Parshah Summary – P’sha
The parshah opens with Hashem seeming to reward Aaron’s grandson, Pinhas, for a murderous act of zealotry. In the midst of a plague caused by an idolatrous orgy between the Israelite men and Midianite women, a prince from the tribe of Shimon named Zimri, along with his partner, a Midianite princess named Cozbi, is killed by Pinhas at the end of the last parshah. Ironically, Pinhas reward is that he receives God’s Brit Shalom – “Covenant of Peace.”
In preparation for war with the Midianites, a census is then taken of men eligible for battle between the ages of twenty and sixty, numbering 601,730. Moses is then instructed on how the Land is to be divided by lottery among the tribes and families of Israel. The five daughters of Tzelofhad come forward and petition Moses that they be granted the portion of land belonging to their father, who died without sons; Hashem accepts their claim and incorporates it into the Torah’s laws of inheritance. Next, Moses is told to ascend a hill and view the Land, after which he will die, a consequence of striking the rock to draw forth water. Moses then empowers Joshua to succeed him by placing his hands upon him, which is the origin of s’miha, the ordination of rabbis and other Jewish spiritual leaders today. The parshah then concludes with a detailed list of the daily offerings, along with the additional (Musaf) offerings brought on Shabbat, Rosh Hodesh (first of the month), and the festivals of Pesakh, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Sh’mini Atzeret.
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:צַ֚ו אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְאָֽמַרְתָּ֖ אֲלֵהֶ֑ם אֶת־קָרְבָּנִ֨י לַחְמִ֜י לְאִשַּׁ֗י רֵ֚יחַ נִֽיחֹחִ֔י תִּשְׁמְר֕וּ לְהַקְרִ֥יב לִ֖י בְּמֽוֹעֲדֽוֹ Command the children of Israel and say to them, “My offerings, My food for My fires, My satisfying aroma, you shall take care to offer Me in its special time… - Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:2; Parshat Pinhas
There are two different kinds of discomfort: the first is like when you stub your toe. It happens suddenly, and once it happens, you are going to feel pain; there is no choice involved. The pain is most intense right away, and then the discomfort gradually decreases over time. The second is like when someone is talking at you when you want to be doing something else; you can get away any time you choose, but you don’t, probably because you don’t want to be impolite. In this case, the discomfort increases over time.
To be conscious in the presence of either of these forms of discomfort, they require two different responses. The first requires simple acceptance; there is no way to escape the intense pain once you stub your toe. This is also true for other kinds of discomfort, such as chronic pain; we can take steps to alleviate it, but in the moment that it is present, we either accept it or we add the pain of emotional resistance on top of the physical pain. The second requires conscious choice about when to stay in the discomfort (and keep listening to the person talk at you), and when to walk away (gracefully of course, and with a kind word). And yet, we often confuse these two situations. We can trick ourselves into thinking we’re “trapped” by someone talking at us, and not realize that we have a choice. When we finally escape, we might be angry: “How could they keep talking at me like that! How insensitive!” And yet, we could have left any time; we don’t take responsibility for the power that is ours, and instead blame someone outside ourselves for our experience. Or, we lament and complain about some discomfort that we can’t control, when the only true path is to simply accept it; it has already happened, we have no control – so why be in conflict with it? קָרְבָּנִ֨י לַחְמִ֜י לְאִשַּׁ֗י – My offerings, My food for My fires… When we draw our awareness into our discomfort, it becomes “food” for our awareness, because awareness is strengthened by being present with whatever we tend to resist – this is a key aspect of meditation. There is a hint in the word for “My offering” – קָרְבָּנִי korbani, which is a form of the root קרב koof-reish-bet, which means “close,” “intimate,” “interior,” or “on the inside.” The practice is to bring our awareness into intimate connection with the discomfort. The magic is that even though you are being aware of something unpleasant, the attitude of openness ultimately transmutes emotional discomfort into connection with the Divine, with Reality, with our own innermost being, which are all ultimately the same thing. רֵיחַ נִֽיחֹחִי reiakh nihohi – “pleasing aroma…” In the second type of discomfort, which comes from situations which we do have the power to change, there is a “sweetness” when we claim our own power, make a conscious choice, and not blame others. בְּמֽוֹעֲדֽוֹ b’mo-ado – “in its special time…” Our response to these different kinds of discomfort must be done in their proper times – meaning, our response has to be in alignment with the reality of our situation. Is it time to simply accept, or is it time to act? Notice the inner tendency to lean away from your own power, or to lean into resisting what has already happened. The key is being aware of what we’re doing; then we can simply lean in the other direction, and come back into balance. Once, when Reb Yisrael of Rizhyn was sitting casually with his hasidim and smoking his pipe, one of them asked, “Rebbe, please tell, me – how can I truly serve Hashem?” “How should I know?” he replied, “But I'll tell you: once there were two friends who broke the law and were brought before the king. The king was fond of them and wanted to acquit them, but he couldn’t just let them off the hook completely without appearing weak. So, the king had a tight rope extended over a deep pit. He told the friends, ‘If you can get to the other side of the pit on the tightrope, you can go free.’ The first set his foot on the rope and quickly scampered across. The second called to his friend, ‘How did you do it?’ ‘How should I know?’ said the first, ‘But I’ll tell you – when I started to fall toward one side, I just leaned a little to the other side...’”
Read past teachings on Pinhas HERE
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