פָּרָשַׁת פִּינְחָס

Parshat Pinchas opens with Hashem's reward for Pinchas, who stopped the plague at Baal Peor by killing Zimri ben Salu, a nasi (leader) of the tribe of Shimon, and Kozbi bat Tzur, the daughter of a nasi of Midyan. Hashem gives Pinchas His brit shalom (covenant of peace), a covenant of kehunah (priesthood) for him and his descendants forever, because he was zealous for Hashem and atoned for Bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel). Hashem commands Moshe to strike Midyan for its plots.

After the plague, Moshe and Elazar count the new generation in Arvot Moav (the plains of Moav): 601,730 men from twenty years old and up, and 23,000 Leviim (Levites) from one month old and up. The land is to be divided among the tribes by their numbers and by goral (lot). Not one man remains of those counted in Midbar Sinai (the wilderness of Sinai), except Calev ben Yefuneh and Yehoshua bin Nun. The daughters of Tzelofchad, whose father died without sons, ask for their father's portion in the land; Hashem answers that they speak rightly, and from their request comes the Torah's order of inheritance. Hashem tells Moshe to see the land from the mountain before he dies, and at Moshe's request appoints Yehoshua to lead the people after him, "so that the congregation of Hashem will not be like sheep that have no shepherd."

The second half of the parsha, perakim 28–29, lists the korbanot (offerings) of the calendar: the korban tamid (the daily offering), a lamb each morning and each evening, and the musaf (additional) offerings of Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and every festival — Pesach, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, each of the seven days of Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret. (Pesukim 28:1–15 are the Rosh Chodesh reading, and the musaf passages of these perakim are read as maftir on the festivals.) The parsha ends as Moshe tells Bnei Yisrael everything that Hashem commanded him.