Pinchas
Parshat Pinchas by: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Discover the Holy Presence in the Holy Land
Eternal Victory
Our prayers are based on the daily korbanot and the special korbanot of Musaf mentioned in this Parsha. It would have made sense that these offerings be mentioned in the book of Vayikra, “The Book of the Kohanim” and the korbanot offered by them. The midrash explains that the reason these offerings are brought here in the Torah is that Moshe asks that there be a leader in his stead to bring Israel to conquer the Land of Israel. Hashem answers Moshe that, while He will grant Moshe’s wish, nevertheless with the same token, while Hashem “does His side in aiding Israel with a proper leader”, so too Israel “must do their side” in serving Hashem through the giving the offerings mentioned in this Parsha.
Thus we may say that, if our prayers parallel the offerings mentioned in this Parsha, then we may also say that our prayers are directly related to proper leadership towards settling/conquering the Land of Israel. Indeed, our Sages say that three matters have a special need for prayer: a good king/leader, a good dream, and a good year. These three requests may be hinted to in the Amida in the blessing for sustenance, the blessing for the salvation of Mashiach, and the blessing for the return of the Holy Presence to Zion.
The blessing for sustenance hints to prayer for a good year, for this blessing is also called “Birkat hashanim”- blessing of the years. The connection between sustenance and years, i.e time, may be hinted in the verse, “the eyes of all have hope upon You, and You give them their sustenance in its time.”
The blessing for the salvation of Mashiach hints to prayer for a proper leader, for Mashiach is the ideal redemptive leader.
The blessing for the return of the Holy Presence to Zion hints to prayer for a good dream since a dream is considered, by our Sages, to be “1/60th of prophecy,” and prophecy is an encounter with the revelation of the Holy Presence. Here we should also add that within the blessing for the return of the Holy Presence to Zion there is the “Yaaleh Veyavo” section said on days when the special Musaf offering, mentioned in the fore-mentioned öfferings section” in this Parsha, was brought.
Remarkably, all of these blessings in the Amida have Hashem’s name vowelled, according to the Kabbalists, with the vowel of “hirik,” which corresponds to the Kabbalistic sefira of “netzach.”One translation of “netzach” is victory. Indeed, in a number of our sources, our Sages teach that Hashem is “happy that He is won over by Israel” so-to-speak. We may say that prayer effectively “wins over” the “previous Divine Will” “turning” it into a “Will of Compassion,” so-to-speak. Therefore, prayer in essence may be associated with this aspect of “victory.”
Another meaning of “netzach” is “everlasting.” In halacha and science, we indeed find a connection between the concepts of “victory/conquest” and the aspect of everlasting consistency over time. For example, a cucumber may be pickled when put in vinegar for a period of time, thereby causing the vinegar to “conquer” the cucumber, turning it into a pickle. In a halacha, a solid submerged in liquid for the time-frame of 24 hours is called “kavush,” literally meaning “conquered,” which may cause the solid to take on certain halachic qualities of the liquid it was submerged.
The Land of Israel is our eternal homeland, from which we gain our power to be victorious over all that stands against us. Hebron too, Beacon of the Holy Land, is our People’s first settlement in the Holy Land and is also our stronghold of sovereignty and “victory” in this Land, the Cradle of the Monarchy of David, the prototype of Mashiach.
Miracles from the Holy Land:. Operation Solomon, 1991
Seven years after the success of Operation Moses, which brought the first wave of Ethiopian Jews to Israel, the IDF embarked on the largest areal expedition in Israel’s history. 14,500 Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel within 36 hours, onboard 34 Israeli Air Force flights. The bravery of the Ethiopian Jews, alongside the commitment of the IDF’s soldiers, made this operation truly miraculous.
Source: https://www.idf.il/en/minisites/our-soldiers/8-miraculous-moments-in-idf-history/