Parshat Pinchas: Numbers 25:10 – 30:1 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger

This week’s parsha is Pinchas, named for the son of the High Priest Eleazar and who is the grandson of the great Aaron, the first High Priest. Pinchas himself is granted a special covenant from God that will make the line of the High Priesthood follow from him. Pinchas received this as a reward for his faithfulness to God and for stopping the idolatry that was so blatantly flaunted in front of the tabernacle by a leader of the tribe of Simeon named Zimri and a female leader of the Midianites. Pinchas acted fiercely and swiftly at the end of last week’s parasha stabbing both the Israelite leader and the woman known in tradition as Cozbi.

The rabbis understood the Midianite woman’s name as coming from the Hebrew meaning lie or falsehood. They understood Zimri and Cozbi as promoting idolatry among the people Israel and doing so right in front of the tabernacle and challenging the Hebrew worship of the One God. Pinchas’ actions are in stark contrast to those of his grandfather Aaron who once long ago—gave in to idol worship at the foot of Mt. Sinai with the episode of the Golden Calf.

But now as the Israelites make their way north to the Promised Land they have come increasingly in contact with various nations and people. The Hebrews are exposed to many different ideas and ways of worship and pagan religions. It is more difficult to keep these foreign influences out and in fact last week’s portion records that many Israelite men profaned themselves with Moabite women including worshiping their gods. These women seduced the Israelite men according to the tradition and then they entered into pagan worship. Our tradition claims they were on a mission to infiltrate and derail the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land. Since the Israelites won every battle they engaged in as an army—the one place of great vulnerability was in their faith and loyalty to their God. It was this that the Midianites/Moabites attacked successfully. Thus Pinchas’ zealous and fierce attack helped to squelch any suggestion that the Israelites would be vulnerable at any level.

But this is a week of transitions and planning for the future. Pinchas’ line will be the line of the High Priesthood and this week too Joshua is elevated as successor to Moses. Moses is given notice that his time of death is soon. “Ascend the heights of Abarim and view the land that I have given to the Israelite people” (Num. 27:12). Moses is told that he will view the land but not enter and then he will be “gathered to his kin” (Num. 27:13). Thus God let’s Moses know that Joshua will succeed him and that the time had come for this transition to take place.

All businesses and all organizations need to plan leadership succession and transition. Worthy people, people who have proven their mettle, skill and wisdom are those that you want to shape into the next generation of leaders. That is certainly the case this week with Pinchas and Joshua. With these strong leaders at the helm of the Israelites—Pinchas who will eventually succeed his father, Eleazar as High Priest whose faith and loyalty to the worship of one God was tested and Joshua who has been at Moses’ side learning and leading throughout many years, the Israelites can have confidence that they will rise to meet their end of the covenantal promise—the promise of entering the Promised Land and establishing a nation built on the mitzvot given at Sinai.

Posted by Jimmy at July 14, 2008 04:12 PM