Pinchas 5774

“The perpetual burnt offering, which was made at Mount Sinai for a pleasant aroma, a fire offering to the L-rd.” (Bamidbar/Numbers 28:6)

This week’s Torah portion includes a list of sacrifices brought on various occasions to the Holy Temple. The first sacrifice mentioned is korban tamid (literally, perpetual sacrifice, or daily sacrifice). It is brought to the Temple every day, in the morning and in the evening, even on Shabbat and Yom Kippur. 

Why is Mount Sinai mentioned when Torah gives the mitzvah (commandment) of korban tamid?

Rabbi Yissocher Frand provides an explanation on torah.org:

The very first korban tamid was offered at Mount Sinai. As with all first-time events, it was done with enthusiasm and excitement. G-d then commanded in Torah that this sacrifice should be made every day, twice a day. How much enthusiasm and excitement could such a sacrifice generate, when it no longer is a novelty but an everyday event? By recalling the Sinai experience, Torah reminds us that we should never perform mitzvot (commandments) by rote, no matter how often we perform them. Torah urges us to find inspiration, even when the novelty has worn off.  

In Tehillim (Psalms) 27:4, Dovid haMelech (King David) says, “I asked one thing from G-d…to dwell in the House of G-d all the days of my life, and to visit His Palace.” The requests seem mutually exclusive. How can Dovid have it both ways, be a resident as well as a visitor? He wants a permanent residence in G-d’s House, but he also wants to feel like he is only temporarily visiting so that the experience will feel special and retain its novelty. This should be our approach when we perform mitzvot we have done so many times before, such as donning tefillin or taking challah. We should be “at home” with the familiar mitzvah, but “visit” it so it feels fresh and inspiring.

As parents, we are enthusiastic and excited when the oldest of our children has a first. We eagerly document all the milestones -- first tooth, first word, first step, first day of school. With the second child we are slightly less enthusiastic and our excitement tends to decrease, though we try not to let it show. With subsequent children, it becomes harder and harder to muster up enthusiasm for these firsts. However, no matter how many times we have witnessed our other children’s firsts, we must approach our younger children’s milestones with the same enthusiasm we conveyed when our older children experienced the same firsts.

http://torah.org/learning/ravfrand/5770/pinchas.html

Pinchas 5772

In this week’s parsha G-d tells Moshe to apportion the Land to each of the tribes as an inheritance. The five daughters of Tzlaphchad petition Moshe: “Our father died in the desert…and he had no sons…Give us a portion along with our father’s brothers.” The Midrash tells that the daughters’ request inspires Moshe to ask G-d to designate his two sons as his successor. (Later in the parsha, G-d appoints Yehoshua (Joshua) instead.)

It appears as if Tzlafchad’s daughters ask for material possessions while Moshe asks for spiritual continuity. What relationship is there between the two requests?

To answer, we must know who Tzlaphchad is. The parsha tells us he is the great-great-grandson of Menashe, who was Yosef’s (Joseph’s) son. Tzlaphchad dies in the desert in the second year after the Exodus from Egypt, 38 years before this week’s parsha takes place.

There is a conflicting opinion in Talmud about Tzlapchad’s identity and the reason he dies. Rabbi Akiva (Shabbat 96a) professes that Tzlaphchad purposely violates Shabbat and is killed to show the Israelites they need to observe the mitzvot (commandments) in the desert. Rabbi Judah ben Betaira maintains that Tzlaphchad tries to go with a group to Canaan after G-d decrees his generation’s death in the desert. The group perishes at the hands of the Canaanites and Amalekites.

Writes Rabbi Naftali Silberberg on chabad.org: “[Tzlaphchad and his group] died because of their love for the Holy Land. Their love was so intense that it blinded their senses causing them to disregard Moses’ stern admonition that their mission was not sanctioned by G-d and would not succeed.”

Rabbi Silberberg contends that Tzlaphchad’s daughters’ request for a portion carried on their father’s legacy, the extreme love of the Land of Israel. Therefore, writes Rabbi A.L. Scheinbaum citing Horav Mordechai Rogov, Tzlaphchad’s daughters’ request was not motivated by material needs; rather it was spiritual in nature and focused on Jewish continuity and survival.

The daughters fear that if they are forced to live elsewhere, their father’s memory and traditions will not be transmitted to his descendants. Although Tzlaphchad dies for acting on his principles and he doesn’t live to know his grown daughters, nearly four decades after his demise his ideals live on with them. 

As parents, if we want our children to share our values, we must translate our values into actions. If we wish our children to carry on our Jewish traditions, we must actively engage in the rituals and practices of our religion. If we desire our children to love the Land of Israel, then we must take them to Israel and become at home there.