Parsha for Kids: Pinchas 2023
Below is the transcript for this week’s episode of Parsha for Kids, Pinchas 2023.
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Season 4 Episode 8:
Hello! My name is Chana and this is Parsha for Kids. The parsha of the week is Pinchas. Pinchas is the name of a person, specifically the person we learned about last week, who was very zealous for God’s honor.
Pinchas was the son of Elazar who was the son of Aharon. You might think this automatically meant that he was a kohen. Rashi comments that this was not the case. Rashi says that the kehunah, or priesthood, had been given to Aharon and his sons and any children those sons would have after they had been anointed as kohanim. Since Pinchas had been born before then, he would not have been a kohen- only a Levi. However, due to Pinchas’ determination to defend God’s honor, God rewarded him by giving him “et briti Shalom,” God’s covenant of peace, and “brit kehunat olam” an eternal covenant of the kehunah. In this way, Pinchas became a kohen and his descendants would become kohanim as well.
Pinchas acted because he wanted to defend God’s honor. He didn’t do it for a reward or to receive any honor for himself. And yet, he ended up being rewarded by God- far beyond what anyone might have expected! This is true in life as well. It’s important to do the right thing because it is right, and not for any other reasons. However, sometimes when one does the right thing, it might lead to honor or other positive opportunities as well.
TRANSITION
God told Bnei Yisrael that they would need to fight against the Midianites. This was because the Midianites had sent their daughters to lead Bnei Yisrael in worshiping idols. However, before Bnei Yisrael fought the Midianites, God first wanted Moshe to count Bnei Yisrael. Moshe, along with the new Kohen Gadol, Elazar, were in charge of the counting. All men between the ages of twenty and sixty years were counted by handing in a half shekel coin. Levites were counted separately, beginning from one month of age and older.
TRANSITION
Since Bnei Yisrael were close to entering the land of Israel, it was important to determine how the land would be divided up. Would it be a free for all, where each person would have to conquer their own territory? Or would there be a more organized system? God told Moshe that the land would be divided up by shevet, tribe. It would be based on a lottery system. The men of each tribe would inherit a specific portion that would remain their property. The only exception to this was the tribe of Levi, who would be scattered throughout the land in specific cities. This was because the Levites were the scholars who would teach and inspire the other members of Bnei Yisrael about God.Therefore, they needed to be spread out amongst the other tribes.
There were five sisters from the tribe of Menashe who were concerned by the way God planned to divide the land. Their names were Machla, Noa, Chagla, Milka and Tirza. Their father’s name was Tzelafchad. Tzelafchad had not had any sons- only daughters. These women were not married, so they did not have husbands who would inherit land in Israel.
According to the Midrash, the women said to each other, “Why should we lose our share in the land of Israel?” Even according to the simple rendering in the text of the Chumash, they said “Moshe has said that only men will get a share in the land. Our father is dead. We do not have any brothers to inherit a portion of the land. Our father’s portion will end up being given to our uncles. But we also love Eretz Yisrael and we want our own portion there so that we can keep our father’s name and his memory alive. Let us ask Moshe if he can give us our father’s portion of land.”
The daughters explained the situation to Moshe. They mentioned that their father had died for his own sin and was not one of the people who had joined together with Korach. Our Sages connect this to the story we learned in an earlier parsha about the Mekoshesh Etzim, the person who went and gathered sticks on Shabbat even though that was a melacha that was forbidden. According to Midrash, that man was Tzelafchad.
Moshe did not know what to do. Therefore, he asked God. God answered him and said, “Tzelafchad’s daughters speak correctly. You should give them a portion of the inheritance of the land along with their uncles. This is the law for all generations- if a man has no sons, his daughters will inherit his property.”
We can learn many important lessons from this section of Tanakh. First, you should always speak up and ask questions if you are bothered by something. The daughters of Tzelafchad did not know what God would answer. Perhaps God would have told them no. But if they hadn’t spoken up, then there wouldn’t have even been a chance that they would be able to perpetuate their father’s name. The fact that they had the courage to ask is amazing.
Second, this shows how much the women of that time loved Eretz Yisrael. They really wanted a portion of the land because they felt a deep connection to it. This is especially important because it contrasts with many of the men of that generation, who were constantly complaining about entering the land of Israel and how they wished that they could go back to Egypt instead. Of course, those men died out over the course of the forty years, while the women did not.
In your own life, it is important to have the courage to ask questions. Sometimes, your question can help others, too, as was the case with the daughters of Tzelafchad. Because of their question, a new rule was created- so that in future other daughters who did not have brothers would be able to inherit as well.
TRANSITION
God gave Moshe a command. He told Moshe to go up to Har Ha’Avarim and look at the land of Israel from that high vantage point. After this, Moshe would die. He would not be allowed to lead Bnei Yisrael into the land of Israel because he had sinned by the episode of Mei Merivah, the Waters of Strife. You can imagine that this would have been very upsetting for Moshe to hear. After all, he had just spent forty years with one goal in mind- leading the nation to the Promised Land!
Despite how upset he might have felt, Moshe simply said to God, “May the Lord, God of spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation to lead them out and bring them in so that they will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”
Despite hearing very upsetting news on a personal level, at this moment Moshe was thinking about the welfare of the nation. This is what a true leader does- he considers the needs of the people for whom he is responsible. And Moshe wanted to make sure Bnei Yisrael would not be left bereft after he died.
God agreed with Moshe’s statement and told him, “Take for yourself Yehoshua the son of Nun, a man of spirit, and place your hand upon his head. You shall present him before Elazar the Kohen and give some of your Hod, majesty, to him. He shall stand before Elazar and seek counsel from him through his use of the Urim v’Tumim, the oracular method of divining what God’s will was using the Choshen Mishpat, or breastplate.”
This is exactly what Moshe did, and so Yehoshua was appointed before the whole nation.
But what does it mean that Moshe needed to give Yehoshua some of his majesty? You may remember that when Moshe descended from Har Sinai, his face glowed. He wore a kind of mask or veil over it when he was with Bnei Yisrael but he uncovered his face when he went to speak with God. According to the Midrash, Moshe literally gave some of the light of his face to Yehoshua, and so our sages say that Moshe was radiant like the sun but Yehoshua shone like the moon.
We learn some very important lessons from Moshe’s conduct here. First, it must have been upsetting to Moshe to learn he would die and never enter the promised land. But he did not take this opportunity to beg God for another chance. Instead, he made sure that the people were taken care of. Additionally, Moshe could have been jealous of Yehoshua and refused to publicly appoint him. But Moshe was not like that. It was his pleasure to make sure every member of Bnei Yisrael knew that Yehoshua had been chosen for this role. When Moshe laid his hands upon Yehoshua’s head, Rashi explains that he transferred as much of his power and leadership as he could. He also did more than what God had commanded- God said lay your hand, singular, upon his head, but Moshe laid both hands upon his head.
We too should be this generous when it comes to appointing a new leader in our stead. We too should be more concerned with the welfare of the people we lead than our own honor.
TRANSITION
After this, God taught Moshe laws about certain kinds of korbanot. These included the daily tamid offering, which was offered every morning. It was a lamb that was completely burned as an olah offering. It was accompanied by a mincha flour offering and a nesach wine offering.
Additionally, God taught the laws of the mussaf offerings. On Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh (the new month according to the Jewish calendar) and each day of Yom Tov, additional offerings- hence the word mussaf, which means an add on, additional- would be brought by the community. They were comprised of different animals depending on the holiday.
TRANSITION
So here’s what we learned this week!
Sometimes when we do the right thing BECAUSE it is right, we may even receive a reward for it. But it’s important not to let the reward be what drives us to act.
It’s important to have the courage to ask questions.
We can learn to love and be excited about Eretz Yisrael just like the daughters of Tzelafachad were.
Moshe showed what a truly great leader he was by being most concerned that whoever took over after him would do a good job leading the people. He was also very generous when it came to giving of himself and his power to that new leader. We can learn from him to be more concerned about helping others succeed than our own honor.
If you have any questions or comments on this week’s episode, please email me at parsha4kids@gmail.com. That’s parsha the number 4 kids at gmail.com. Good Shabbos