Torah Portion

Pinchas

פינחס

Numbers 25:10-30:1
First Kings 18:46-19:21

King Hazael of Aram-Damascus Subjugates Israel, 9th Century B.C.E.

King Hazael of Aram-Damascus Subjugates Israel, 9th Century B.C.E.

The Bible presents Hazael as a cruel and powerful enemy, who devastated Israelite and Philistine cities, forcing Jerusalem’s King Joash to empty the Temple coffers to save his city. Archaeology helps us to reconstruct his military campaigns and their impact on the Levant.

Dr.
Assaf Kleiman
TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com

Is Atonement Possible Without Blood? A Jewish-Christian Divide

Is Atonement Possible Without Blood? A Jewish-Christian Divide

Blood has a significant role in many biblical stories and rituals, most prominently in the atonement sacrifices of Leviticus. With the destruction of the Temple and the loss of sacrifices, Judaism and Christianity took very different paths to achieving atonement.

Prof.
Marc Zvi Brettler
TheGemara.com
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Prof.
Amy-Jill Levine
TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com

Manasseh’s Genealogies: Why They Change Between Numbers, Joshua, and Chronicles

Manasseh’s Genealogies: Why They Change Between Numbers, Joshua, and Chronicles

The genealogy of the tribe of Manasseh appears in Numbers 26 and again in Joshua 17 with slight differences. It appears a third time, in 1 Chronicles 7, wholly reconceived, highlighting how certain biblical genealogies represent tribal kinship patterns that shift over time.

Prof.
Aaron Demsky
TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com

The Daughters of Zelophehad: A Historical-Geographical Approach

The Daughters of Zelophehad: A Historical-Geographical Approach

The Samaria ostraca and a close look at biblical verses help us locate Mahlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah, in the territory of Manasseh.

Prof.
Aaron Demsky
TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com

Sedition at Moab: Josephus’ Reading of the Phinehas Story

Sedition at Moab: Josephus’ Reading of the Phinehas Story

The Torah describes Phinehas as a zealot, who kills Zimri in an act of vigilante fervor, and is rewarded by God with eternal priesthood. Anticipating the rabbis’ discomfort with Phinehas’ vigilantism, Josephus transforms Phinehas into a military general and Zimri’s sin into a dangerous sedition requiring a military response.

Dr.
Yonatan Miller
TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com

Sukkot’s Seventy Bulls

Sukkot’s Seventy Bulls

The Torah’s adaptation of a polytheistic ancient West-Semitic custom of sacrificing to seventy gods.

Dr.
Noga Ayali-Darshan
TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com
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Which Sacrificial Offerings Require Libations?

Which Sacrificial Offerings Require Libations?

A burnt offering (olah), described as “sweet smelling” food for YHWH, always includes grain and wine libation “side-dishes,” constituting a complete meal. A purification offering (chattat), however, is a cleansing ritual. Should it also have an accompanying libation? The Masoretic Text of Numbers 28-29 offers an inconsistent answer that differs from that of the Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch.

Dr.
Naphtali Meshel
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TheGemara.com
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Joshua Is Appointed Leader Three Times: But Is He in Charge?

Joshua Is Appointed Leader Three Times: But Is He in Charge?

Before Moses dies, he asks God for a leader who will “come and go” before the people. God’s response is unequivocal: appoint Joshua. Nevertheless, as the narrative continues, God places Joshua under Elazar the priest, a clear sign of later redaction. When was this change made and why?

Dr. Rabbi
Zev Farber
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TheGemara.com
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Pinchas’ Extrajudicial Execution of Zimri and Cozbi

Pinchas’ Extrajudicial Execution of Zimri and Cozbi

Pinchas is portrayed as a hero in the Torah and Second Temple sources for killing Zimri and his Midianite lover, Cozbi. Rabbinic sources struggle with the absence of any juridical process or deliberative body, which contravenes their own judicial norms, and therefore recast or minimize his act in subtle ways.

Dr.
David Bernat
TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com

Apportioning the Land: By Lot and By Population?!

Apportioning the Land: By Lot and By Population?!

The Torah’s two contradictory methods for how to divide the land among the tribes – a redactional and historical approach.

Prof.
Itamar Kislev
TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com
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Is Elijah Pinchas?

Is Elijah Pinchas?

Elijah the prophet is immortal, and Pinchas appears in a story long after the wilderness period. Both figures are described as zealots, leading to their identification as the same person by Pseudo-Philo (ca. 1st cent. C.E.) and later midrash. In a heated exchange preserved in a 13th-century fragment from the Cairo Genizah, two cantors and a congregant debate the rationality of this identification.

Dr.
Moshe Lavee
TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com

The Discrepancies Between the Sacrifices in Ezekiel and the Torah

The Discrepancies Between the Sacrifices in Ezekiel and the Torah

The laws of holiday sacrifices in Ezekiel 45–46 contradict the laws in Numbers 28–29. The problems are so significant that some Talmudic sages thought it would be best to withdraw (לגנוז) the book of Ezekiel. This piece lays out the discrepancies in detail, surveys some traditional and modern answers, and ends with my own thoughts about why Ezekiel’s system is so different.

Dr.
Tova Ganzel
TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com
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TheGemara.com

Pinchas

פינחס

Numbers 25:10-30:1

וְהָיְתָה לּוֹ וּלְזַרְעוֹ אַחֲרָיו בְּרִית כְּהֻנַּת עוֹלָם תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר קִנֵּא לֵאלֹהָיו...

במדבר כה:יג

It shall be for him and his descendants after him a pact of priesthood for all time, because he took impassioned action for his God...

Num 25:13

Numbers

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