Pinchas

Effi Box
by Ori Allon, illustrated by H
Hadar Chori-Fathi
Today I want to tell you about Effi Box. Of course
that wasn’t his real name. So why was he called that?
Because he really loved to collect cardboard boxes.
He would find shoe boxes, or drag home large boxes
from the grocery and make interesting things out of
them. He even made little “pushkes”, charity boxes,
which he gave out among his friends. This week Effi
brought home two new boxes.
Pinchas
If Bilaam couldn’t curse Israel
There were other ways to hurt.
The girls of Moav had the job
The people of Israel to convert.
“Come with us, you’re all so sweet,”
The Moabite girls said to them,
“Worship Baal Peor like us!
“Forget about Hashem!”
by Ruthie Klein
“Tzelofchad’s daughters approached Moshe…Their names were Machla,
No'a, Chagla, Milka and Tirtza. They now stood before Moshe, Elazar the
priest, the princes, and the entire community at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting...They
asked, “Why should our father receive less just because he did not have a son? Give us a
portion of land along with our father's brothers.” (Numbers 27:1-2,4)
“Elazar the ‘kohen gadol’ or ‘high priest’ took two
boxes,” his mother explained. “In one he put slips
of paper, with the name of a tribe on each slip. The
“Come with us. Don’t make a fuss!
A wonderful pagan you will be!”
They used their charms and pulled their arms
Dressed in golden jewelry.
Even the head of the tribe of Shimon
Zimri ben Salu
Went after a Moabite girl
And he bowed down too.
They worshipped Peor by the Tent
The elders and Moses saw and heard.
A plague began, but those leaders just wept.
They sat and didn’t say a word.
Find the little picture in the big picture!
Just one heroic man came forth.
He did an act of great fame.
One man alone was not confused
And Pinchas was his name.
He stopped Zimri and the Moabite girl,
This hero of our story
He couldn’t bear to see these sinners
Trample on God’s glory.
Pinchas the Kohen fought G-d’s fight!
Pinchas made His anger depart!
I’ll therefore give him My covenant
Forever, peace in his heart.”
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“What do you plan on
doing with them?” his mother asked.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “I can’t decide. I want to
make something I’ve never made before.”
“These boxes remind me of this week’s parasha,
Pinchas,” Effi’s mother said.
“Who collected cardboard boxes in Pinchas?” Effi
wondered.
“No one!” laughed his
mother. In Pinchas,
the Jewish People
were almost in the
Land. All that was
left was to decide
where every tribe
should live.”
“How did they
decide?” asked
Effi.
second box also had slips, with a part of Israel on each
slip. Elazar pulled one slip out of each box, and he
said, “This tribe gets that piece of land!” That way,
everyone knew which land belonged to which tribe.”
Effi looked at the boxes and suddenly he smiled.
“I think I know what to make,” he said. He went to
his box of costumes and
put on
his kohen gadol hat.
Parents: Ask your
child: What do you
think Effi will do
next?
Tzelofchad, who died of his sin in the desert, had five daughters, but no sons. His daughters went to Moses
and asked for a portion of Eretz Yisrael.
Cut out the figures of Tzelofchad’s daughters on the dotted lines.
Glue each daughter in the right place, facing Moshe, Elazar and the princes.
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Good Luck!
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Midrash
The Young Artist
The Foundation
for Jewish Renaissance
“On that day, a great shofar shall be blown. Those lost in the land of
Assyria, and those scattered in the land of Egypt shall come and worship G-d on
the holy mountain in Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 27:13)
Eliyahu HaNavi
(Elijah the Prophet)
Long ago, a king named Achav and his wicked wife
Izevel ruled over Israel. Izevel told Achav to kill all of
G-d’s prophets and to worship her idol, whose name
was “Baal”.
One prophet, named Eliyahu, was willing to fight
for G-d. He came fearlessly before Achav and said,
“Because of your evil ways, there will be no more rain!
Achav’s soldiers tried to catch him but he escaped.
There was a terrible drought, as Eliyahu had said. All
the grain withered and all the wells dried up.
After three years of no rain, Eliyahu came out from
hiding and appeared before Achav saying, “If you
want rain to fall, gather all the people and the prophets
of Baal to Mount Carmel. There we will see who is the
true G-d, Baal or the G-d of Israel!”
Everyone came to Mount Carmel. Eliyahu declared,
“The prophets of Baal shall build an altar to Baal, and
I will build one to Hashem, each offering a bull. We
won’t set fire to our altars. Instead, each will call to
his god. Whichever god sends down fire to burn his
altar is the true G-d!” But the prophets of Baal cheated,
building a hollow altar. Inside Chai El, a prophet of
Baal, was hiding.. When they called out Baal’s name,
Chai El was supposed to light the fire, and the people
would think Baal had made the fire.
The prophets of Baal began calling Baal’s name. They
called louder and louder, because they thought maybe
Chai El couldn’t hear them, yet nothing happened. G-d
had sent a snake to bite Chai El. All day, the prophets
of Baal called out his name, but nothing happened
because Chai El was dead.
Then Eliyahu went to G-d’s altar and prayed. Right
away a great fire came down from heaven and burnt up
the bull. Everyone cried out, “Hashem is G-d! Hashem
is G-d!” A short time later clouds rose up in the sky
and heavy rain fell.The drought was finally over.
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Â"Ò˘˙ ÊÂÓ˙ Á"È
July 14, 2006
Early Childhood Version
Shalom parents! Shalom kids!
The Haftara of this week’s parasha tells the story of the Prophet Eliyahu who in the future will
announce the “geulah,” or in English, the “redemption.”
Look and learn:
Do you know what it means when we say that someone is “modest?” We mean he behaves
gently, speaks softly and most important, does not try to show off. Modesty is also a matter of
the clothes we wear. True, it is important to have a neat, clean appearance, but the trick is not
to overdo it and make others jealous.
In our parasha the Torah tells about how when the Jewish People were about to enter the
Land, the Moabites came and had a bad influence on some of the Children of Israel.
The Moabites behaved very badly and very immodestly, especially when they prayed to
their idol, Baal Peor. The Moabites had such a bad influence on some of the Jews who started acting badly as well. Kids, we see from this
how important it is to stay away from places where people behave badly.
This week’s parasha tells us that G-d sent terrible sickness to all the Children of Israel who had prayed to Baal Peor. In order to stop the
sickness, Pinchas, a kohen from the tribe of Levi, had to act with great courage to punish one of the leaders of the immodest behavior.
Kids, we Jews are very different from the Moabites because we behave modestly. Let us make sure to stay that way, and to bring
happiness instead of jealousy to other people always.
PARASHAT
Pinchas
Here is a picture of a very beautiful window
from a synagogue in Beaumont, Texas, created
by Ze’ev Rabban, a famous Israeli artist who died
in 1970. This kind of window is called a “stainedglass window,” because the glass in the window is
“stained” or colored.
The colors tell a story. The color yellow is also the
color of light, the color of the future redemption.
The color red is the color of royalty. Eliyahu’s coat
is red, because of his royal role of announcing the
coming redemption to the world. The color blue
is a heavenly color. The ground is colored with a
heavenly color, hinting that on that special day of
redemption – it will be like heaven came down to
earth.
In the picture, Eliyahu is holding two things in
his hands. In his right hand he is holding a shofar.
In his left hand he is holding a “staff” or walking
stick. In this picture, Eliyahu is very busy. He is
going around to all the Jews of the world, telling
them that the redemption has finally arrived.
When the redemption comes, all the Jews in
world will come to live in Israel, and the whole
Jewish People will be together there. Also, the
world will be a much better place. People will
behave better, and they will feel closer to G-d and
to each other. Every day in our prayers we pray for
this to happen.
“Pinchas,
son
of Elazar, son of
Aaron the Kohen”
Pinchas was the
grandson of Aaron,
the kohen gadol.
Aaron would make
peace between people having arguments.
Pinchas, too, loved G-d and the Jewish
People. He too was ready to do everything to
bring peace between Jews. The Torah teaches
us an important rule: We should live in peace
even with those who think differently. It is a
mitzvah to try to end all fights pleasantly, to
judge every man favorably, and to view him
as being a good person.
Our parasha is read during the “three
weeks.” We count three weeks, from 17th
of Tamuz, until the 9th of Av. The 17th of
Tamuz is the day Jerusalem’s walls were
broken. The 9th of Av is the terrible day the
Temple was destroyed. Therefore, during
the Three Weeks we don’t celebrate. We
don’t buy fun things. The Mishnah in
Yoma says the Second Temple
was destroyed because people
hated for no reason. Like Aaron
and Pinchas, we have to try
to always love each other.
“May it be Your will that
the Temple be built quickly in our day. Give
us our portion in Your Torah! And let us
serve You in the Temple as in days of old.”
(from our prayers)
Did You Know?
Our sages say: “Pinchas and Eliyahu were
the same person.” Eliyahu HaNavi comes to
every Brit Mila and every Pesach Seder to see
how well the Jews keep G-d’s mitzvot.
Try to remember stories you
have read about Eliyahu HaNavi
doing miracles in order to help
those in need, and prepare a small
booklet.
Your friend,
Rabbi Mordechai Elon
Dean of Mibereshit
Dedicated by the
JAKAMAR TRUST AND YAD MORDECHAI FOUNDATION
CEO Mibereshit: Avi Wortzman
Educational Director: Avi Rath
Project Coordinator: Yaki Mendelsohn
Editorial Staff: Rabbi David Bateman
Translation: Raphael Blumberg
Graphic Designer: Rebecca Poch
Mibereshit Head office Israel
+972-2-588-7890, [email protected]
Mibereshit South Africa
Rabbi Laurence Perez
Program Coordinators: Melissa Chipkin/ Wendy Kahn
011-440-9902, [email protected]
www.mibereshit.org
Sickness came - many Jews died.
After wandering far and wide
G-d commanded to count each head
How many over twenty, he said.
The purpose of the count?
To know each tribe’s amount
So the Land they could divide
Into portions the 12 tribes occupied.
A bigger tribe - more land.
Smaller - less was planned.
For each family a place.
Just the right amount of space.
What we can do:
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Children, here is something to do: Draw a
picture of Eliyahu, going around and telling all
the Jews that the redemption is coming. You can
make your picture similar to the one here, or you
can make it different. Have fun!
Artist: Ze’ev Rabban, through the generosity of Ruth Doron
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‫אנגלית‬
Torah stories from our Sages
Here is Serach bat Asher, who lived a very long life.
Find nine differences between the two (four for our younger readers) Illustrated by Ori Allon
Tzelofchad’s 5 daughters to Moshe came
They asked “aren’t we the same?”
“Our father died without a son…
We want a portion like everyone.”
Moshe didn’t know what to say.
He asked G-d. The answer: “OK!
No son? Daughters of the man
Get the portion…yes they can.”
G-d told Moshe: you can’t go.
The Land from a hill I’ll show
Moshe picked Joshua his aide
The new leader, Joshua was made.
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