Parshat Pinhas 5767: The New Generation

Among the many activities of this week’s portion, there is a census similar to the one that began the book of Numbers back at Sinai. That census completes with:

63. These are those who were counted by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who counted the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan near Jericho. 64. But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest counted, when they counted the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. 65. For the Lord had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

The generation who will enter into the land is ready to do so, and throughout this portion we have examples of why this generation is ready. To begin we have Pinhas, who stopped the plague of Peor single handedly.

11. Pinhas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my anger away from the people of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the people of Israel in my jealousy. 12. Therefore say, Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace;13. And he shall have it, and his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the people of Israel.

During the census we learn one more interesting detail about the Korah rebellion:

11. But the sons of Korah did not die.

Given the numerous Psalms in their names, there arose a rabbinic tradition that while their father was rebelling they were singing psalms of praise. After the census we have the first true halakic debate, brought by the daughters of Zelophehad.

1. Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph; and these are the names of his daughters; Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah. 2. And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, by the door of the Tent of Meeting, saying, 3. Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons. 4. Why should the name of our father be taken away from among his family, because he had no sons? Give to us therefore a possession among the brothers of our father. 5. And Moses brought their cause before the Lord. 6. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 7. The daughters of Zelophehad speak right; you shall surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers; and you shall cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them.[Numbers 27]

There was one thing I implied last week, but never said. While God did get angry in the matter of Peor, nowhere in the Torah never does it say that God struck the people with a plague. Not only in my environmental health role can I see that the plague of Peor was self imposed. So was its solution: Pinhas made a very pointed argument. Aaron’s grandson, Korah's sons and Zeolphehad’s daughters do not wait for some one else to do something: they act and act righteously, not just for their own good but the good of God and the whole community. If the daughters had not the courage to speak up as mere girls, would the case for inheritance by daughter ever be brought up?

Over and over again their parents’ generation continually talk about being provided for, mostly provided for by the Egyptian slave masters. They romanticize this former life over and over again, talking about the abundance they got to eat as slaves. Their parent’s generation was the one who continually whined Moses brought them to die in the Wilderness. None of them have faith to either God or Moses.

On the other hand Zeolphehad’s daughters take a mitzvah and ask a question about a possible problem with it. Only a chapter before, we are told the land will be portioned by the names on the census, which are all males of military age (Numbers 26:52-55). But, ask these girls, how does inheritance work when there are no sons but only daughters? Moses does not know and has to ask God.

According to the rabbinic view, the Sons of Korah acted similarly. They saw their father’s rebellion all around them, but responded with deep proclamations of faith.

Like a deadly wound in my bones, my enemies taunt me;
While they say daily to me, Where is your God?
Why are you cast down, O my soul?
Why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
[Ps. 42:11-12]

When even Moses is unable to act, Pinhas slays someone involved with a tasteless exhibitionist act in the Mishkan. All three of these cases point to two things. This is a generation who is not afraid to act. This is also a generation who does so not for themselves but for God and the Mitzvot of God.

This week I’m finishing the penultimate paper of my master’s degree. I remember one class I took a few years back where the professor started the class with “prepare to be depressed.” Jewish demographics are very alarming and depressing. Whether through, intermarriage, conversion to other religions or outright apathy, the Jewish population is dwindling. Nothing seems to work. Yet this generation to inherit the land points out what does work. Believe in God and serve God. Do not just talk, but act. Question and further develop the Mitzvot into Halakah. In our modern times, I wonder if there will be a generation that will arise to see that. There are inroads, but hopefully not too little too late.

Hopefully others will see the lessons as did the generation that inherited the land.