Pinhas: Zealotry Leads to Shalom with a Broken Leg
We are just a few days away from the
17th of Tammuz, the date that marks the beginning of the fall of
Jerusalem, the period of” Beyn hameytzarim”—Between the Straits- that
leads up to the 9th of Av. It
is part of a series of tragedies surrounding the fall of the first Temple and
repeated in some variation with the fall of the Second Temple.
The rabbis question the justice in
the destruction of the Temple the first time, and find their answer, form the
accusations of the prophets themselves, that the Jewish people had become
degenerate.” Why was the first Sanctuary destroyed? Because of three
[evil] things which prevailed there: idolatry, immorality, bloodshed” ( Yoma
9b)
But what of the Second Temple ? What had gone wrong. “ Why was the second
Sanctuary destroyed, seeing that in its time they were occupying themselves
with Torah, [observance of] precepts, and the practice of charity? Because
therein prevailed hatred without cause- sinat hinam. That teaches you that
groundless hatred is considered as of even gravity with the three sins of
idolatry, immorality, and bloodshed together .”
What is this “ groundless hatred” that the sages were referring
to?
We
know that this was the period of the “kanaim”, a movement that Josephus placed
on equal footing in importance with the Pharisees, Saducees, and Essene, the
movement that led the revolt against Rome, the movement that led, then to the
very destruction of the Temple. According to Josephus, they were in principle,
similar to the Pharisees, but added an absolute demand for Liberty, with God as
their only authority. They were also
known as “ Biryonim” in Rabbinic sources, which means, despite their noble
aspiration, they were ,very simply, boors and ruffians. Yet another term, for
them or their affiliates, was “Sicarii”, which means “ dagger men”, as they
were, we are told, won’t to mingle in
the crowds and assassinate anyone that went against their opinions.
Now,
a first reading of our Torah portion would show that to be a “ kanai”, a zealot
for God is a very good thing.
At the last portion, the children of
Israel, after their blessing by Balaam, are now defeated by their weakness for
exotic women who lead them in pagan revelry. One of the leaders, Zimri, takes
up with a Midianite princess, Cozbi, right in front of Moses as a terrible
plague breaks loose.
Moses and the leaders are dumbfounded; their
only response is to burst out in tears as they see the community as a whole
backsliding.
Something must be done. God calls
for action; Moses calls for action. But no one does anything. Suddenly, Pinhas(
Phineas), alone, rushes into action, and single-handedly slaughters the chief
Israelite and his temptress.
That was at the very end of last week’s portion. This week, as we open
Pinhas, we have words of praise and
blessing from God to Pinhas, for he “ turned My wrath away from the people of
Israel, for he was very jealous ( bekano et kinati) for my sake.”
Pinhas is rewarded with a great prize: Behold,
I give you my Briti-shalom, G-d’s
covenant of peace. It would seem to be an ideal prize.
. The
Sages ask, though, why should he have been given this “Covenant of Peace” from
God on high? Because he had earned the anger, not the approval of the leaders.
He had taken the law into his own hands and they were ready to expel him for
it. That is the explanation for God’s
intervention. But it is an unusual intervention and an unusual blessing for an
act of killing!
The sages note that the word Shalom
is written in the Torah-text in an odd manner—the letter Vav in Shalom is cut in the middle! The peace is, so to
say, incomplete
Thus, the Ktav Sofer ( Rabbi Shmuel
Benyamin Schreiber) explained it: It is true that sometimes, we must take
drastic action to save a situation; nevertheless, we must very quickly step back from it to a
secure and solid basis, which is peace, the foundation and secret of all blessings.
Pinhas, by tradition, is said to
have lived on in the spirit of Elijah, who is the subject of our Haftarah today
as well.
Elijah lives in a day when the
leadership of the people of Israel have abandoned their faith and persecuted
the few loyal followers of the G-d of Israel. His king is married to the pagan Jezebel , who has
persecuted the Israelite faith and installed Phoenician Baal as the official god..
He is frustrated and depressed, and wants to die as he sees everything around
him failing. He is called, however, to run to the Sinai,( Horeb) to the same
mountain of Moses, where he dwells in a cave as did Moses after the Golden Calf
as he awaited the visionof God.
God calls to him: What are you here
for?
Elijah now declares his loyalty, Kano
kaneti , the same words used to
describe Pinhas. The two are one and the same soul. The childen of Israel have
abandoned the covenant, destroyed the sanctuaries, killed the prophets, and
only he alone is left of all of them. Kano kaneti.I have been exceptionally
zealous.
The word for “ jealous” in Hebrew,
is much more powerful than the current English usage. It is to be understood
rather, in its original root, “Zealous”, filled with a burning drive and passion
that brooks no half-way measures.
Is this an endorsement of zealotry
as in the sense of enthusiasm, or zealotry in the sense of extremism?
In the same way, Elijah declares, I
have been very zealous. It is true, in Elijah’s day, the situation called for
drastic action. Yet, Elijah is given a very different vision. There is wind,
powerful enough to smash boulders, but God is not in the wind. Then earthquake,
yet no God, and then fire , yet again, G-d is not present. Then, there is a kol
demamah dakah, a still small voice. In that silent voice, only there is G-d
found.God is not in any physical manifestation, just as Moses, in his day,
discovered that God was not visible in any physical manifestation. Now Elijah
steps out of the cave, he knows God is present, and God repeats the very same
question: What are you here for?
Elijah is put in the position of
Moses—he could now be as great as Moses!
Then, Elijah gives the exact same answer as before: Kano Kaneti-
word for word. God now gives him his instructions, anoint this, appoint this,
and then, “appoint Elsiha ben Shafat of Abel Mecholah to be prophet in your
place.” !
Elijah is told now to anoint Elisha
to be prophet in his place! Elijah is
fired!
Moses pleaded to God at the Golden Calf on
behalf of his people, but Elijah could only kvetch!
The commentators note: he has not
learned his lesson- and “ Are you here
still with the spirit of revenge.”
That is G-d’s response to zealotry. That
was the lesson in the fire and earthquake: G-d was in the silent voice,
because, again as Metzudat David states, Chaftez Chesed Hu, He seeks lovingkindness!
True, extraordinary times call for
extraordinary acts—but beware of zealotry for the sake of zealotry!. Pinchas must be tamed by the covenant of
peace.
As for Elijah?
You
now that he comes around every year to
the seder and to the Havdalah; he also comes around, it is said, to every brit.
A legend states that it is Elijah’s punishment—because he doubted his people’s
loyalty to the covenant, he is condemned to be present at every brit, every
time a new Jewish baby joins the covenant. Hence, the Chair of Elijah at every
brit.
The
later prophets turn Elijah’s character around and the Sages affirm this . He must
come back to make peace in the world,
for it is said, "Behold I send to
you Elijah the prophet. . .and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the
children and the heart of the children to their fathers" (Malachi 3:23-24
and Mishnah Eduyoth 8:7)
These past weeks, for the people of
Israel, have been a very trying week. Three teenagers were murdered by
terrorists at the active incitement of Hamas leadership. We also discovered
that Israelis, too ,are not perfect and that a gang of would-be “heroes”
murdered a Palestinian youngster. So far, however, we do know that there is no
organization behind them and there is no movement of zealots that threatens to
take over the Israeli people as has happened to the Palestinians, as has been
happening in Syria and Iraq. It seems, moreover, that these criminals were
themselves simply soccer gangsters, the lowest of the low. It would indicate
that Israel does have a serious internal problem, one of its own lost youth,
that has nothing to do with war and peace , or national interests but that is
to be dealt with as an educational and social issue..
We have faith, that overall, the people
of Israel, standard bearers for the rest of the Jewish world are able to
control themselves and restrain themselves from “ sinat Hinam”, from causeless
hatred. We have faith that Israeli society reflects that ideal.
When the three Israelis were kidnapped,
Palestinian social media were full of tweets of celebration. When the one
Palestinian youngster was murdered, Israelis as a whole hung their heads in
sorrow.
Hundreds of rockets have been fired
indiscriminately from Gaza in these last weeks alone, fired openly by Hamas,
without any warnings. The Israelis have retaliated, attacking the specific
headquarter and bunkers of those launching the attack. The difference has been,
that when the Israelis are ready to attack a house, if there are innocent
civilians inside, the Israelis pick up the phone, call in advance, the people
leave the house, and then the Israelis
blow up an empty house, full of munitions.
It is Israeli trucks that are
bringing food, gas and fuel to the Gaza strip
in the midst of fighting. It is Israeli hospitals that are still
treating Gazans despite the fighting.
How it will resolve itself, we don’t
know. What we do hope and pray, is that the people of Israel can continue to
defend themselves without being tempted to go the way of Pinchas. We pray that the
zealots in Gaza, in Syria, in Iraq learn
to love their own children more than they hate us.
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