:1: Rashi notes, in both Pesukim, the idea of loving the land. First as the Torah mentions the people who died in the desert, saying that they didn’t love the land but the women did. They remained alive due to the decree of the nation dying because of the spies was not placed upon them. In the next Pasuk he notes that Yosef loved the land as evident with his request to be buried in it. And so too did his granddaughters, the daughters of Tzelafkhad love the land. Rashi in 27:3 brings the Gemara in Shabbat 96b where Rabbi Shimon says that Tzelafkhad was one of the “Ma’apillim,” those who ran up the mountain into Israel a day after the Meraglim turned the hearts of Yidden against Hashem. This seems to reconcile what Rashi says in 27:1 that the daughters of Tzelafkhad were daughters of Tzaddikim. Albeit his sin, he had the best intentions in mind.

My grandfather told me a story of his Mother, Esther Malka Schwimmer/Flinker, who was one of 5 sisters, just like the daughters of Tzelafkhad. As the state of Israel was formed they were dismayed at the fact that they weren’t eligible to receive free housing. Since it was designated only to families made out of fathers, mothers, and children. Four of the five of them marched their way up to the Knesset, over and over again and demanded that they be given them as well. They were nicknamed the B’not Tzelafkhad by the Knesset members for their diligence in fighting for their plot in the Holy Land. The love they carried in their hearts for the land was one of sheer purity. Nothing would keep them from trying. This is truly the lesson of love we should all gather from the pattern in this week’s Parshah.

As I began, this week’s thoughts were basically surrounding the fact that I had a large project that had to be finished. With the help of Hashem I was able to completely edit and typeset a Tehillim with poetic translation. The words that flowed before me and seeped into my soul through my eyes were pure and selfless. I Daven that my little token be accepted into the continuous flow of Torah knowledge to be seen, studied, and visualized by many to come.

As I did this tedious work the thoughts in my mind didn’t cease, although they were calmer than most days. I didn’t have the constant war and struggle I usually face on my regular days, since my determination to get this project completed was on the forefront of my mind from the moment I awoke to when I went to sleep. It was a labor of love that although I developed some carpal-tunnel it couldn’t hold me back from achieving the goal of love. As Rabbi Shimon says in Brachot 5a, Torah, Eretz Yisrael, and Olam Haba, are bought through pain and Yesurim.

When we have something that we love deeply, like the land of Israel, there cannot be anything that can stop us. Things will come up but none that are greater than the task on hand. Pinchas showed his love with his action and merited an everlasting gift, Yehoshua’s dedication to the nation and his leadership by taking us into the land, was the return to the ground our ancestors, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, laughed and cried on. Their prayers and sacrifices were grounded into its core and it set the foundation for us all until today. The daughters of Tzelafkhad sprouted from this kind of love, the love their father Yoseph, who left the land 22 years prior to his siblings, instilled into them. And of course, the raffle; the excitement that is felt when we truly love something, screams out and announces it to the world!

May we merit to be back on our land and hear the announcement of Eliyahu scream on its own, with the rebuilding of our walls and the renewed sacrifices on the Beit Hamikdash’s altar, soon in our days! Amen.

Shabbat Shalom

David Lemmer

LemmerHypnotherapy.com