Last week's parsha ended with a pretty dramatic moment when Pinchas takes a spear and stabbed Zimri and Cozbi in an act of zealotry to stand up for God. Right at the start of this week's parsha God praises Pinchas for acting in a way that alleviated God's wrath such that God didn't bring a harsh punishment to the Israelite people. God then grants Pinchas בְּרִיתִ֖י שָׁלֽוֹם. This is often translated as a covenant of peace, which is the simple meaning. However, this leads to lots of commentaries, since giving peace as a reward for violence feels mismatched. I found a few
translations that translated it as friendship, which made me wonder where they came up with that....and, not so surprisingly, the answer is Rashi.
Rashi on Numbers 25:12
(1) את בריתי שלום [I GIVE TO HIM] MY COVENANT — PEACE — This means: I give him my covenant that it should be to him as a covenant of peace; just like a man who shows gratitude and friendliness to one who has done him a kindness. So here, too, the Holy One, blessed be He, expressed to him His peaceful feelings towards him.
So, since Pinchas did God a "kindness" by taking matters into his hands with his own passion to divert God's more powerful passion, God extends friendship to Pinchas. While it's on a much smaller scale, I related to this idea that when I am upset and a friend takes up my cause, it feels like I am spreading out the burden and it can reduce my own emotional reaction. I love when translation leads to commentary leads to a new understanding, so I wanted to highlight friendship for the menu. I was trying to think of a specific food that symbolized friendship and had some trouble...there's the idea of "breaking bread" so any bread could do, but most of the time friendship could be celebrated through any kind of sharing of food. There is one food that's
become a specific sign of hospitality and welcoming - the pineapple. Historically, since pineapples were so hard to come by in the West, having one for your guests showed how much you valued them. So, in honor of friendship I suggest this Pineapple Whip, it's a light summer pineapple dessert for a hot summer.
Moving ahead towards the end of the parsha, Moshe, knowing he won't enter Israel, asks God to appoint a new leader and God chooses Joshua and tells Moshe how to transfer authority to him.
Single out Joshua son of Nun, an inspired man, and lay your hand upon him. Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community, and commission him in their sight. (Bamidbar 27:18-19)
The tradition that some follow for rabbinic smicha or ordination involving the laying of hands stems from this moment. The power of the laying of hands is discussed by many commentators, including these 2 I found interesting.
Siftei Chachamim - One must say that the laying of hands of a Rabbi upon his student is related to his being given permission to instruct and give rulings [whether] to forbid or to permit [an issue].
Tze'enah Ure'enah - "You should place your hands on him, so that Israel should see that he is your replacement. Let him also preach once during your lifetime before all of Israel, so that Israel should not say that Joshua did not have any power to raise his hands during the lifetime of Moses. ....Moses placed his two hands on Joshua and ordained him. Even though the Holy One told him to place one hand on Joshua, yet Moses was a pious man and placed two hands on his head, and blessed him with two hands and with his whole heart."
All this talk of laying of hands and the importance of this visible symbol made me want to focus a dish on this element. I could have gone with something that resembled hands or was a pun on hands, but instead I focused on "lay" and the idea that I came up with is Lay's potato chips! I want to use Lay's potato chips in a dish, ideally where the chips are still visible. Here's a pretty special looking potato salad with potato chips. Sub in Lay's for what it calls for. Potato salad feels very summery and this one feels more Shabbat worthy.
Shabbat Shalom & B'Tayavon!
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