In Parshat Pinchas, Bamidbar 26:55-56
we read:

Only (ach) by lot should the land be
divided, according to the names of their father’s tribes should they inherit
it. By word of the lottery should this inheritance be divided, with regard to
whether they are many or few.

Are there any exceptions to this
rule?

Rashi quotes Sifrei 132:

The word only (ach) excludes
Yehoshua and Kalev who received special portions. Therefore it is written in
Shoftim 1:20: “And they gave Chevron to Kalev as Moshe had spoken, and he drove
the three sons of Anak (the giant) from there” and in Yehoshua 19:49-50: “The children
of Israel gave a heritage to Yehoshua bin Nun in their midst. By word of God
they gave him the city that he asked for, Timnat-Serach in Har Efraim; He built
the city and dwelled there.”

The Talmud, Bava Batra 122b
comments:

Here it is called Timnat Serach, but
in Shoftim 2:8-9 it is called Timnat Cheres:

Yehoshua bin Nun, the servant of God
died at the age of 110. They buried him within the borders of his heritage, in
Timnat Cheres, in Har Efraim, north of Har Ga’ash.

The Gemara resolves this
discrepancy:

Rabbi Elazar said: At first, before
Yehoshua arrived in the town, its fruits were as dry as cheres (earthenware),
but in the end, after Yehoshua’s arrival, its fruits were rich and would rot
(masriach) if left for too long.

Some report the following version:

At first, the fruits were
excessively rich and they would rot if they were stored even for a short while,
but in the end they were like earthenware, and could be stored for long
periods.

The Gemara asks how Kalev was able
to inherit Chevron which is an Ir Miklat (City of Refuge) which belonged to the
tribe of Levi.

Abaye answers: Kalev received the
provinces around Chevron as it says in Yehoshua 21:12: “And the fields of the
city and its villages they gave to Kalev ben Yefuneh for his legacy.”

We see that there were exceptions
made for Yehoshua and Kalev since they were the two scouts who tried to
encourage B’nai Yisrael that it was safe to enter the Land of Israel and could
be looked at as the first Zionists.

Just as Yehoshua and Kalev were able
to fulfill their dreams, may all those who wish to make aliya have the
opportunity to do so.

Parshat Pinchas presents the
daughters of Tzelophchad who requested to inherit their father’s portions of
land since he died without having any sons.

In Parshat Masei, Bamidbar 36:6 we
read the epilogue of the story: The daughters of Tzelophchad were permitted to
accept marriage proposals from all of the tribes of Israel:

This is the word that God has
commanded regarding Tzelophchad’s daughters: “Let them marry whom they think
best, as long as they marry within the tribe of their father.”

The idea is that if they marry within
their tribe then the land inherited would stay within the tribe. However, they
had the option of marrying outside of the tribe and in that case, the land
would be transferred to her husband’s tribe.

In the end, each of the five women
married within their tribe as it says in Bamidbar 36:10-12:

Exactly as God commanded Moshe, so
did Tzelophchad’s daughters do: Machla, Tirtza, Chogla, Milka and Noa, the daughters
of Tzelophchad married their cousins. From the families of Menashe, son of
Yosef, they married, and their inheritance remained with the tribe of their
father’s family.

Sforno explains that when the
daughters of Tzelophchad saw that God did not want the inheritance to move to
another tribe, even though they personally had the opportunity to marry someone
from a different tribe, they chose to marry their cousins and in this way, they
kept the inheritance within the tribe of Menashe.

The Talmud, Bava Batra 119 quotes a
Braita:

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov taught:
Even the youngest of the daughters of Tzelophchad did not get married until she
was at least 40 years old.

Tosaphot explain that according to
Rashba, Tzelophchad died around the time of the Sin of the Spies, at the
beginning of B’nai Yisrael’s wanderings in the desert, so all of his daughters
had to have been conceived or born by then. The story of them requesting land
takes place almost 40 years later, right before B’nai Yisrael are about to
enter the Land of Israel.

Why did they wait so long to get
married and how were they still able to have children?

Rashi points out that they waited as
they wanted to make sure that they would marry fitting mates.

The Talmud calls these women “tzadkaniot”,
righteous. Even though they got married later, where in many cases they would
no longer be able to bear children, a miracle was performed just like with
Yocheved, Moshe’s mother who gave birth at an advanced age.

The issues that the daughters of
Tzelophchad faced are still relevant today. Women should only marry someone who
is the right fit. They should not compromise just because they are getting
older. We are lucky to be living in a time where fertility treatments can
miraculously help women who marry later still have the opportunity to have
children.

In Parshat Pinchas (Bamidbar 27:15-17) we read:

Moshe spoke to the Lord, saying: “Let the Lord, God of the spirit of all
flesh, appoint a man over the community who will go out before them and come in
before them. Who will lead them out and bring them home. Let not the Lord’s
community be like a sheep without a shepherd.”

In verses 18-21, God answers:

“Take Yehoshua Bin Nun, a man infused with My spirit and lay your hands
upon him. Have him stand before Elazar the Kohen and before the entire
community and command him before their eyes. You shall place some of your
majesty upon him, so that the entire community of B’nai Yisrael will obey
him…”

The Midrash, Bamidbar Rabba 21:14 asks:

What reason did Moshe have to make this request after declaring the
order of the inheritance?

The Midrash answers:

When Moshe saw the daughters of Tzelophchad inherit the properties from
their father, Moshe said: “This is the time for me to claim my needs.
If daughters inherit, it is surely right that my sons should inherit my glory.”

God answered Moshe with a quote from Mishlei 27:18: “‘He who tends the
fig tree will enjoy its fruit.’ Your sons sat with their own concerns and were
not involved in torah study whereas Yehoshua served you and showed you great
honor. He rose up early in the morning and remained late at night at your House
of Assembly. He arranged the benches and spread out the mats. Since he served
you with all of his strength, he is worthy to serve Israel and he should not
lose his reward.”

Moshe’s dream of one of his sons taking over for him did not become a
reality. Yehoshua proved himself in the quiet way that he served Moshe. Since
Yehoshua protected Moshe’s honor, he merited to receive Ruach HaKodesh, the
Divine Spirit and prophecy.

We can learn from here that leaders should be chosen based on their own
merits and not through nepotism.

In Honor of Josh and Sharona Halickman’s 26^th Wedding
Anniversary

This week’s Haftara from Yirmiyahu 1:1-2:3 is the first of the three “Haftarot of Calamity” which are read between the 17^th of
Tamuz and Tisha B’Av. Although chapter one describes the upcoming destruction,
the last three verses in our Haftara (Yitmiyahu 2:1-3) leave us on a positive
note:

And the word of God was upon me, saying, “Go and proclaim in the ears of
Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus said God: I remember for your sake the kindness of your
youth, the love of your bridal days, your following Me in the wilderness, in a
land not sown. Israel is holy to God, the first of His grain; all who devour
him shall be guilty, evil shall come upon them- the word of God.’”

God asked Yirmiyahu to make a proclamation of His prophecy to Israel: I
remember when you were prepared to follow Me into the unknown of the desert which
is not an easy place to live.

Rashi asks: What was the “loving kindness of your youth”? Your following
my messengers, Moshe and Aharon from an inhabited land to the desert without
provisions for the way since you believed in me.

Radak interprets the “love of your bridal days” as the giving of the
Torah, when B’nei Yisrael were compared to a bride and God was compared to a
groom.

In Hoshea 9:10 we read:

I found Yisrael like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the
first ripe fruit in the fig tree at her first season.

Buber explains:

This finding is compared to the find of grapes in the wilderness by the
wanderer. The finder found a treasured object in a place where he least expected
it. He saw the encampments of those camping at the foot of Mount Sinai and they
appeared to him as first ripe figs at their season, producing fruit for the
first time.

Why are B’nei Yisrael being compared to the first of God’s grain in the last
verse of the Haftara?

Israel is being compared to the Truma, the first of the harvest which is
consecrated to God and is given to the Kohen and his family to eat. The Truma
is considered “kodesh”, holy and strangers may not partake of it as we read in
Vayikra 22:10:

No layman shall eat “kodesh” (of the holy); one who resides with a Kohen
or his laborer shall not eat “kodesh.”

Truma is also called “reishit”, the first or the best, as we see in
Bamidbar 18:12 which discuses the gifts to the Kohanim:

All the best of your oil and the best of your wine and grain, “reishitam”
their first, which they give to God, to you have I given them.

Yirmiyahu is declaring that just as the stranger who eats from the Truma
will be punished, the nations who try to destroy B’nei Yisrael will be punished
as well.

We learn from our Haftara that even though God was angry with B’nai
Yisrael for sinning, He would never demolish them as He will always remember
the days of their courtship in the desert and their marriage at Mount Sinai.
They will always be his firstborn as they were the ones who said “naaseh
venishma”, we will do and we will listen. No matter how outraged He is, God
will never let the Jewish nation be fully destroyed.

As we admire the grape vines and fig trees growing in Israel, may we be
reminded of God’s everlasting relationship with the Jewish people.

In Parshat Pinchas, we are reminded
of the fact that the older generation (aside from Yehoshua and Calev) died out
in the wilderness due to the sin of the spies and only the younger generation
can enter the Land of Israel.

Rashi (Bamidbar 26:64) states that
there was no decree issued against the women (to die in the wilderness) since
they cherished the land. The men said (Bamidbar 14:4) “let us appoint a leader
and we will return to Egypt” while the women (the daughters of Tzelophchad)
said (Bamidbar 27:4) “give us possession.”

The daughters of Tzelophchad are
introduced in the following way (Bamidbar 27:4):

And they approached- the daughters
of Tzelophchad, son of Chefer, son of Gilad, son of Machir, son of Menashe, of
the families of Menashe the son of Yosef. The names of the daughters were:
Machla, Noa, Chogla, Milka and Tirtza.

Rashi asks why Menashe is mentioned
twice: “son of Menashe, of the families of Menashe the son of Yosef.”

Rashi
answers that their lineage goes all of the way back to Yosef to teach us that
Yosef cherished the Land of Israel as he requested to be buried there.  Yosef’s great great great great granddaughters
requested to inherit the land as they did not have any brothers to inherit
their father’s portion of land.

Kli
Yakar explains why the women of that generation had a much greater love and
appreciation for the Land of Israel than the men:

The
men hated the Land of Israel, since they were macho and far from righteousness. They
were not interested in going from a place where there were no requirements
(Egypt) to a place where they would be burdened with obligations (Israel). They
said (Bamidbar 11:5) “We remember
the fish which we ate in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, the watermelons, leeks,
onions and garlic.”

Sifrei
explains that in Egypt, they were free of the constraints of the mizvot. They didn’t
have the burden of taking Trumot and Maasrot (donations and tithes
of the produce designated for the Kohaim, Leviim, poor etc) from their vegetables since outside of Israel, one is not obligated in
Mitzvot Hatluyot Ba’Aretz, the mitzvot that only apply in the Land of Israel.
They were stingy and preferred to remain outside of the land rather than share
with the Kohanim.

Kli
Yakar continues: The women of that generation were righteous and loved tzedaka.
They wanted to observe mitzvot like Hafrashat Chala
which is special mitzvah for women as well as a mitzvah of the Land of Israel. They
were excited about separating Trumot and Ma’asrot. We are taught in the Talmud,
Sotah 11b that it was in the merit of the righteous women of that generation
that our forefathers were redeemed from Egypt. The women wanted to leave the
place where they were exempt from the mitzvot in order to move to a place where
they would be obligated in more mitzvot.

Kli
Yakar concludes that the daughters of Tzelaphchad took after Yosef. They were
careful with their relationships and they loved the Land of Israel. Yosef kept
his distance from Potiphar’s wife and the daughters of Tzelaphchad made sure to
marry men who were fitting for them. The daughters of Tzelphchad wanted to
enter the land as they loved taking part in giving Tzedaka, while Yosef loved
righteousness and made sure that his father’s entire household had food during
the famine.

For
more than one hundred years, we have seen the love of many women for the Land
of Israel, women, including both of my grandmothers, who went out of their way
to raise funds to help build the State of Israel as we know it today. One
pioneer of this movement was Henrietta Szold who founded Hadassah in 1912.

May
we continue to see the State of Israel grow and may both women and men come on aliya
and have the opportunity to take on as many mitzvot as possible.

In Honor of Sharona & Josh
Halickman’s 23^rd Wedding Anniversary 

When we speak about Chet HaMiraglim,
the sin of the spies, we mention that Yehoshua and Calev were the only two of
the twelve spies who did not bring a false report and they were therefore not
punished as the other ten spies who died in a plague, rather, they were able to
enter the Land of Israel.

After the sin of the spies, in
Parshat Shlach, the rest of the nation was told (Bamidbar 14:29-31) “In the
desert your corpses shall fall, all of you who were counted according to your
numbers, from twenty years and above, because you complained against me. Surely
you shall not come into the land to which I raised My hand to swear that I
would cause you to live in it; except for Calev ben Yefuneh and Yehoshua bin
Nun. Your infants, about whom you said that they will be as spoils, I shall
bring them there and they will know the land which you despised.”

Note that each time a census was
taken the women were not counted.

In Parshat Pinchas, after the census
we read (Bamidbar 26:65) “For God said to them, ‘They will surely die in the
wilderness,’ and not a man was left of them, except for Calev ben Yefuneh and
Yehoshua bin Nun.

It is interesting to note that the
women were not mentioned.

Rashi points out that the decree was
not issued against the women since they cherished the land. The men said to
each other (Bamidbar 14:4), “let us appoint a leader and we will return to
Egypt” while the women (the daughters of Tzelophchad) said (Bamidbar 27:4) “give
us possession!” According to Sifre, 16, this is why the chapter of the
daughters of Tzelophchad is adjacent here.

The men were the ones who said
(Bamidbar 14:2-3) “…If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had
died in the wilderness! Why is God bringing us to this Land to die by the sword?
Our wives and young children will be taken captive! Is it not better to return
to Egypt?”

We see from here, that just like the
spies, the men were not interested in inheriting the Land of Israel and therefore
they did not merit to live there. The women, who normally would not have
inherited their own plots of land were given special permission to inherit in
the case where they had no brothers.

We learn from here that none of the
women died in the wilderness and even those who were older than sixty entered
the land with the younger generation.

This Shabbat in Israel we will read
the Haftara about Eliyahu HaNavi from Melachim Alef (Kings I) 18:46-19:21. This
Haftara will not be read outside of Israel this year, as next Shabbat when
Parshat Pinchas will be read outside of Israel, we will be observing the three
weeks leading up to Tisha B’Av and the prophecies of destruction will be read.

 In our Haftara, God shows Eliyahu a vision
which according to Ralbag is meant to rebuke Eliyahu for having criticized
Israel in harsh terms saying that they deserved to be punished. God’s vision
will show Eliyahu that instead of wishing to punish the people, He is showing
them patience and compassion, giving them time to repent. From this vision,
Eliyahu should learn that his role should be to pray for them, not attack them.

The vision is found in Melachim Alef
19:11-12 “The word of God said, ‘Go out of the cave and stand on the mountain
before God.’ And behold, God was passing and a great and powerful wind,
smashing mountains and breaking rocks went before God. ‘God is not in the
wind!’ Eliyahu was told. After the wind came an earthquake. ‘God is not in the
earthquake’. After the earthquake came a fire. ‘God is not in the fire’. After
the fire came a still, thin voice.”

The lesson that Eliyahu learns is
found in sentences 13-14 “It happened when Eliyahu heard this, he wrapped his
face in his mantle and went out and stood by the cave’s entrance; and behold, a
voice spoke unto him and said ‘Why are you here Eliyahu?’ He said ‘I have acted
with great zeal for God, the God of Legions, for the Children of Israel have
forsaken Your covenant; they have razed Your alters and have killed your
prophets by the sword so that I alone have remained and they now seek to take
my life.”

According to Ralbag, God showed
Eliyahu three destructive forces through which he could have punished Israel,
as the prophet thought he should. But each time, God told him that his desire
was neither in the wind, the earthquake nor the fire for he did not wish to
destroy Israel despite the severity of their misdeeds.

According to Malbim, God meant to
teach Eliyahu and other prophets and leaders that the preferable way to teach
people is calmly and lovingly, not through anger and force as Eliyahu had done
by bringing the drought and killing the prophets of Baal.

At this point a new prophet is
chosen to replace Eliyahu. According to Rashi, since Eliyahu still wanted to
punish Israel, even after this vision, God did not want him to continue as a
prophet.

We can learn from this story that
our leaders and rabbis should not give fire and brimstone speeches to try to
convince the nation to follow the Torah. Rather, they should teach with loving kindness
and serve as role models that the nation will want to emulate. If they are
unable to lead in the manner prescribed by God, then they would be better off
leaving their positions of leadership.

This Shabbat, we read the first of
the Three Haftarot of Retribution which are read during the three weeks of
mourning for the Beit HaMikdash (Temple).

In Yirmiyahu 1:11-12 we read:

And the word of God came to me
saying:

Yirmiyahu, what do you see?

And I said,

I see a rod (makel) of an almond
tree (shaked)

Then God said,

You have seen well;

For I watch over (shaked) my words
to perform it.

What does the image of a rod of an
almond tree signify?

A rod is associated with beating. Bilam
used a rod to beat his donkey in last week’s Parsha. Unfortunately, even in the
last generation it was considered acceptable in some parts of the world
including some schools in Europe and the United States for teachers to strike
students who were misbehaving with a ruler.

Radak explains that the retribution
would come quickly to Israel, just as the almond trees blossom first in the
spring (as we know from the famous Tu Bishvat song “Hashkedia porachat…”)

In Kohelet Raba 12:5 we learn:

Just as the almond tree takes 21
days to produce its fruit after it blossoms, so every decree (all of the
catastrophes that befell Israel) took no longer than 21 days (from the 17^th
of Tamuz to the 9^th of Av).

Shaked does not just mean almond, it
also means to watch over.

Even during the catastrophes, God
was watching over the Jewish people and pushing to end the retribution as
quickly as possible.

May these three weeks of retribution
pass quickly and may the Jewish people unite and fulfill Yirmiyahu’s prophecy
to rebuild and make amends. 

This Shabbat we read the first of the three Haftarot of
affliction which are read between the 17^th of Tamuz (the day that
the walls of Jerusalem were breached) and the 9^th of Av (the day of the destruction of both
the First and Second Temples).

The Haftara from Yirmiyahu 1:1-19, 2:1-3 describes the
consequences that would be visited upon Israel in response to its
sinfulness.

The famous verse (Yirmiyahu 1:14) “…Out of the north the
evil shall break forth upon the inhabitants of the land” is as relevant today
as it was in the days of Yirmiyahu.

The name of the northern country that will attack Israel is
not specified here or in Yirmiyahu 4:6 “Set up the standard toward Zion: seek
cover, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north and a great destruction”
or in Yirmiyahu 6:1 “O children of Binyamin, flee for safety out if the midst
of Yerushalayim and blow the shofar of Tekoa and set up a beacon in Bet
HaKerem: for evil appears out of the north and great destruction.”

The wording is ambiguous on purpose to foreshadow what will
happen in the future as well. In the days of Yirmiyahu the enemy was
Nevuchadnezar the king of Bavel (Babylonia) who destroyed the First Temple.

Yet throughout the ages different enemies from different
countries came from the north to try to destroy us.

Today, Israel
is preparing their weapons in the event that they will have to fight with ISIS
(Islamic State of Iraq and Syria).
ISIS has control of territory occupied by ten million people in Iraq and Syria,
both countries are to the north of Israel.

In addition, it was reported that the president of Iran (another country to the north of Israel), Hassan Rouhani said that in honor of today’s
holiday of Qods Day, Iran
should shout its hatred of Israel.

The prophecies of destruction continue to haunt us. However,
we must focus on the end of the Haftara, a positive statement from Yirmiyahu
2:2-3 “…I remember for your sake the kindness of your youth, the love of your
bridal days, your following Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel is sacred unto God, the first of his grain; all who devour him shall bear
guilt, evil shall come upon them- the word of God.”

Just as the Jewish nation followed God into the desert, the
Jews again have trusted in God and against all odds have returned to the Land of Israel. With a strong army and our faith
in God we don’t have anything to fear.

Do Not Rejoice When Your Enemy Falls

At the end of Parshat Balak (Bamidbar 25 :7-8), in the midst
of a plague which was brought about from B’nai Yisrael acting promiscuous and
worshipping idols with the Moavite women, Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the
grandson of Aharon the Kohen saw the leader of the tribe of Shimon and the
daughter of the king of Midian acting promiscuously. Pinchas rose up, took a
spear in his hand, followed the Israelite man into the tent and pierced them both…and
the plague was halted from upon B’nai Yisrael.

At the beginning of Parshat Pinchas we read (Bamidbar
25:10-13): “God spoke to Moshe saying: ‘Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the son of
Aharon the Kohen turned back my anger from upon B’nai Yisrael, when he
zealously avenged My vengeance among them, so that I did not consume B’nai
Yisrael with My vengeance. Therefore tell him that I give him My covenant of
peace. It shall be for him and his descendents after him a covenant of eternal
kehunah (priesthood) because he took vengeance for his God and he atoned for
B’nai Yisrael.’”

Nechama Leibowitz points out that the Rabbis of the
Jerusalem Talmud state that the religious leaders at the time were not happy
with what Pinchas did and wanted to excommunicate him. Therefore God
immediately declared that Pinchas did the right thing.

According to Rabbi Baruch Epstein, author of Torah Temima,
the religious leaders wanted to make sure that Pinchas did not have a selfish
motive when he murdered the couple. God therefore backed up Pinchas and said
that his zeal was genuine.

Rav Kook explains that when it was time to write the
blessing V’Limalshinim (Against Heritics) for the Shmoneh Esrei they needed to
choose a Talmudic sage who loved his fellow creatures rather than a hateful
person in order to insure that it would be written with the purest of motives
and for the sake of Heaven as it is a blessing of vengeance: “And for the
slanderers let there be no hope; and may all wickedness perish in an instant;
and may all Your enemies be cut down speedily. My you speedily uproot, smash,
cast down and humble the wanton sinners- speedily in our days. Blessed are You
God Who breaks enemies and humbles wanton sinners.”

The person who was chosen to write the blessing was the
Talmudic sage known as Shmuel HaKatan (Shmuel the Modest) who teaches in Pirkei
Avot 4:19 a quote from Mishlei 24:17-18: “Rejoice not when your enemy falls and
let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the Lord see it and it
displeases Him and He turn away His wrath from him.”

Pinchas and Shmuel HaKatan were not looking for honor, they
were selfless people who did what they needed to for the sake of Heaven.

The Jewish people today still follow the words of Mishlei
that are quoted by Shmuel HaKatan. We do not rejoice at the downfall of our
enemies. At the Pesach seder we remove a drop of wine as we recite each plague
to remember that even after all of the horrible things that the Egyptians did
to us, we do not rejoice at their downfall. When our enemies die or are killed
in wars we do not celebrate. The IDF continues to try to keep the casualties of
war to a minimum. We are not looking to celebrate the downfall of those who
want to destroy us, we are just trying to protect ourselves.

God gives Pinchas a covenant of peace. According to
Abravanel, God protects Pinchas from the relatives of Zimri who may want to
kill him as an act of revenge.

According to the Netziv, the covenant of peace is that
Pinchas should not become quick tempered and angry. His heart should not be in
an emotional unrest after having killed two people, rather he should have peace
and tranquility of the soul.

We pray for peace in the Land of Israel and throughout the world.