Shabbat Parashat Pinchas 5786

Pinchas | 19 Tammuz 5786 | 04/07/2026

Dear Friends,

Shavua Tov!

Eretz Hemdah Family

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Parashat Hashavua: The Blessing of Children, Specifically for Menashe – part I

Harav Yosef Carmel

The countings in the “Book of Numbers” and their discrepancies have long engaged our rabbis. On one hand, the final tallies in Bamidbar and Pinchas are nearly identical. On the other hand, we find dramatic shifts within specific tribes, particularly Menashe.

In Parashat Bamidbar, Menashe numbers 32,200. Yet in Parashat Pinchas, they jump all the way to 52,700.

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Ask the Rabbi: Coordinating Ma’aser with Small Donations

Rav Daniel Mann

I have a ma’aser kesafim account from which I write checks and do bank transfers. I also give small amounts of money to poor people who collect in shul. Can/should I deduct these donations from my ma’aser “ledger” or give it from “my own” money?

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Moreshet Shaul: I Will Bring You Back Up – part I

Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 371 (address at a symposium for communal leaders at the Ramban Shul, 5768)

This past Elul was the 700^th anniversary of our master, the Ramban's (Nachmanides) arrival at Jerusalem’s gateways to cherish her soil, cry over her desolation, and reawaken the effort to rebuild her, as the Ramban said:

“I came to the destroyed city; it is desolate, without its children, and I appropriately mourned: ‘Zion became a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation’ (Yeshayahu 64:9). When I was near the city, opposite its gateway, I ripped my clothes over her. And when I came opposite the great and holy House, we called out with great wailing: ‘Our father, the merciful father, Israel is neither an orphan nor a widower, for Your mercy is upon them in every place and at every moment.’”

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P'ninat Mishpat:  Regulation of Land Rights in a Settlement Extension – part IV

(based on ruling 84019 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)

The plaintiffs (=pl) used to live in an unrecognized settlement extension (=SE), left SE in 2013, and returned in 2016, against the will of the settlement committee (=def), with the help of pressure from the regional council (=rc). Def instructed pl as to the boundaries of their lot, but pl expanded them and ignored warnings to desist. In 2023, def started preparing neighboring lots for new units, including areas to which pl had asserted control, and destroyed some of pl’s infrastructure. [This installment’s issue:] Pl claims that rc agreed to their land plans without presenting limitations and is only now caving in due to pressure from strong forces within def.

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