Parshat Pinchas: The Name Game
in...@rambam.biz
This is a parsha that begs to be split. Like the split letter "vav"
in a kosher sefer Torah in the word "shalom". Old Spearchucker gets
his reward. There's a census of our ancestors. The laws of
inheritance. The mo'adim, fixed holidays. Rather than reveal my level
of incompetence by drashing in detail on the above, I'm going to do
something easy, yet informative and entertaining. Look up words in the
dictionary. And read the Tanach, the Hebrew bible.
The Daughters of Tselafchad. These righteous women introduce us to
Hilchot Nachalot, the laws of inheritance. Their father's name can be
split into two words at least two different ways:
1. Tsadi-lamed-fay, tsalaf, which means "sniper", and chet-dalet,
chad, which can mean "sharp".
2. Tsadi-lamed, or "tsel", which is "shadow", and pay-chet-dalet,
"pachad", which means "to tremble in fear". So "tsel pachad" can mean
"afraid of a shadow". Amusing names for ladies who the Torah tells us
stood before Moses, Elazar, and the leaders of the entire kahal, took
aim and staked their claim to their rightful share of Eretz Yisrael.
Is the Torah teaching that when the law is on your side, chutzpah is
no vice?
Pin'chas. Pay-yod-nun can mean "end" (Jastrow, p. 1165). Chet-samech
is "God forbid!" Pin'chas means "End, God forbid!" Which is what his
actions were saying when he broke up the illict honeymoon.
The Honeymooners. Zimri means "my music". Salu, or samech-lamed-vav-
aleph can also be vowelized as "silva" (Jastrow p. 993), meaning rod,
prick, thorn. Hmmm. "Kozbi" means "my lie". "Tsur" can mean rock, or
to tie around, wrap, besiege.
Sons of Korach. The parsha tells us "u'vnei Korach lo metu", the sons
of Korach didn't die. We also know this is true from reading tehillim
42 and 44 through 49, which name them as contributing authors. These
psalms may make interesting reference to the fact that Korach was
swallowed by the earth:
Psalm 44:20. Ki dikitanu bim'kom tanim...Even when you crushed us in the
place of serpents and shrouded us in the shadow of death.
Psalm 46:3. ...B'hamir ha'arets...When the earth is transformed, and at
mountains' collapse in the heart of the seas.
Psalm 46:4...Yir'ashu harim...Mountains quake in His majesty.
Psalm 46:7...Tamug arets...Earth dissolves.
Psalm 49:10. Vichi od lanetsach, lo yir'eh hashachat? Can one live
forever, never to see the pit?
Psalm 49:15. Katson lish'ol shatu. Like sheep they are destined for
the lower world.
Psalm 49:16. Ach elohim yifdeh nafshi...But God will redeem my soul from
the hand of the lower world, for he will take me. Simcha
bac...@vms.huji.ac.il
This is utterly fascinating. [Simcha, this is going to be used in the JBQ]
Josh
in...@rambam.biz
Ahavat Kesef and then noticed the references to the earth moving in
those tehillim, like a nevuah (prophecy)? Simcha