Musar su Salmi 122:4

Since in Hebrew the name for man and woman i.e. איש ואשה each contain one of these two letters of the Ineffable Name, the י-ה, and the tribes of Israel are known as שבטי י-ה (Psalms 122,4), we can understand that man's duty, i.e. the duty of the אדם התחתון on earth, is to parallel G–d's activities. This means that man and woman are obliged to procreate, "in their image," a son and a daughter just as G–d created in His image a human being comprising male and female components. From the above it follows that when man and woman and son and daughter procreate, they perform the essential (סוד) function assigned to them by the Ineffable Name. When they do that they qualify for the appellation אדם, meaning that they do on earth, i.e. אדמה, something akin to what G–d has done in the Heavens. It is interesting that when you spell the Ineffable Name in words instead of in letters, i.e. 6=יוד-20, הא-6, ואו-13. הא, this adds up to the numerical value of the word 45=אדם. We have already pointed out that man is not called אדם except in conjunction with his mate, his wife. It is known that woman is the מלוי of man, i.e. complements him through her pregnancy. [The process of procreation for man would be impossible without this. Ed.] The alternate name for woman, i.e. 19= חוה. When you consider that the difference between the spelling of the Ineffable Name in letters rather than in words is 19, [45 instead of 26] this demonstrates that G–d's name too is made up of a masculine element and a מלוי, a feminine element. As a unit then, man and woman are called אדם.

The two words "לאמר" that we mentioned earlier as apparently superfluous, have something in common. The repeated "דבור" suggests that there was an exoteric (נגלה) as well as an esoteric (נסתר) element in what the Torah tells us here. In 25,10 the exoteric meaning is to inform the people of the noble lineage Pinchas was descended from, whereas in 25,12 they are to be informed of an additional dimension of Pinchas' greatness, i.e. that he is equated with the prophet Elijah. This is alluded to in the words "because he displayed jealous fervor on behalf of his G–d" (25,13). The letters in the expression “לאל-היו,” are identical with the word “לאליהו,” “to Elijah.” The latter also excelled by displaying jealousy on behalf of G–d, something that he himself is quoted as saying to G–d in Kings I 19,10. He referred to his having slain four hundred Jewish priests who had forsaken the Torah to serve the idol Baal instead. Elijah's performance on Mount Carmel was similar to that of Pinchas at Shittim. The name אליהו (which in the Bible is frequently spelled without the letter Vav at the end) contains two names of G–d, i.e. El and Ya-h. In his encounter with Zimri Pinchas restored the honor of the name El, since the Israelites at the time had been guilty of insulting that name of G–d by serving the El of the Moabites and Midianites, "וישתחוו לאלהיהן" (Numbers 24,2). The second of the Ten Commandments specifically prohibits a Jew prostrating himself before an alien deity (Exodus 20,4). Pinchas' deed restored the relations between G–d and Israel which the people's behaviour had upset. His deed, when analysed, consisted of discrediting a man and a woman who respectively were leaders of their tribes, or, in the case of Cozbi, whose father was an ancestral tribal head. The Torah emphasizes the word איש and אשה, when referring to these two both in 25,8, and in 26,14-15, although there is no need for this. We have mentioned repeatedly that the letters "י and ה" in the Hebrew for "man" and "woman" teach us that only when they remain aware of G–d's Presence in this world are they safe from burning up in the passion of their sexuality, seeing that without those letters of G–d's name their names would signal merely masculine and feminine "fire" respectively. The name of G–d contained in those two people whom Pinchas slew was Ya-h. These two had disgraced the name of G–d by their conduct. The Torah in order to draw our attention to all this repeats: …. ושם … איש … ושם האשה, (26,14, 26,15). Rashi already explained that at the count of the people after this episode the peculiarly worded names of the tribes i.e. ה-ראובנ-י, and not simply ראובן demonstrated that the name of each tribe contained the name of G–d. G–d thus personally testified-that the members of all these tribes were conceived while their respective parents maintained absolute chastity. This too is the meaning of Psalms 122,4: שבטי י-ה עדות לישראל, "Israel are G–d's tribes, as per G–d's personal testimony." The letter ו in the word שלום, is "amputated" in 25,12. Baal Haturim points out that the numerical value of that word equals זהו משיח, "this is the Messiah." By diminishing the size of that letter, it is as if one had not thought about the last letter in the name of אליהו. Elijah is the prophet who announces the imminent arrival of the Messiah and prepares people for that. Removing part of the letter ו is meant to convey to us that Elijah (as alluded to by the absence of the last letter in his name), will materialise when one least thinks of him.. The letters added to the names of the tribes during this count therefore can be viewed as making up the second name of G–d contained in the name אליה, the name Ya-h. The Torah informs us in Exodus 6,25 that Pinchas' father had married one of the daughters of Putiel, who according to Midrash Hagadol fattened (play on word Putiel) all the idols in the world and the other tribes despised him on account of his ancestry. Since the name פוטיאל concludes with the letters of the name of G–d, however, the Torah alerts us to the fact that he converted to monotheism, i.e. El Ya-h. The whole verse is an allusion to Joseph who controlled his desire in his involvement with the wife of his master Potiphar, whose similarly sounding name reminds us of what took place then. Just as Joseph preserved the holy covenant with G–d at that time, so Pinchas, his descendant maternally, restored the holy covenant with G–d by taking G–d's revenge on Zimri. As a result, G–d granted him "My covenant Peace." Targum Yonathan on that verse says that Pinchas was made into an angel who would live until he could announce the final redemption. It is further written (of Pinchas) that G–d's covenant of life and well-being was with him (Malachi 2,5), that "the true Torah was in his mouth. He walked with Me in peace and equity, nothing perverse was on his lips. He served Me with complete loyalty; he held many back from committing iniquity, for the lips of a priest guard knowledge and people seek Torah from his mouth, seeing that he is an angel of the Lord G–d of Hosts" (Ibid 6). This verse clearly alludes to Pinchas, since Pinchas became an angel, as our sages comment on Joshua 2,4, (Tanchuma quoted by Rashi). Since Pinchas held back many from sinning, he is described by the prophet as having the true Torah issuing forth from his mouth. "Truth" is an element that reinforces and strengthens religious belief and practice. It is not something merely personal, but is something that must be demonstrated to the community in order to be capable of convincing such a community to do penitence. Such a result is called אמת, truth. Truth is something of an everlasting nature.

However, I (של"ה) propose to pursue a slightly different approach. By means of these two letters "א-ה," the apparent deficiency which we mentioned after showing how the camp of Yehudah with its image of אירה, amounted to 216, or three times the numerical value of the permutated Ineffable Name, can be made up. Each of the four flags also had three permutations each of the ineffable four -lettered name of G–d inscribed on them, corresponding to the fact that each flag represented three tribes. That this was so can be gleaned from the verse in Psalms 122,4: ששם עלו שבטים, שבטי ה'. The appropriate translation would be: "There the tribes, the tribes of the Lord, ascended" (to the Jerusalem of the Celestial Regions). The reason for inscribing these permutations on each of the flags was to have the 72-lettered (worded, according to some Kabbalists) name of G–d inscribed thereon. This has been pointed out in the Sefer Habahir, and is referred to in Pardes Rimonim. We read there that a certain Rabbi Amorai expounded on the verse השמים ושמי השמים לא יכלכלוך (Kings I 8,27) "Neither the heavens nor the heavens of the heavens can contain You," that this proves that G–d has 72 names, and that all of them are incorporated in the שבטים, the twelve tribes. We know that this is so, since the Torah writes in Exodus 28,10, ששה משמותם על האבן האחת, ואת שמות הששה הנותרים על האבן השנית כתולדותם. "The names of six of the tribes on the one stone, (gem of the Ephod) and the names of the remaining six tribes on the second stone, according to the order of their births." These two stones of the אפוד, just as the 12 stones of the breastplate, חושן, of the High Priest, are לזכרון, as a remembrance. Since the words "as a remembrance” are used both times, it it is clear that both contained the same. Alternatively – even better in our context – since the Torah mentions only the number twelve, we must consider that the twelve stones had six facets each and that the total number of facets is thus 72. The deeper meaning of the sacrifices offered by the Princes in Parshat Nasso of which the Torah says in its summation שנים עשר בקר ושש עגלות צב, "six draught carts and 12 oxen,” may well be connected with this concept. The Torah tells us by mentioning the number 12, that G–d employs 12 מנהיגים," managers," each of whom is equipped with six כוחות, specific capabilities. The Pardes Rimonim elaborates on this.