6:05pm - Havdalah, Saturday
(Melbourne Australia)
Good Shabbos!
This Shabbat is Shabbat Mevarchim ("the Shabbat that blesses" the new month): a special prayer is recited blessing the Rosh Chodesh ("Head of the Month") of the upcoming month of Av (also called "Menachem Av"), which falls on Shabbat of next week.
Prior to the blessing, we announce the precise time of the molad, the "birth" of the new moon. See molad times.
Please click here to view the Yeshivah Shule Tzetel for Shabbos Parshas Pinchos. Please click here to view the PDFs of Weekly Publications.
PARSHAH IN A NUTSHELL
Numbers 25:10–30:1
The name of the Parshah, "Pinchas," refers to Phineas, who zealously avenged G‑d's name, and it is found in Numbers 25:11.
Aaron's grandson Pinchas is rewarded for his act of zealotry in killing the Simeonite prince Zimri and the Midianite princess who was his paramour: G‑d grants him a covenant of peace and the priesthood.
A census of the people counts 601,730 men between the ages of twenty and sixty. Moses is instructed on how the Land is to be divided by lottery among the tribes and families of Israel. The five daughters of Tzelafchad petition Moses that they be granted the portion of the land belonging to their father, who died without sons; G‑d accepts their claim and incorporates it into the Torah's laws of inheritance.
Moses empowers Joshua to succeed him and lead the people into the Land of Israel.
The Parshah concludes with a detailed list of the daily offerings, and the additional offerings brought on Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh (first of the month), and the festivals of Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret.
HAFTORAH IN A NUTSHELL
When Shabbat Parshat Pinchas falls out during the Three Weeks of mourning for Jerusalem, between the fasts of 17 Tammuz and 9 Av as is the case this week, we read a special haftorah which is the first of a series of three "haftorot of affliction" instead of the above one.
Jeremiah 1:1-2:3
Jeremiah recounts how G‑d appointed him as prophet — despite his initial reluctance to accept the task — and tells of the encouragement G‑d gave him to fulfill his crucial mission.
He then describes two prophetic visions he was shown. The first featured an almond tree branch. G‑d explained to Jeremiah that just like an almond tree is very quick to blossom, so too G‑d will carry out his plan — to punish the Jews for their sins — in due haste.
The second vision was that of a boiling pot whose foam was directed northward. G‑d explained that this was an allusion to the afflictions the Jewish people would suffer at the hands of the people from the north of the Holy Land, namely Babylon. G‑d will cause the kingdoms of the north to lay siege on Jerusalem and Judea and He will pass judgment on the Jewish people due to their abandonment of G‑d's ways and their idol worship.
G‑d then encouraged Jeremiah to deliver the prophecy and not to fear the Jewish populace who would certainly not take kindly to such harsh words.
The haftorah ends with a reassuring prophecy to the people: "Go and call out in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: so said G‑d: 'I remember to you the loving-kindness of your youth, the love of your nuptials, your following Me in the desert, in a land not sown. Israel is holy to G‑d, the first of His grain; all who eat him shall be guilty, evil shall befall them, says G‑d.'"
SAGES ON THE PARSHAH
Pinchas the son of Elazar the son of Aaron (Numbers 25:10)
Why does G‑d refer to Pinchas as "the son of Elazar the son of Aaron"? Because the tribes of Israel were mocking him, saying, "Have you seen this son of the fattener, whose mother's father (Jethro) fattened calves for idolatrous sacrifices, and now he goes and kills a prince in Israel?" Therefore, G‑d traces his lineage to Aaron.
(Talmud, Sanhedrin 82b)
Few professions are as cruel and inhumane as the fattening of calves for slaughter. So when Pinchas slew Zimri, many said: "Look at this holy zealot! He acts as if motivated by the desire to avenge the honor of G‑d and save the people, but in truth he has merely found a holy outlet for his cruel and violent nature. After all, it's in his blood—just look at his maternal grandfather . . ." So G‑d described him as "Pinchas the son of Elazar the son of Aaron" in order to attest that in character and temperament he actually took after his paternal grandfather—the compassionate and peace-loving Aaron.
The true greatness of Pinchas lay in that he acted in complete opposition to his nature, transcending his inborn instincts to bring peace between G‑d and Israel.
(The Lubavitcher Rebbe)
https://w2.chabad.org/media/pdf/112643.pdf
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