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Why did Hashem (ה׳) add divine letters to family names during the census in Pinchas, forty years after the Exodus? Zimri's sin represented an ideological attack claiming no fundamental difference exists between Jews and non-Jews physically. This divine testimony affirmed authentic Jewish lineage precisely when needed - after Zimri's challenge to kedushas Yisrael threatened the entire purpose of creation.
This shiur examines the census taken in Parshas Pinchas following the plague that killed 24,000 people after Zimri's sin with Kozbi. Rabbi Yeshaya Greenberg ZT"L analyzes Rashi (רש"י)'s explanation of why Hashem (ה׳) added a Hey at the beginning and Yud at the end of each family name during this counting - placing the divine Name (Yud-Hey) as testimony that these individuals were truly the children of their Jewish fathers, not products of illicit relationships with Egyptians during the slavery period. The shiur addresses a fundamental question: why was this divine testimony necessary specifically at this time, forty years after leaving Egypt, rather than immediately upon the Exodus? Rabbi Yeshaya Greenberg ZT"L explains that Zimri's actions with Kozbi represented far more than a simple sin - it was an ideological attack on the very concept of kedushas Yisrael (Jewish holiness). When Zimri challenged Moshe by comparing his Midianite wife Tzipporah to Kozbi, he was essentially arguing that there is no fundamental difference between a Jew and a non-Jew on a physical level.
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Parshas Pinchas
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