A Torah reflection from Louis Aiello, a member of the Team Friendship family.
Shabbat Shalom to y’all! This week we read Pinechas, named after the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, with the second reading being Chapter 26, verse 5, to verse 51.
The plague of Baal Peor may have ended, but the hostilities with Midian were far from over. Soon Balaam would pay the price for his evil deeds, along with the rest of Midian. To commemorate the occasion, a conscription of all able-bodied Israelites over age twenty was tallied. The names of all the tribes were once again presented, along with their individual clans. The very same family who entered Egypt, and who left as a nation, was soon to cross the Jordan and divide up the Promised Land.
This was to show all the other nations how, through this whole ordeal, the Israelites remained pure and loyal to both their houses and their clans. The deeds of each of the tribes are now stated according to their merits, along with the punishments meted out for disobedience.
Surely this would have terrified the inhabitants of those idolatrous nations, that is, if they had trusted Hashem. They did not, and instead they only continued their devotions to their gods. Yet there was now nothing stopping righteousness from casting itself over the whole land, and eventually into Canaan.
We all have a family history, some more dramatic and extraordinary than others. Some of us may come from prestige, others from persecution, and others from pestilence. Wherever we came from, regardless of our origins, we all still came across the Jordan at the same time. It’s this certain knowledge that has bound us as a people, unbroken for so long.
It doesn’t matter what the world throws at us, what they say, or what they attempt to influence us with, for indeed we are, by Hashem’s grace, indivisible. As long as we remain righteous, no harm can ever truly come upon us. In staying true to Hashem and to His word, we will propel the world itself forward, toward its ultimate redemption.
Sadly, today idolatry reigns in society with a stone fist, and many don’t even believe in redemption. Instead, they take to indulging their selfish wants regardless of who it hurts. This includes many children who, at a very young age, are entangled in being trafficked, used, and abused. Things can appear bleak, as if uncertainty were the victor. However, this is only a precursor of what’s to come. Absolutely, the Messianic Age is coming, and when it does, all impurities will melt away, leaving nothing in their wake but the pure essence of Hashem.
May these 25 hours of Shabbat be a reminder to all of you of how special it is to have Hashem as our guide and protector.
Personally for me, I have indeed come across the Jordan like everyone else. I may not have been there in a literal sense, but I have sensed myself at Sinai’s foot. My family was indeed one of the tribes, and eventually settled in the lands of Tarshish, where they remained until 1492.
The name Aiello is very old, from an even older name known as Elalya. In 1492, four brothers left what was once Tarshish for the greater peninsula, where the Edomites once resided. There they remained in seclusion for centuries, setting up a town they called Aiello. It was in this land that a man named Raphael was born. He’d have a son, Carlos Santos, who would eventually immigrate to the New World, and there have a son of his own named Louis. Louis was an innovator and an artist. His own son Walter was a soldier and an intelligence operative. Then, from this line, I came. It is my hope to pass the Aiello heritage forward into the next generation, and the generations after that, into the times of Moshiach. May this Shabbat sow our hearts and uplift them with shalom. 😃