This week's parsha, Pinchas, BaMidbar 25:10-30:1 is an odd one. It doesn't stand out as much as last week's (Parshat Balak), but it has a seemingly strange conglomeration of events and laws that occur or are prescribed to the Jewish people. We are first faced with the end of the story that ended last week's parsha: the Israelite men cohabiting with Moabite/Midianite women. Pinchas is named as the one who kills the Israelite Zimri and his Midianite woman, Cozbi. For his service, God tells Pinchas that he will always have a part of the covenant and the priesthood, because he acted for God, was jealous for God and atoned for the people.
Next comes the census. After forty years of wandering in the desert, Moses wants to know who is with him and to which tribe they ascribe. He needs the count of all men over the age of twenty in order to know how to distribute the land once the people get into the land of Israel. He counts out all the people, and when the results are compared to the first census, the numbers are pretty similar. The census may actually be a foreshadowing to what will happen next in the parsha (after a short break for women's inheritance rights), with Moses being told he will die, asking for a predecessor and having Joshua appointed. Joshua is appointed איש אשר-רוח בו, because there is spirit in him (Numbers 27:18). He is charged with the responsibility, but more importantly, he is charged with leadership. He must lead the people, them following him wherever he goes.
However, the intervening story is an incredible one of women's rights, not often espoused in our Torah. We hear the daughters of Zelophahad asking for land inheritance, even though they are not sons and therefore would not normally be given inheritance (at this time, land was passed on patrilineally). God takes their plea and sets down the laws of inheritance, making land go first to a son, then to a daughter, then to the man's brother and continuing. Women get something in the end!
Lastly, we are given the laws for sacrifices, moving from daily sacrifices, toward the one for Shabbat, for Rosh Hodesh, and then for the חגים, the holidays. We are told how many of each animal to sacrifice, with what to do the sacrifice, and when in particular on that holidays. The holidays are given in order, starting with Passover.
This week, I am struck by a parallel between the census and Joshua's appointment as leader, and the current situation in Israel, named in English, Operation Protective Edge. Getting updates on my phone every time there is a siren in Israel, I am constantly bombarded with these news flashes. Each one makes the knot grow a little tighter in my stomach. I am homesick. I am desperate. I want to be back in Israel. A mentor asked why I didn't just hop on a plane, go back there. I responded that I have responsibilities, a job, things I cannot simply abandon. She suggested that if it's that important, the people will understand. In the end, I felt that as much as I have a responsibility to Israel, I also have a responsibility to things to which I have already committed myself. Yet I still find myself daily checking prices for flights to Tel Aviv.
How does that connect to the census and to Joshua. The census was taken as the people stood on the brink of entrance to the holy land. They were preparing to go in, to take their place in a land that had been their carrot, their promise for over forty years. There is no question that they knew it would not be easy or perfect, but they were going into the land. The census is our indication that this is real. Israel today also does a census, taking account of who lives within her borders and where they are. Yet, Israel must also must take into consideration the people living within her at-on-time borders, in Gaza, those who now attack her in hatred. Although not the same thing, we also needed to firmly determine who was part of the Israelite people, and who was not. That would be the indication for Joshua as to who he would take into the land.
Our census from entering the land and our census statistics from this past Israeli Independence Day are hugely different in number, and are not recorded according to tribe. But the census is a gathering of the people, forcing them to come together and share in their common identity. These past few days, we have been forced to come together as a Jewish people, to acknowledge that despite differences, we are one people and must rally behind whatever decisions our Israeli leaders make. Joshua and Moses both made unpopular decisions, but they had to be carried out. So too, must we continue to stand with Israel, understanding that we may not always agree with the decisions promulgated from the top, but that she and her citizens need our support and our prayers.
This Shabbat, as we prepare to read the counting of the people, may we also count our blessings. No matter where we are in the world. we have blessings, however big or small, and we must acknowledge them if we are to bring more love and peace into the world. May this Shabbat bring quiet to those around the world, and a calm to those who need it. May it be God's will. Amen.
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