First Aliyah: Last week’s Parasha concluded with the story of the women of Moab and Midyan approaching young Jewish men to seduce them and induce them to practice idolatry through sexual rites. Pinehas executed one of the Jewish leaders on his own, without trial and a legal sentence. Our Parasha begins with God granting Pinehas a covenant of peace, (like a Presidential Pardon), and rewarding him for his actions granting him and his descendants the priesthood. God then commands the Jews to get ready to fight the Midianites, becuse their provocation was considered an act of war. God orders Moshe and Elazar the Priest to take a census of all the men who are of age to go to war, that is, older than 20 years.
Second Aliyah: The number of all the men of the 12 tribes was 601,730, not counting the tribe of Levi.
Third Aliyah: Apart from serving as a census for enrollment in the Jewish army that will fight against the Midianites, this census also serves to start organizing the division of the lands that will soon be inherited in Israel. The land of Israel was to be divided among all who were counted in this census. And the geographic location of each tribe, the “provinces,” would be determined by lottery. The census of the men of the tribe of Levi, who did not go to war, nor were they going to have their own land, is also taken. The Levites male were 23,000 counting from one month of life. This Aliyah concludes with the story of Zelofchad’s daughters approaching Moshe and telling him that their father had died, leaving only females , and they requested to receive their father’s portion in the land of Israel. Moses conveys this concern directly to God.
Fourth Aliya: In response to the request of Zelofchad’s daughters, Moshe now formulates by Divine command the laws of inheritance which includes the rights of daughters to inherit the land when there are no male descendants. After this episode, God tells Moses to climb to the top of Mount Abarim from where he will see the Promised Land before he dies, but he will not enter it. Moses asks God to appoint a worthy person to succeed him in leadership. The one chosen by God to replace Moshe is Yehoshua Bin Nun because of his reputation and his leadership abilities.
Fifth Aliyah: The narration of the succession is interrupted, and the Tora focuses now to detail all the sacrifices that will be offered in the Tabernacle and once in Israel, in the Holy Temple . First, the daily sacrifice “Tamid” is described, which was to be offered every day of the year, twice a day, including Shabbat, festivals and even Yom Kippur. Additional sacrifices for Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the Jewish month, are also specified.
Sixth Aliyah: Describes the sacrifices offered on the festivities: Pesach, Shabuot, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Seventh Aliya: The sacrifices offered on the festivals of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret are described here .
