Upon first reading the narrative of Pinchas, one comes away
with a belief that Pinchas’s action, which was to throw a spear at Zimri and
Cosbi in an act of acute immoral behavior, was accepted by all as praiseworthy.
However, as noted by numerous commentators, the very fact that God had to “step
forward,” so to speak, and pronounce Pinchas’ actions as right and proper is an
indication that many people believed that he was culpable for murder, that he
did wrong by slaying a prince (Zimri).
Certainly, Pinchas immediately explained his actions, and certainly
there were many people who supported him and understood why he did what he did.
The fact that God spoke up for him is a reminder of how precarious it is for
anyone to assume that their actions are righteous, that their zealotry is pure.
Only by God specifying that it was indeed true that Pinchas had intent only for
God’s honor are we assured of this fact.
We live in an era without overt Divine intervention – meaning
in ways such as Hashem speaking to us. We can only make assumptions of
understanding how Hashem runs the world, and therefore we cannot even hope to
be accurate by announcing that any particular behaviour is the reason for current situations. We many want to be like Pinchus, but we do not have the clarity of righteousness that Pinchus had. Therefore, we
have to be careful in how we manage the zealotry of our anger. Of course, as
members of a modern society we would never think of literally killing another
person. Instead, we destroy them with words, with posts that cut apart their
lives.
Pinchas was unique in that he was able to harness his
zealotry, his fiery passion, to focus completely on God and honoring God. The
honest truth is that most of the time people speak in righteous indignation,
about any subject, there is a piece of them, maybe even a very, very small piece,
that is speaking up for their own honor. Perhaps the small voice is to be
recognized by the crowd of like-minded thinkers, or perhaps it is to be
acknowledged for the cleverness of the remark or the astuteness of the
observation, or perhaps even just to help shape the world into the way in which
the speaker truly believes it is meant to be. But it is rare that the goal is
be a continuation of God’s will, as was Pinchas’.
This does not mean that we should hide our beliefs or not
stand up for what is right. There is actually an incredible
juxtaposition in how to handle different situations when one reads forward in
the parsha and comes to the narrative of the daughters of Tzlephchad. As the
rules were being laid out for the division of the Land of Israel, somewhat
based on the numbers accounted for in a new census, the daughters of Tzlephchad
stepped forward and stated that as they had no brothers, they should, by right,
inherit the portion that would have been their dead fathers. Moshe took their
case to Hashem, who agreed with the five sisters. It is a segue into the laws of inheritance, but it
also shows that sometimes passion that is harnessed into rational discussion
can bring about change through more structured channels.
The daughters of Tzelaphchad presented a “landmark” case,
shifting the laws of inheritance. One could say they took a chance of being
rejected. One could argue that orderly channels are often clogged and unavailable.
These points are true, in the modern world, and so what we must aim for is to
find a middle ground. Hashem gave humankind the Torah, and He set the Jewish
people with the task of being a light unto the nations. It is up to us to maintain
those laws, to build a Torah society – but to do this we must learn to refrain
from tainted zealotry and to include passionate righteousness in our quest to bring
holiness to the world.
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