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Pinchas: Zemer of The Week

Parshat Pinchas
 “Eliyahu Hanavi” 
 


אֵלִיָּהוּ הַנָּבִיא 

אֵלִיָּהוּ הַתִּשְׁבִּי 
אֵלִיָּהוּ הַגִּלְעָדִי 
בִּמְהֵרָה בְיָמֵינוּ יָבוֹא אֵלֵינוּ 
עִם מָשִׁיחַ בֶּן דָּוִד 
 
Eliyahu the Prophet, 
Eliyahu the Tishbite, 
Eliyahu the Giladi. 
May he quickly come to us in our days 
together with Mashiach בן דוד. 
 
Chazal famously teach: פינחס הוא אליהו – Pinchas and Eliyahu are deeply linked. Both are figures of passionate commitment, stepping forward at moments of crisis to defend the covenant between Hashem and the Jewish people. 
That makes Eliyahu Hanavi a natural song for Parshat Pinchas. 
 
It also connects beautifully to this week’s WoW. Just as the Korban Tamid teaches us to keep the thousandth time connected to the first, Eliyahu symbolizes a fire of faith that endures across generations. 
 
Each time we sing Eliyahu Hanavi – at Havdalah, week after week – we repeat the same words, but with renewed hope for redemption. 
 
If you prefer a more-traditional zemer: 
 
The zemer for this week: מה ידידות  
 
This zemer, which first appeared in 1545, begins and ends with praise for Shabbat and Shabbat observers.  In between, the middle stanzas cover a wide variety of Hilchos Shabbat. The zemer’s author, Menachem, hid the acrostic of his name at the beginnings of the second, third, fourth, and sixth stanzas.   
 
Central elements of this parsha include the daughters of Tzelofchad, the census of the tribes, and allocation of the tribal portions of Eretz Yisroel. 
 
Some of the zemer’s connections to the parsha: 
  • Last line of 5th stanza:  
    “ובת בן ינוחו בו” (“Sons and daughters will rest on it [Shabbos]”) – In addition to the listing and counts of the sons of Bnei Yisrael, the parsha also mentions 6 of the daughters of Bnei Yisrael: the 5 daughters of Tzelofchad (e.g., Bamidbar 27:1) and Serach, the daughter of Asher (Bamidbar 26:46). 
  • The zemer describes a wide variety of laws and practices that protect and enhance the Shabbat, a counterbalance to the sin of Tzelofchad, who violated the Shabbat (according to Rabbi Akiva – Rashi to Bamidbar 27:3). 
  • 3rd line of 5th stanza:  
    “בחיבת ולנוח” (“to rest with love”) – Rashi (Bamidbar 26:64) highlights how the daughters of Tzelofchad had deep חיבה (love) for Eretz Yisrael, as did their ancestor Yosef. 
  • 1st line of 3rd stanza:  
    “ירש יעקב נחלת” (“The portion of Yaakov he will inherit”) – The parsha outlines the family groups within each tribe for the purpose of allocating to them their נחלות (portions in the Land – e.g., Bamidbar 26:53). 
  • 2nd line of 4th stanza:  
    “הבנות לשדך” (“and arranging matches for daughters”) – One of the controversial elements of giving portions to the daughters of Tzelofchad was whether the portion would pass out of their tribe if one of them married someone from another tribe. 
  • Name of this zemer’s author, and acronym of the first letters of the first, third, fourth, and sixth stanzas: “מנחם” (“consolation”) – According to Rashi (Bamidbar 26:38, but detailed by Rashi in Bereishit 43:30), to help console himself after the (apparent) loss of his brother Yosef, Binyamin named all of his sons after (various aspects of) Yosef. 
  • Also: 3rd line of 6th stanza:  
    “לרוחה יוצלו משיח מחבלי” (“from the birth pangs of Moshiach they will be rescued for relief”): 
  • The Midrash refers to the Moshiach’s name as “Menachem” (again, the name of this zemer’s author and the zemer’s acronym).