Parshas Pinchas: How to Merit Our Spiritual Inheritance
The long-awaited day is nearing. After forty years of wandering in the desert, the Jewish people are getting ready to enter the Promised Land. In this week’s parsha, Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu how the land is to be divided. “To these the land shall be divided in inheritance, according to the number of the names. To the many you shall increase the inheritance, and to the few you shall decrease the inheritance; each man according to his counting will be given his inheritance. By lottery the land shall be divided, according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. According to the lottery the inheritance shall be divided, between the many and the few.” (Bamidbar 26:53-56)
These instructions, which look straightforward at the first glance, are actually not so simple. The pessukim mention two criteria for diving the land: 1) according to the number of the names; and 2) according to the names of the tribes of the fathers.
The Gemara (Bava Basra 117a) brings the opinions of Rabbi Yoshia and Rabbi Yonasan. Rabbi Yoshia says that the land was divided among those who left Egypt. In other words, each man over age twenty who left Egypt was entitled to a portion in the land. By the time the Jewish people actually entered the land, most of those people were no longer alive. Their children received their portion and divided it among themselves.
Let’s look at an example. Suppose Reuven was a man aged between 20 and 60 who left Egypt. Reuven had two sons, Shimon and Levi. Reuven died in the desert. When Shimon and Levi entered the land, they received Reuven’s portion and divided it among themselves. If neither of them was a firstborn, then each received a half of Reuven’s portion. If Shimon was a firstborn, then Shimon received 2/3 and Levi received 1/3.
Rabbi Yonasan says that the land was divided among those who entered it. In our example above, both Shimon and Levi would receive their own individual portions, independent of each other and of their status as firstborn. But what about “the tribes of their fathers?” Rabbi Yonasan explains that this inheritance was not like any other inheritance. Usually, the living inherit from the dead, but in the case of inheriting the Promised Land, the dead inherit from the living. He explains that the portions assigned to those who entered the land were retroactively credited to those who left Egypt. In our example, Reuven retroactively received the portions of Shimon and Levi combined.
As Rashi on the parsha (Bamidbar 26:55) explains, this transfer of the inheritance from the living to the dead was more than symbolic. It had practical implications. While the land was originally divided among those who entered the land, after being transferred to their deceased fathers it was divided again, according to the regular laws of inheritance.
Going back to our example, suppose Shimon had one son and Levi had three sons. Each of the four grandsons of Reuven received a portion in the land. But then, all four of these portions went back to Reuven, and were divided between Shimon and Levi according to the laws of inheritance. If Shimon was the firstborn, he received 2/3 of Reuven’s land, and Levi received 1/3. If neither of them was a firstborn, both Shimon and Levi received ½ of Reuven’s land. Thus, Shimon’s only son would inherit all of Shimon’s portion, which is ½ of Reuven’s land, while Levi’s three sons would have to split the same amount of land among them.
We can get into more of these fascinating details and compute the exact proportions of each son’s inheritance, but I’m afraid of losing my less mathematically inclined readers, so I’ll move on to the significance of these differences of opinion. What can we, the Jews living in this generation, learn from this disagreement over whether the land was divided among those who left Egypt or those who entered the land?
The Nesivos Shalom (Bamidbar, parshas Pinchas, L’eleh Techalek Haaretz) interprets these two opinions as applying to our personal avodas Hashem, our spiritual growth. He explains that there are two modes in serving Hashem: 1) turning away from evil; and 2) doing good. Those who left Egypt correspond to turning away from evil, while those who entered the land correspond to doing good. While both these aspects of serving Hashem are necessary, the disagreement here is over which one is more essential.
Moreover, continues Nesivos Shalom, under the leadership of Yehoshua, there were also two stages of acquiring the land: seven years of conquest and seven years of dividing the land. The years of conquest symbolize conquering the yetzer hara, while the seven years of dividing symbolize redirecting our conquered negative inclinations and transforming them into positive qualities.
The Nesivos Shalom further explains that while the ultimate goal is doing good, it is impossible to achieve without first turning away from evil, just as the Jews could not receive their portions of the land without first conquering the land. First, we must conquer our negative qualities, and only then can we turn them around and use them to serve Hashem.
There is another aspect to the difference of opinion on whether the land was divided according to those who left Egypt or those who entered the land, continues Nesivos Shalom. The generation that left Egypt is called the dor deah – generation of knowledge. This generation was unique in their knowledge of Hashem and their high spiritual level. The subsequent generation that entered the land was on a much lower level. Nevertheless, it is the generation that entered the land that is described as serving Hashem, as it says, “And the Jewish people served Hashem all the days of Yehoshua” (Yehoshua 24:31).
And that, explains the Nesivos Shalom, is the essence of the disagreement in how the land was divided – did the Jewish people merit their portions in the land due to their knowledge, or was it due to their hard work in serving Hashem?
Concludes the Nesivos Shalom, “Eilu v’eilu divrei Elokim Chaim” – both opinions are equally valid. True service of Hashem contains both of these aspects. A Jew can only reach completion in serving Hashem by incorporating both knowledge and hard work. Both are essential in reaching the intended goal of inheriting the land and claiming our spiritual inheritance.