Parasha Pinchas
By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.
SAN DIEGO — Know anyone who’s never faced frustration or adversity, or who’s realized all his or her dreams? Not even Moshe, this week’s parasha teaches us, can claim that he’s lived that life. Before Moshe faces his end, he surmounts his own disappointments and pain and focuses on insuring that he will leave a successor. Hashem showed Moses the Land of Israel and told him that he wouldn’t be allowed to bring the Jewish people into the Land. Moses immediately said: “May … God … appoint a man over the assembly, who shall go out before them … and let the assembly … not be like sheep that have no shepherd.” (Numbers 27:16-17) Moses places his hands on Joshua, announcing him to be the next leader.
In only eight verses, Hashem and Moshe create a succession plan. From this, we can learn a great deal about how to face our own end and what kind of person the Torah describes as being fit for a position of leadership.
With dignity, supreme wisdom, courage, faith, sacred acceptance, and an abiding trust in Hashem, we see Moshe confront his own humanity and solemnly accept his own mortality…with a remarkable commitment to the continuing needs of others.
We read of Pinchas, grandson of Aaron, who was described as a “zealot.” He was identified as adding anger to his zeal when he speared and killed a Jewish prince, Zimri, the prince of the tribe of Shimon, and a Midianite princess, for having illicit relations in the Tent of Meeting in front of Moshe and the leaders. Yet, he was rewarded, the parasha tells us, with a covenant of peace, his own Divine Brit Shalom.
Moses was troubled by the thought that such a person would be chosen as his successor. Rabbis Hissda, Yohanan, and Bar Hana in Sanhedrin 82a agree: “If the zealot seeks counsel [whether to punish the transgressors himself], we do not instruct him to do so.” As it says in B’midbar Rabbah, “Moses requested of the Blessed Holy One at the hour of his death, saying before God: ‘Master of the Universe, the mind of each and every one is known before you, and none of them are the same as another’s. When I am separated from them [by death], I ask of you please to set someone over them who will be patient with each and every one according to their uniqueness…’”
We also see that in this parasha, the name of Pinchas in verse 11 is written with a small yud. This may represent the lessening of Hashem’s name through his violence. Also, in verse 12, in the word shalom, the vav, which we also find in Hashem’s name, is written with a broken stem, showing perhaps a discomfort with rewarding Pinchas.
Interestingly the question is asked about Pinchas using a spear. Where did he learn to use a spear so well asks the Yalkut Me’am Loez, that he could kill two people at once? He tells us that Pinchas had bitachon and emunah in Hashem to help him accomplish this difficult task. And the Yalkut Me’am Loez tells us further that this mindset applies to every mitzvah. Begin a mitzvah and Hashem sends Siyata Dishmaya to achieve the mitzvah.
Given the turmoil we see in our world today, especially in our own Jewish world, I’m reminded of these ten two letter words, “If it is to be, it is up to me.” How can anyone be passive as we face the upheaval in our lives that current political forces bring? If we truly care, can we sit quietly? We cannot remain passive! Love of Judaism is not a passive experience. Love of another is not a passive experience. It is an active experience. Pinchas stepped forward and was described as a “zealot.” The daughters of Zelophahad bravely stepped forward, sending a single message, not one filled with conflict or disparity. But their work is not finished.
Hashem tells us, “Pinchas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the Israelites by displaying among them his passion for Me, so that I did not wipe out the Israelite people in My passion. . . . It shall be for him and his descendants after him a pact of priesthood for all time, because he took impassioned action for his God, thus making expiation for the Israelites.”
The Netziv, Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, in his commentary Ha’amek Davar, tells us, “As a reward for alleviating the wrath and anger of the Holy One, Blessed be He, [God] blessed him [Pinchas] with the attribute of peace, so that he would not be strict and intemperate. For the nature of the deed that Pinchas committed—to kill a soul by his own hand—would leave intense emotion in the heart afterwards. But because the deed was for the sake of heaven, came the blessing, that gentleness and the attribute of peace will always be with [Pinchas]. “
Hashem is telling us that Pinchas will no longer commit murder in the future. Now, this “zealot” will transform into a man of peace, channeling his energies into sacrificing animals, not killing human beings. This is the covenant of peace that Pinchas was rewarded. The Zohar tells us: “Now it is a rule that a priest who kills a human being becomes disqualified for the priesthood, and therefore by rights Pinchas should have been disqualified. But because he was jealous for the Holy One, blessed be God, the priesthood was assigned to him and to his descendants in perpetuity.”
And what of us? Can we be satisfied in being passive in the face of our tumultuous times, filled with antisemitism? Will we be strong enough to raise our voices and stand tall, free of the destructive emotion of anger? Anger, it’s been said, is a shortcut to failure. Will our love of Judaism lead us to step forward and act against the vile acts we see throughout the world? What lessons will we take from Pinchas? The pursuit of justice requires that not just to speak out, but also to act. Perhaps ultimately, we learn the path to justice is not filled with destruction, anger, and rage, but with love, compassion, and repentance. When life asks us to act and correct injustice, let us do so with the flow of love, not a flood of abhorrent hate. But let us do whatever is necessary!
With Tisha B’Av and its haunting melodies around the corner, yes, it’s only a couple of weeks away, another set of niggunim, melodies, will usher in the High Holidays. This time of year, and this parasha, also suggest a time of leadership transition, continuing leadership for many local synagogues and community organizations, and the need to begin thinking about identifying trailblazers, those who will step forward with courage to take bold action and create positive change in our troubled world. The parasha shows us the need to identify talented people who can address a community’s unique needs and be catalysts of positive change within the framework of holiness. Courage, peace, strength, shalom…this is the covenant that we wisely pray for today, one we can individually bring and that with which our leaders will be infused, IY’H.
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Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D., prepares a weekly D’var Torah for Young Israel of San Diego, where he and his family are members. They are also active members of Congregation Adat Yeshurun. He may be contacted via michael.mantell@sdjewishworld.com