RJ Blog

This week’s Torah portion, Pinchas (Numbers 25:10 – 30:1), picks up where last week’s portion, Balak, leaves off. In last week’s portion, Pinchas followed an Israelite “notable” and a Midianite woman into their tent and murdered them.  In the beginning of this week’s portion, named for Pinchas, we learn that he was rewarded with hereditary priesthood. Pinchas’s story presents an interesting dilemma for modern readers to wrestle with. Yet it didn’t shout at me “write about this!” so I read on. The parashah continues with the taking of a census of every male over twenty. The purpose of the census [...]