Engaging our children in the parsha

The following are some suggestions of ideas for conversations with our children by the Shabbos meals. The key here is to get the children involved through debate and stimulation.

Pinchos the Jewish Hero:

Have you ever read a book or seen a movie that is about a hero who against all the odds manages to destroy evil and come out alive and victorious? For the Torah version of such a story we find it in Parshas Pinchos. Pinchos was the Jewish hero! He went to kill a Nosi, leader, of the tribe of Shimon putting his life in constant danger. The whole tribe of Shimon were surrounding their leader Zimri’s tent while he was performing a sin marrying a non-Jewish woman, a Midyonaite called Kosbi. Pinchos had to hide his weapon and bluff his way to actually get to the tent of the leader and then had to escape. The difficulty lay in the fact that he did not simply want to kill them but wanted to escape with the bodies of the sinners!

The Targum Yonason (end of Parshas Bolok) brings twelve miracles that had to happen to ensure that Pinchos could accomplish his mission and survive unharmed. Imagine you were carrying a very heavy weight on a thin stick what is the normal thing to happen? The heavy weight could break the stick. Over time your arms would start feeling tired and the weight would start dropping.  Now let us imagine what happened by Pinchos. He had to discuss his weapon by removing the sharp metal end and pretending to need the assistance of the stick. He then needed to get to the tent that was situation amongst the tribe of Shimon who were protecting their leader. Then he needed to kill them in the act and they could have screamed for help. Hashem made miracles here that they did not scream for help and he managed to lift two adults onto a small spear without it breaking and managed to keep holding their weight without tiring. He exited the tent and the opening was raised to let him out. Then all the tribe of shimon outside the tent needed to be distracted and they needed to be kept alive so that their blood would not make Pinchos tomai.

Counting the Jews – the uncountables!

Have you ever been on an outing in school. Every so often the children are all rounded up and counted. Why? To make sure that no one is missing since each child is precious and loved. In Parshas Pinchos the Jews are counted. Hashem knows the number of the Jews. Why then count them? The answer is that it is for our benefit. It is to show our each Jew is precious to Hashem.

Have you ever been in a shul where there are not so many people and it comes time for davening. They need to count how many people to ensure that there are ten people over bar mitzva to make the minyan. What do they do? They do not count in numbers but say a possuk of Hoshiya es amecho etc. Why? This possuk has ten words in it and …

Counting means that people change into numbers. When you count 1,2,3… you are saying that it is 1+1+1… meaning that it is the same thing again and again added together. (This is what the Nazis ym”s wanted to do by tattooing a number on the Jews and only calling them by their number and not their name. A name describes a person’s essence, something that is unique to each individual.) In the count of the Jews they are named. In addition, they are called with the additional two letters of Hashem’s Name around their name to show how they are pure and connected to Hashem. (see Rashi 26:5)

Rabbeinu Bichai (26:51) points out that not all the Jews were counted! This is because the count only included those people who were above the age of twenty and fit to go to the army. However, those not fit for the army as well as the elders, women and babies were not counted. The reason for this is that counting means things are limited and finite. This is why they can be counted. However, the Jews were blessed to be as plentiful as the stars, earth and sand that are too numerous to be counted. This is in the end the count is not a count of all the Jews. Rather it is a count to find the number of people eligible to get a portion in Eretz Yisroel and then divided the land amongst this number. The lesson is that Jews are uncountable!

How to pick a leader?

When a king or queen dies, who becomes the new monarch? The prince or princess or the nearest relative. When Aaron dies, his son becomes the next Kohen Godol, High Priest. Why then when it comes to picking a new leader is Yehoshua and not one of Moshe’s sons chosen as the new leader?

Ask yourself: what characteristics would you look for in a leader? …