Hitzonim | Outsiders

I’ve missed doing parsha commentary. There’s something grounding about spending time with the weekly Torah portion—even when the portion in question involves ritual violence, a mid-plague marriage murder, and a divine thumbs-up to a spear-wielding priest.

Pinchas is one of those parshiyot that makes you pause. Zealotry gets rewarded. Lineage gets locked in. And tucked between the blood and bureaucracy is a story of five daughters—Tzelofchad’s crew—who step forward and demand justice.

I recorded this video to sit with the tension. What does it mean to praise zeal from within a priestly power structure? And what happens when we zoom out and recognize this whole portion as Priestly source material—P, with all its high-stakes obsession over lineage, land, and legitimacy?

The Deuteronomist doesn’t touch this story. Doesn’t want it. That’s telling. The redactors kept it in anyway, and here we are: trying to find a path through someone else’s holy bureaucracy.

If you’re into source criticism, narrative politics, or just like seeing someone get too excited about ancient editorial choices—this one’s for you.

Ten minutes. One respectable beard. Enough source criticism to make your rabbi glance nervously at the bookshelf.
Think of me as your secular spiritual guide. Or at least your Torah-adjacent troublemaker.

More to come? L’hit -a.