Pinchas is Eliyahu? |
Sponsored by Send A Sefer (www.sendasefer.com) where you can send Jewish Books (Hebrew, English or French), Talitot, Tzizit, P'til Techelet, Mezuzas, Megilot & Tefillin to someone special in Israel! For a Bar- Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah, Birthdays, Weddings, Anniversaries or Yeshiva/Seminary Students!All gifts are elegantly wrapped with a greeting card!
Parshat Pinchas opens with the same words as the Brit Milah (circumcision) ceremony (Bamidbar 25:10-12): “God spoke to Moshe saying: Pinchas, son of Elazar, son of Aharon the Kohen turned back my wrath from upon the children of These verses are recited at the Brit Milah based on the Midrashic opinion (Yalkut Shimoni, Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer) that Pinchas the Kohen and Eliyahu HaNavi were the same person. Rashi on Baba Metzia 114b states that Pinchas was described as acting zealously for God and Eliyahu describes himself as acting zealously for God (Kings 19:10) therefore Eliyahu is assumed to be Pinchas. Pinchas, Aharon’s grandson risked his life to avenge the desecration of God’s name. In the merit of this zealous act, God gave him a “Brit Shalom”, covenant of peace. The custom of a Kiseh Shel Eliyahu (Throne of Eliyahu) dates back the the 6th to 10th centuries and is based on Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer 29, a Midrash composed by the school of the Tanna Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus. Rabbi Paysach Krohn explains that when the Jews entered the |