Jews have an almost supernatural ability to continue.

It is both our greatest strength and, occasionally, our most baffling national characteristic.

A missile lands. We check that everyone is alive, complain that the municipality still hasn’t fixed the pothole, argue about whose fault the war is, queue for coffee, and ask whether anyone knows a good plumber.

Parashat Pinchas is, in many ways, the Torah’s manual for the morning after.

Not the crisis itself. The day after.

The parashah opens dramatically enough. Pinchas acts. A plague ends. Twenty-four thousand Israelites are dead. It is the sort of national catastrophe that ought to dominate the remainder of the narrative.

Instead, the Torah does something almost offensively practical.

Sort out an inheritance dispute.

Appoint the next leader.

Review the daily offerings.

It feels almost… cold.

Surely there should be speeches. Mourning. Reflection. A national commission of inquiry. A few strongly worded press conferences. At the very least, a committee.

Instead, the Torah simply gets on with the business of rebuilding a nation.

That sequence is not accidental.

The........

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