Pinchas
Be a fundamentalist. Fundamentally good. Fundamentally holy. Fundamentally divine.
Pinchas is a zealot for goodness, doing whatever it takes to make the world better. It is rewarding. Moses counts the people – around 600,000 souls strong – and divides up the sacred real estate of the Holy Land. The daughters of Tzlofchod receive their legacy and the laws of inheritance are documented. Joshua is Moses’ successor. The Torah recounts daily offerings, the offerings of the new month, and the festival offerings, those of Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret.
Zealots, Radicals and Peace
We need a zealot today. Not a murderous zealot but a zealot of peace. A true Pinchas that will rise and defy conventional thinking.
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How Much Does Your Lineage Matter?
Free will remains the unwavering foundation of life. Nothing—neither good nor bad pedigree—impedes our free choice. True, lineage can help a person, just as other personality traits may create more conducive conditions; but we all have our strengths and our challenges to overcome.
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Lead or Leash?
Explaining the Talmudic prediction that in the days before the coming of Moshiach “The face (the leadership) of the generation will have the face of a dog”
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Life in the Regular
The Torah delegates various aspects of our relationship with G-d to “appointed times” but we should also endeavor to make “every day an appointed time”.
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Defying Space & Time
Unpacking the miracle of space in the Ark in the Holy Temple and the significance of time in the banquet that is our world.
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The Zealot
The Torah introduces Pinchas in Parshat Pinchas with the lineage of Aaron and not of his father Jethro, which explains why his murderous act is peaceful.
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Two Problems
A story of two disciples of the Maggid and their two contending troubles – sin and mitzvah. One can repent for the former but what of the latter?
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The Pleasure Principle
Idolatry is the deification of an object/force of the created reality: explaining the deeper significance of the idolatry of Baal Peor, and Pinchas’ success
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The Intimate Estrangement
Linking G-d’s bond with the Jews as a marriage with the ten haftarot called “the Three of Rebuke and the Seven of Consolation” in explaining the galut/exile.
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