Pinchas 2021
Heroes get their hands dirty; everybody is a somebody; and the call of duty
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And here’s some of what I have to say about this week’s Parsha; I hope you enjoy it, and as always, I hope you have a fabulous Shabbos.
Dirty Business
4 minute read
“Thou shalt not kill.”
Most societies consider murder to be an extremely serious crime. Although it’s one of the Ten Commandments, it’s probably one of those things that doesn’t require revelation for us to be aware of it; it’s intuitive and near-universal across almost all ages and civilizations.
In political science, the state has a monopoly on violence; the state alone has the right to use or authorize physical force. One of the hallmarks of civil society is that humans do not commit wanton acts of violence against each other.
In our Tradition, even though Jewish courts and governments historically possessed this power, they were judicious to the extreme in its application; a court that killed more than once in a lifetime was considered bloodthirsty.
And yet, on the other hand, the Torah presents us with the story of Pinchas, heralded as he is for the public assassination of a political leader! His act is jarring for at least two reasons. Firstly, the killing apparently makes him a hero; and secondly, it’s an extrajudicial killing – only the state can commit acts of violence, and Pinchas was a civilian!
Pinchas was just a civilian, and the Torah doesn’t advocate violence; how is Pinchas a hero for being a killer?
It’s an important question because the answer is revealing.
Pinchas is not a hero for being a killer; he’s a hero for something else.
God never endorses the killing; God endorses Pinchas’ passion – הֵשִׁיב אֶת־חֲמָתִי מֵעַל בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּקַנְאוֹ אֶת־קִנְאָתִי בְּתוֹכָם. If that sounds like a distinction without a difference, it’s not; our Tradition does not laud the killing. Our Sages say that while it may have been the right thing to do, we don’t do that – הלכה ואין מורין כן.
The Chomas Esh reminds us that the Torah is given to individuals; the Ten Commandments are stated in the second person, to each of us personally – I am Hashem your God; Thou shall not kill. Pinchas did his duty to his God as he understood it, the masses be damned – תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר קִנֵּא לֵאלֹהָיו – that’s why he’s a hero, for his boldness and courage.
It’s worthwhile to note that in the heat of the moment, Pinchas could not know what we know. He wasn’t a prophet, and he could not know that the story would have a happy ending for him. Up to that point, as Rashi notes, Pinchas was a nobody in everyone’s eye.; but he took an enormous risk. The vast majority of the camp had fallen prey to the ladies of Midian. While some people withdrew and could remain above the fray, Pinchas alone stepped into the fray, stood against them, and challenged the ringleader everyone looked towards.
Humans are heavily socialized creatures; we often hold ourselves to the standards of the people around us. One proverb suggests that our character and mentality are the average of the five people we spend the most time with! We do what others do, and we don’t do what others don’t; we don’t like to stand out from our peers, so we excuse our shortcomings by hiding in the crowd.
While it’s certainly the inflection point in the story, it bears considering what Pinchas thought would happen. He can’t have expected to survive, and he stepped into the fray anyway.
That’s why he’s a hero, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the killing.
He’s a hero because he steps towards the unthinkable against all odds. He doesn’t ask or wait for anyone’s permission. He remembers his identity and where he comes from – פִּינְחָס בֶּן־אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן־אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן. And through his bold act, he reveals that they and we have had the power and capacity to do more all along. His bold act stands as an example that draws the best from people who think they are helpless and with no power. He doesn’t preach or shout at the people who are caught up in trouble, nor at the people who are too scared to get involved – he just led by example, bold and brave in the face of danger, fear, and uncertainty.
That’s what God endorses, and it’s the act of courage that sparks salvation. God could have stopped the plague; God could have foiled the threat posed by the Midianite women wandering into the camp at multiple junctures along the way. But God doesn’t step in to avert the catastrophe until one of the people bravely risks himself to do what needs to be done – הֵשִׁיב אֶת־חֲמָתִי מֵעַל בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּקַנְאוֹ אֶת־קִנְאָתִי בְּתוֹכָם.
The Midrash imagines an internal Heavenly discussion before God created humanity, where Charity and Kindness advocate for God to proceed, as humans will be good and kind to each other. But Truth and Peace objected because humans will fight and lie. The dispute was tied in deadlock, and God threw Truth out, so Charity and Kindness carried the day, and God created humanity.
The Kotzker observed that God had to throw Truth out, not Peace. Because it wasn’t about a majority, it’s because the Truth doesn’t require backup. The Truth is the truth, and however many people stand against it, the truth will out.
As the example of Pinchas shows, it takes heroic courage and determination to go against the crowd, tremendous conviction, inner strength, and willpower. We’re probably not going to get a shoutout and a magical blessing from God for doing the right thing. But the right thing remains the right thing.
If there’s something to do, don’t wait for someone else to do it; do it now, and don’t think twice. Stop thinking, start doing. Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it’s just doing it anyway.
It’s better to walk alone than a crowd going in the wrong direction.
Everybody is Somebody
2 minute read
After assuaging God’s wrath and ending the plague, the Torah hails Pinchas:
פִּינְחָס בֶּן אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן הֵשִׁיב אֶת חֲמָתִי מֵעַל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּקַנְאוֹ אֶת קִנְאָתִי בְּתוֹכָם וְלֹא כִלִּיתִי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּקִנְאָתִי – Pinchas, son of Elazar, son of Ahron HaKohen, has turned My anger away from the Children of Israel with his zealously avenging Me among them so that I did not destroy the children of Israel in My zeal. (25:11)
The naming convention is usually X son of Y, and Rashi highlights how in this instance, the Torah traces Pinchas’ ancestry to his grandfather Ahron. Rashi comments that people had mocked Pinchas as being a grandson of Yisro, a former pagan worshipper, so the Torah goes out of its way to identify Pinchas as having good pedigree; that God didn’t see him as lower class.
This seems to reveal that past a threshold level, lineage and pedigree are things humans get caught up with; God doesn’t actually care! Because in other words, you do not need to be somebody to make things happen because a nobody to us is somebody to God!
Nowhere is this illustrated clearer than the opening of Yirmiyahu, where God appears to Yirmiyahu in his adolescence, and Yirmiyahu doesn’t think he has what it takes, that he’s just a kid and isn’t a speaker:
וָאֹמַר אֲהָהּ ה’ הִנֵּה לֹא-יָדַעְתִּי דַּבֵּר כִּי-נַעַר אָנֹכִי. וַיֹּאמֶר ה אֵלַי אַל-תֹּאמַר נַעַר אָנֹכִי כִּי עַל-כָּל-אֲשֶׁר אֶשְׁלָחֲךָ תֵּלֵךְ וְאֵת כָּל-אֲשֶׁר אֲצַוְּךָ תְּדַבֵּר – I said, “Alas, God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am just a kid!” And the Lord said to me, “Do not tell Me “I am just a kid!” Because wherever I send you, you will go, and whatever I command you, you will say!” (1:6-7)
R’ Nosson Vachtvogel wonders how many potential greats our world has lost to self-doubt. Even if God doesn’t say it to us the way he did to Yirmiyahu, God says it to use just the same – אַל-תֹּאמַר נַעַר אָנֹכִי. Let’s remember that we have no reason to suspect Yirmiyahu responds with self-effacing humility; he’s not lying! He has correctly and honestly assessed himself and found himself wanting, yet God still dismisses these excuses – not because they are wrong, but because they ultimately don’t matter.
R’ Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin teaches that you ought to believe in yourself in the same way you believe in God. If you think God doesn’t believe in you, you don’t properly understand what believing in God entails. Your consciousness is rooted in your soul, a fragment of God – חלק אלוק ממעל. God saw fit to send that part of Himself into the world in the shape of you, which is to say that God very literally believes in you, and we know that because you are here.
It’s easier to believe in yourself if someone else does it first. And God believes in all of us!
So don’t forget that God saw fit to share you with us; you’re somebody.
The Call Of Duty
2 minute read
In the language of prayer, our Sages use metaphors about “gates of prayer” to explain how it works. For example, the final prayer of Yom Kippur is called Neila, utilizing the imagery of “closing the gates” as we seize the last opportunity to squeeze in one final prayer.
The Gemara suggests that the gates of prayer aren’t always open, but one always does: the Gate of Tears. It doesn’t close because crying is the most potent form of prayer; it is invariably genuine and sincere, impossible to fake.
But a gate that never closes is just an open space! So why is there a gate of tears at all?
R’ Moshe Sherer suggests that there is a gate because not all tears are created equal.
When Balak and Bilam successfully schemed to hurt the Jewish People by sending the young women of Midian into the Jewish camp to seduce the men, the young men found it impossible to resist. The camp succumbed, sparking a devastating plague.
In the middle of a plague, with his brothers dying around him, a senior member of the Jewish government, Zimri, was more brazen than anyone else, and publicly flaunted his lewd misbehaviour in front of Moshe himself:
וְהִנֵּה אִישׁ מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בָּא, וַיַּקְרֵב אֶל-אֶחָיו אֶת-הַמִּדְיָנִית, לְעֵינֵי מֹשֶׁה, וּלְעֵינֵי כָּל-עֲדַת בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל; וְהֵמָּה בֹכִים, פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד. וַיַּרְא, פִּינְחָס בֶּן-אֶלְעָזָר, בֶּן-אַהֲרֹן, הַכֹּהֵן; וַיָּקָם מִתּוֹךְ הָעֵדָה, וַיִּקַּח רֹמַח בְּיָדוֹ. וַיָּבֹא אַחַר אִישׁ-יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל-הַקֻּבָּה, וַיִּדְקֹר אֶת-שְׁנֵיהֶם–אֵת אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאֶת-הָאִשָּׁה אֶל-קֳבָתָהּ; וַתֵּעָצַר, הַמַּגֵּפָה, מֵעַל, בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל – A Jewish man approached, and paraded the Midianite woman before Moshe’s eyes, and before the eyes of all the people, and they were crying at the doors of the Mishkan. Pinchas, son of Elazar, son of Ahron HaKohen saw this and took up a spear… He approached the group and pierced the two of them… And the plague stopped. (25:6-8)
The funny thing is, the Midianite women were not successful at drawing in all the Jews. Some of them resisted the obvious temptation, and, unsure what to do, they went to the holiest man, their leader Moshe, at the holiest spot they knew, the Mishkan, to cry and pray – וְהֵמָּה בֹכִים, פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד. These people of moral fiber cried and prayed for help, but that didn’t save the day.
The Torah is explicit that Pinchas’s assassination of the provocateurs stopped the plague, not their prayers – וַיִּדְקֹר אֶת-שְׁנֵיהֶם–אֵת אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאֶת-הָאִשָּׁה אֶל-קֳבָתָהּ; וַתֵּעָצַר, הַמַּגֵּפָה / הֵשִׁיב אֶת-חֲמָתִי מֵעַל בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, בְּקַנְאוֹ אֶת-קִנְאָתִי.
The good, well-intentioned Jewish People who cried and prayed are a non-factor, ignored in their entirety. If tears are the most sincere form of prayer and impossible to fake, why weren’t their prayers considered?
The Kotzker Rebbe taught there is a gate for tears because tears are not a substitute for action. If something is wrong and we respond only with tears and prayer, they are only crocodile tears, lip service, and window dressing. The tears can be genuine, but our prayers will go unanswered if our approach to problem-solving is fundamentally broken.
When something is wrong, it’s not enough to get all religious about it; prayer is necessary but not sufficient.
So what are you going to actually do about it?
Quote of the Week
Sunny days wouldn't be special, if it wasn't for rain,
Joy wouldn't feel so good, if it wasn't for pain.
— 50 Cent
Thought of the Week
An elderly man, in the final days of his life is lying in bed. In his stupor, he awakens to see a large group clustered around his bed. Their faces are loving, but sad.
The old man squints and smiles weakly and whispers, “My childhood friends come to say good-bye. I am so grateful.”
Moving closer, the tallest figure grasps the old man's hand and replies, “We are your best and oldest friends, but you abandoned us long ago. We are the unfulfilled promises of your youth. We are the unrealized hopes, dreams and plans that you once felt deeply in your heart, but never pursued. We are the unique talents that you never refined, the special gifts that you never discovered. Old friend, we have not come to comfort you, but to die with you.”
As a bright-eyed child, there was a great person you thought you could be. Take yourself seriously enough to be that person!