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Created: 02 July 2026

In this week’s parasha, Hashem describes to Moshe how the land of Israel should be allotted to the different tribes): “Only through lot shall the Land be apportioned; they shall inherit it according to the names of their fathers' tribes,” (26:56). 

While this is not the first expression of a lottery in the Torah (the lottery of the two goats for Yom Kippur is the first), the complex nature of this land lottery was unique. The Gemara (Bava Batra 122a) describes the exact process:                                           

Elazar the High Priest was dressed with the Urim VeTummim, and Joshua and all the Jewish people were standing before him, and a lottery receptacle containing the names of the tribes and another lottery receptacle containing the names of the boundaries of the twelve different regions of Eretz Yisrael were placed before him. And Elazar would ascertain the assignments of land with the Divine Spirit and say, in accordance with the notification of the Urim VeTummim: The name of the tribe Zebulun now emerges from the receptacle in the lottery, and the region whose boundary is Akko emerges with it from the other receptacle. After stating this, he would mix the lots in the receptacle of the tribes and the lot of Zebulun would emerge in his hand. He would then mix the lots in the receptacle of the boundaries, and the boundary of Akko would emerge in his hand.

After reading of this grand land allotment ceremony, one can only be left wondering why this whole procedure was even necessary, with both the Urim V’Tumim/Kohein Gadol’s divine declaration followed by the actual lottery!? Why was it not enough to merely have one or the other?

The Rashbam (1085-1158) explains that really the lottery was the main determinant of which tribe would receive each portion of land. However, the Urim V’Tumim was also necessary in order to give the Jewish people a vote of confidence that the lottery was truly divine and wasn’t based on randomness.

Dr. Ely Mertzbach is a math professor at Bar Ilan and wrote an entire book on the topic of lottery and Jewish thought – Higayon HaGoral. He notes a fascinating observation on the above Gemara and land lottery ceremony. If you were to calculate the probability that Elazar would correctly “call the numbers”, declaring which of the 12 tribes would be picked together with the corresponding land from the other 12 lots for every single one of the 24 lots drawn, the odds of that occurring correctly in the exact same sequence are beyond comprehension, more than 1 in a quintillion odds! He says the odds of that happening are about the same as a monkey typing randomly in a computer and ending up with the exact sentence “Only through lot shall the Land be apportioned..”

What is clear though, says Professor Mertzbach, is that this dual lottery allotment was necessary. On the one hand, it needs to be divinely decreed, as this was not just a typical inheritance distribution, but rather one related to the holy land of Israel. On the other hand, everything must be done within the normal rules of nature and chance in order to prevent accusations and aspersions cast on a purely Divined declaration of who received which land.

One last reflection on the land lottery. The typical modern-day lottery generally allows for one grand prize winner, perhaps several smaller prizes as well, leaving the millions of others as losers, with nothing to show for their efforts or ticket purchase. However, the lottery for the land of Israel was not a “winner takes all” approach. Rather, it was one where “everyone’s a winner.” Some of the tribes received larger portions and others smaller but the same Gemara above explains earlier that all portions were equal in value. And every tribe, every single family within the Jewish people, would receive a portion in the land of Israel.

Today as well, whether you choose to live in San Francisco, New York, London or Yerushalayim, each and every Jew has a portion in the land of Israel. Every single Jew has what is referred to by the state of Israel as “the law of return,” allowing any Jew the legal right to move to Israel and become a citizen. Though we just recently celebrated July 4th, Parashat Pinchas is an opportunity to remind us of our true allegiance, with our portion in the land of Israel, whether that means financially supporting the country, visiting when you are able, or even taking the plunge and making Aliyah, the greatest claim to your stake! 

I end with an adapted version to Woody Guthrie’s hit song about America:
This land is your land, this land is my land, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean waters, this land was made for you and me.