Torah Portion of the Week

Pinchas פינחס

Numbers 25:10–30:1

Parshat Pinchas opens with God rewarding Pinchas for his zealous act that stopped the plague: he receives a 'covenant of peace' and an eternal covenant of priesthood. God commands vengeance against the Midianites. A second census is taken — 601,730 men of military age, the next generation who will enter the Land. The five daughters of Zelophehad make legal history, successfully claiming their father's inheritance and establishing daughters' inheritance rights. Moses is told to ascend Mount Abarim to view the Land he will not enter, and he commissions Joshua as his successor by laying his hands upon him before the entire congregation. The parsha's second half is the comprehensive catalogue of communal offerings: the daily tamid, the additional (musaf) offerings of Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret.


Locations in the Parsha

Biblical Places

Map of the Parsha

Biblical Locations


Section by Section

Parsha Outline


Prophetic Reading

Haftarah הפטרה

I Kings 18:46–19:21

מלכים א

Elijah's zealotry for God parallels Pinchas' zealous act. God tells Elijah 'I have been very zealous for the Lord' — the same quality rewarded in Pinchas with the covenant of peace.




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