[Avodah] Pinechas and Benos Tzlafchad

[Micha Berger]

Two very different thoughts. The first I wondered about ever since learning
Yehoshua -- how did Pinechas haKohein have a nachalah?

The second is about an archaological find that pausibly points to the descendents
of two of benos Tzelafachad.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             If you won't be better tomorrow
micha at aishdas.org        than you were today,
http://www.aishdas.org   then what need do you have for tomorrow?
Fax: (270) 514-1507              - Rebbe Nachman of Breslov


: Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:36:28 +0200
: From: Shabbat BeShabbato <shabbat.beshabbato at gmail.com>
: Subject: Shabbat-B'Shabbato ? Parshat Pinchas
: To: dan at zomet.org

:         No 1330: 21 Tammuz 5770 (3 July 2010)

: INSIGHTS FOR THE SHABBAT TABLE
: by Bar-on Dasberg

: Can a Kohen Receive a Heritage?

: There are various interpretations about exactly what G-d promised Pinchas as
: a reward, "And he and his children after him will have a covenant of eternal
: priesthood" [Bamidbar 25:13]. After all, the priesthood had already been
: promised to Aharon and his children in any case.

: Here is a novel explanation. Throughout the Tanach, the memorial that a
: person leaves after his death is that his descendents continue to live at
: the site of his heritage. An exception to this rule is the tribe of Levi,
: who do not have their own heritage, but "G-d... is their heritage" [Yehoshua
: 13:33]. However, in the last verse in Yehoshua it is written, "And Elazar
: Ben Aharon died, and he was buried in the hill of his son Pinchas, which was
: given to him on the Mountain of Efraim" [24:33]. How did Pinchas, a Kohen,
: become the owner of a hill?

: Most of the covenants in the Tanach involve two subjects: descendents and
: the land. And the "covenant of eternal priesthood" means that his children
: will be given a heritage, as opposed to the other Kohanim, who have a
: promise of an eternal "covenant of salt" [Bamidbar 18:19]. This latter has
: no link to agricultural products ? that is, no land is involved. This is
: reminiscent of the verse, "Sulfur and salt burned the entire land, nothing
: can be planted, nothing will grow, and grass will never grow there" [Devarim
: 29:22].
...
: Where was the Heritage of Tzlofchad's Daughters?

: The remains at Shomron include some clay tablets containing ancient shipping
: documentation. Two areas that are mentioned in these documents are called
: "Noa" and "Chogla" ? the names of two of the daughters of Tzlofchad. The
: possibility that the heritage of the daughters is in the Shomron, to the
: west of the Jordan River, corresponds to what is written, "the daughters of
: Menasheh received a heritage among his sons, and the land of Gilad was given
: to the remaining children of Menasheh" [Yehoshua 17:6].

: Perhaps this was a direct result of what happened earlier, "And Machala,
: Tirza, Chogla, Milka, and Noa ? the daughters of Tzlofchad ? married their
: cousins" [Bamidbar 36:11]. The family ties between the two sides of the
: Jordan made sure that the inhabitants of Gilad would not become separated
: from the rest of the nation.
...
: SHABBAT-ZOMET is an extract from SHABBAT-B'SHABBATO, a weekly bulletin
: distributed free of charge in hundreds of synagogues in Israel. It is
: published by the Zomet Institute of Alon Shevut, Israel, under the auspices
: of the National Religious Party.
:     Translated by: Moshe Goldberg
: To subscribe, write to dan at zomet.org.