responded positively, separating the congregation from the rebels and their families. Numbers chapter 18 Professor Robert A. Oden, formerly of Dartmouth College, taught that the idea that spoils of holy war were devoted to God (, cherem), evident in , and , was revelatory of (1) as "to the victor belong the spoils", then since God owned the spoils, then God must have been the victor and not any human being, and (2) the sacred and religiously obligatory nature of holy war, as participants gained no booty as a motivation for participation. Professor Jacob Milgrom, formerly of the University of California, Berkeley, taught that the verbs used in the laws of the redemption of a firstborn son (, pidyon haben) in and and , "natan, kiddesh, he‘evir to the Lord," as well as the use of padah, "ransom," indicate that the firstborn son was considered God's property. Milgrom surmised that this may reflect an ancient rule where the firstborn was expected to care for the burial and worship of his deceased parents. Thus the Bible may be preserving the memory of the firstborn bearing a sacred status, and the replacement of the firstborn by the Levites in , 40–51; and may reflect the establishment of a professional priestly class. Milgrom dismissed as without support the theory that the firstborn was originally offered as a sacrifice. In April 2014, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of Conservative Judaism ruled that women are now equally responsible for observing commandments as men have been. The Committee thus concluded that mothers and fathers are equally responsible for the redemption of their first-born sons and daughters. Plaut reported that most Reform Jews have abandoned the ceremony of redemption of the first-born as inconsistent with Reform Judaism's rejection of matters relating to priestly privilege and special status based upon one's parentage or sibling birth order. reports that a shekel equals 20 gerahs. This table translates units of weight used in the Bible: Commandments According to Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are 5 positive and 4 negative commandments in the parashah. To guard the Temple area No Levite must do another's work of either a Kohen or a Levite One who is not a Kohen must not serve in the sanctuary Not to leave the Temple unguarded To redeem the firstborn sons and give the money to a Kohen Not to redeem the firstborn of a kosher domestic