Marcia Berneger

This week’s Torah Parasha, Pinchas, is all about family. We’ll start with a quick history lesson. In the first book of the Torah, we’re introduced to the families of several important people: 1) Abraham and his wife, Sarah, 2) their son, Isaac, who marries Rebecca, and 3) Isaac’s son Jacob. Jacob marries two women, which was okay back then, and winds up with twelve sons (and a daughter). It is the families of those twelve sons who appear, many years later, in this week’s reading. God is about to divide up the land among these different families. Moses is told to make a list of the different members of each family. This is such an important idea, that this entire parasha is mainly a listing of those names. (Marcia Berneger)

Moses and Aaron leave to chat with God. They are given a rod and told to hold it up to a nearby rock, telling the people that God will provide water for them from that rock. What happens next is a surprise. Whether Moses is angry with the people for their constant complaining, or he isn’t quite sure if God will send the water flowing, or both, Moses strikes the rock and the water appears. Now God is the angry One. And the punishment for not following God’s directions is severe. Neither Moses nor Aaron will be allowed to go into the Promised Land of Israel. [Marcia Berneger]