Reflections from Rabbi Ellis

The title of this week’s Parsha comes from the name of the hero of last week’s Parsha, Pinchas. Pinchas ended a plague that G!d had struck the children of Israel with by killing a couple named Cozbi and Zimri. Cozbi and Zimri were not married, in fact it seems that they had just met, they were engaging in extramarital sex and they made this fact known to all the leaders of Israel. This was not a lone occurrence; rather it was the ultimate act of an explosion of sexual immorality that had broken out in the camp of Israel. In response to the rampant licentiousness that erupted in Israel G!d sent the plague that Pinchas’s act of murder halted. In the beginning of this week’s Parsha G!d rewards Pinchas for his action by making him the next Kohen Hagadol, high priest. Much ink has been spilled dealing with the moral ramifications of Pinchas’s action and G!d’s reaction, I wish to consider other implications of G!d making Pinchas the Kohen Gadol.

This week G!d passes the baton of leadership to the next generation of the Children of Israel. Towards the beginning of the Parsha a census is performed, and the Torah specifically states that the people who counted the Children of Israel now were completely different from those who did it last time. This is a dangerous time, the greatest challenge to any political/social system is the ability to create a peaceful succession. While we only see the beginning of this process in our Parsha, what we see is a success.

The transmission of our tradition and mission to the next generation is one of our core goals as Jews. Is there any other nation in the world so willing to sacrifice their present for their childrens’ future? Now that the process of succession has been completed, we are still left with the question of whether or not they will be good Jews and marry Jewish. Will they stay dedicated to the same goals to which we dedicate ourselves? Will they put their children to sleep with the same songs that we sang to them?

In our Parsha three people or groups of peoples are mentioned specifically in the context of being someone's children. They are the Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aharon Hakohen, the sons of Korach and the daughters of Tzelafchad. The main thing that we know about them in the context of their parents is that they did not do what their parents did. We see that they are able to change their methodology without losing sight of their goal and by doing so, stay true to their parents’ goals and come closer to achieving them than their parents ever did.

It is frightening when we need to change leadership and even scarier when those who take over do things differently than we did. Having faith in our children is ultimately about having faith in ourselves and our ability to transmit our goals and dreams to them in ways that we ourselves were often unable to express. The greatest tribute we can give to those who came before us is to pursue their goals through our means, to adapt the method while staying steadfast to the dream.

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Yehoshua Ellis