The name of the Parsha is Pinchas.

Aaron’s grandson Pinchas is rewarded for his act of zealotry in killing the Simeonite prince Zimri and the Midianite princess who was his paramour: as a reward, Hashem grants him a covenant of peace and the priesthood.

A census of the people counts 601,730 men between the ages of twenty and sixty. Moshe is instructed on how the Land is to be divided by lottery among the tribes and families of Israel. The five daughters of Tzelafchad petition Moshe that they be granted the portion of the land belonging to their father, who died without sons; Hashem accepts their claim and incorporates it into the Torah’s laws of inheritance.

Moses empowers Yehoshua to succeed him and lead the people into the Land of Israel.

The Three Weeks is an annual mourning period that falls out in the summer. This is when we mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple and our launch into a still-ongoing exile.

The period begins on the 17th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, a fast day that marks the day when the walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans in 69 CE.

It reaches its climax and concludes with the fast of the 9th of Av, the date when both Holy Temples were set aflame. This is the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, and it is also the date that many other tragedies befell our people.

There is a known Mishna in the Ethics of our Fathers which teaches that “in a place where there is no man, strive to be the man.”

Oftentimes, we find ourselves in a situation where intervention is needed. Yet, although we see the solution, we leave it for someone else to fix. We don’t think of ourselves as big or important enough.

Pinchas teaches us that witnessing the problem is enough of a sign that it is up to you to act. We each have tremendous power and when we use it for the right thing, we can change the situation completely. This is our responsibility.

Believing in Moshiach is one of the foundations of Judaism, but it is not counted as one of the 613 Mitzvot. The Rambam explains that only specific commandments are included in the list of the 613. Believing in Moshiach is a general principal - it means believing that the complete Geulah will come, when we will be able to fulfill the entire Torah and all the Mitzvot in the best possible way.

The well-known Torah scholar Rabbi Dovid of Mikolayev once encountered an old friend from his youth, who demanded to know why he had decided to become a follower of the Baal Shem Tov. Reb Dovid related the following:

I heard of the Baal Shem Tov and was interested to investigate what he had to offer. I went to visit him, but I did not find what I was looking for. The Chassidim there influenced me to stay a little longer. They told me that if I would remain until Shabbos and make the effort on Friday afternoon to be in his presence when he recited Song of Songs, I would find what I sought. I changed my travel plans, and the Chassidim helped me to arrange what they had suggested. Well! I certainly heard something that was sublime and a delight to the ears. I even sensed that his words set up a clamor in all the supernal worlds! But still, he did not capture me.

The Chassidim then urged me to wait until the eve of the day on which the rebbe observed yahrzeit after one of his parents. That is when he would pace around his room all night long and recite the entire Mishnah by heart. This would undoubtedly captivate me. I stayed on, and that night hid in his room. What I saw was truly extraordinary. But still, I felt this wasn’t it.

Then the Chassidim insisted that I should wait until the following night, when, after a full day fast, he would invite his elder disciples for a mystic meal. At that meal, they assured me, it was impossible that he should not draw out my soul. They also forewarned me earnestly that I must make sure not to fall asleep there, because, for some reason, slumber often overcame those who participated. I napped during the day and utilized other methods to ensure that I would not fall asleep at the table.

I was assigned a place at the gathering. The Baal Shem Tov sat at the head of the table. Surrounded by his Chassidim, he began to expound upon the Kabbalistic meditations that accompany the ritual immersion in the mikvah.

“But Rebbe,” one of his Chassidim called out to him, “does not the holy Ari of Safed, of sainted memory, explain these meditations otherwise?”

The Baal Shem Tov threw his head back. His face, which had been like a fiery flame, suddenly grew pale. His eyes bulged. He looked like one not in this world. At that moment I was overcome by a deep slumber, despite all my efforts to ward it off.

In my sleep, I saw myself in an unknown city. People were hurrying in one direction. I asked them where they hastened so urgently, and they told me that the Baal Shem Tov was soon to deliver a discourse, and they were eager to hear it. I ran with them, until we came to an imposing edifice, inside which stood two chairs.

“For whom?” I asked.

“For the Baal Shem Tov and the Ari,” I was told.

I managed to stand near the chair of the Baal Shem Tov, who soon began to expound the Kabbalistic meditations of the mikvah. When he had completed his discourse, the Ari challenged him with a series of questions, each of which the Baal Shem Tov answered. Finally, it was clear that the Ari accepted the Baal Shem Tov’s position as correct for the times that he lived in.

At that point I awoke and saw that I still sat at the table with the Baal Shem Tov and his disciples. The color was returning to his face, and it was becoming fiery once more. Again, he began to deliver the discourse on the meditations of the mikvah, and again the same disciple asked him: “Rebbe! Does not the Ari explain otherwise?”

The Baal Shem Tov turned to me and said, “Dovid! Stand up and testify to what you have seen!”

At that moment, the Baal Shem Tov captured my soul.