Parshas Pinchas: Do You Stand Out

 Dedicated to a refuah shelaima for Yona Yaakova bas Mina, Chana Zelda bat Gittel Yita, Chaya Sarah bas Esther Leah, Moshe Aaron ben Necha Itta, Binyamin ben Simcha, and Yaakov ben Esther Malka.

 

The immediate thought when one sees a title like “Do You Stand Out” for Parshas Pinchas is that it is an obvious grab at a Dvar Torah. The parsha opens with Hashem publicly commending Pinchas for standing up for His honor. Pinchas’ actions, as the commentaries relay, could, with just a slight variance of moment, with a slight shift in intent, have been a crime. However, because his intentions were correct and his actions were done in just the right way, because his only thought was for Hashem, Pinchas became a Cohen with his brothers and Klal Yisrael learned what purposeful zealotry was.

 

Pinchas, however, is not the only one who stands out in this parsha. One could almost call it a motif. For instance, here too is where five women -  Machlah, No’ah, Choglah, Milkah, and Tirtzah – distinguish themselves in the Torah.  It is often mentioned how rare women are named in the Torah (although the genealogical recounting in Parshas Pinchas pauses, so to speak, to callout both Serach and Yocheved), and that reflects the true greatness of these 5 women because being named in the Torah with details – outside of a genealogical listing – represents significant action.

 

 Again, like Pinchas’ zealotry, this is a popular topic for divrei Torah. These women didn’t let convention stop them from approaching Moshe and asking for the right to inherit. And, again, like Pinchas, one can imagine that their actions when they first approached Moshe raised some eyebrows.

 

It is not just the fact that these were five women who approached Moshe – although that is not without its significance – it is the fact that they requested a change to Torah that had been delivered to them. It is interesting to note that there are only two examples (although I could be wrong) of Moshe being approached to change the law after it has been given. One is the request that led to Pesach Sheni, and the other is the request of the tribe Reuven and Gad to stay on the far side of Yarden. Having the courage to make a case for themselves is significant – all the more so, as with Tzelaphchad’s daughters and the men who asked for Pesach Sheni, when it is done l’shem shemayim.

 

Their actions could, perhaps, be interpreted as acts of quiet zealotry.  While Pinchas had only moments to act, Tzelaphchad’s daughters received the law, processed it, and refused to accept that their family branch would be cut off from their inheritance in the Land of Israel. That last bit is the important part. The daughters’ concern was for a portion of the Promised Land, not gold or jewels or wealth. Their concern was to have their father’s household be equal in its elevation.

 

This parsha contains the public acknowledgement of greatness of one other person: Yehoshua. Like Pinchas, Yehoshua’s significant actions are not recounted in this parsha. However, when Hashem tells Moshe that he will not enter the Promised Land and Moshe requests that Hashem appoint a leader, Hashem tells Moshe to take Yehoshua bin Nun, “asher ruach bo” – who has a spirit in him.

 

What does the spirit mean? One idea is that it refers to the midrash of the yud added to his name before he entered the land of Canaan with the other scouts, how Moshe subtly changed his name to give him extra spiritual strength in the journey to come. This extra experience changes him and leads him to grow into the person best able to succeed Moshe.

 

The fact is that the congregation did turn against them during the reporting of the spies, but they held their ground. And afterwards, they could have been looked at with aspersion for having brought havoc upon the people by contesting the majority. But that didn’t stop them.  In a piece on Parshas Shelach, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacs notes that having the ability to stand apart was not difficult for Calev as he had the natural spiritual courage inherited through his descendance from Yehuda. Yehoshua, however, had no such support. He had to work for it. In fact, Moshe even recognized that when he changed his name from Hoshua to Yehoshua. The name change, according to Rabbi Sacs, tells us something important. “Anyone who has experienced a name change has been inducted into a growth mindset.” That stayed with him, and Hashem here recognizes his significance.

 

Pinchas, Tzelaphchad’s daughters, and Yehoshua were all honored in the Torah because their actions, which could have been misconstrued or caused them to be derided by Klal Yisrael, were of pure intent. They are praised because they stood up for Hashem.

 

It should, however, be noted, that the parsha also expands itself when it lists the names of Dasan and Aviram as the sons of Nemuel of the tribe of Reuven  (as well as Kozbi, the seductive Midianitess – not to leave out a wicked woman). Dasan and Aviram stood up for the wrong thing. They, the commentaries say, were the actual instigators more-so than Korach, and their deeds are repeated here. They stood up for the wrong thing and are so castigated.

 

Most people will not have the opportunity in their lives to stand out the way Pinchas, Tzelaphchad’s daughters, and Yehoshua did. Nevertheless, they are people we can – and must – use as role models. We must look to Pinchas to remember that it is important to call out what is wrong, but to do so in the proper way. We must look to Machlah, No’ah, Choglah, Milkah, and Tirtzah to know that it is important to ask questions within the law because the Torah is a living law. We must look to Yehoshua to not stop at one great act but to ride forward on our spiritual strengths. Most of us may never rise to such true greatness, but we still need to find our own ways to stand out.

 

Wishing you all a beautiful Shabbas

Parshas Pinchas – The Power of Standing Up

 Dedicated to a Refuah Shelaima for Moshe Aaron ben Necha Itta, Binyamin ben Simcha, Chaya Sarah bas Esther Leah, and Sharon bas Shoshana

 

Parshas Pinchas is a parsha that focuses on bravery and heroism, on stepping forward in order to ensure that the correct path is followed. The greatest heroics in Parshas Pinchas, however, are not the remembrance of Pinchas’ act of casting his spear at the unabashed Zimri and Cosbi. Rather, the greatest act of bravery came from Machla, Noa, Chagla, Milca, and Tirza.

 

The story of the daughters of Tzelafchad is well-known. They requested of Moshe that they inherit their father’s portion in the upcoming allotments of the Promised Land. Moshe asked Hashem what to do. Hashem not only stated that the sisters were correct but set out the laws of inheritance to include daughters when there is no male heir. 

 

The sages note that these women were “wise, they are interpreters [of verses], and they are righteous. [That] they are wise [can be seen from the fact] that they spoke in accordance with the moment, (they presented their case at an auspicious time). As Rabbi Shmuel bar Rav Yitzḥak says: Tradition teaches that Moshe our teacher was sitting and interpreting in the Torah portion about men whose married brothers had died childless, as it is stated: “If brothers dwell together, [and one of them dies…]” (Bava Batra 119b:).

 

Bamidbar Rabbah 21:11 states: “What was their wisdom? It is that they spoke at that moment when Moshe was engaged in the portion of the inheritances: ‘To these the land shall be distributed’ (Bamidbar 26:53). They said to him: If we are like a son, let us inherit. If not, let our mother be subject to levirate marriage.” If a woman who bore a daughter did not need to go into a levirate marriage, then one could understand that a daughter had rights to inheritance like a son when there is no son.

 

Their claim was not a fancy or a whim but a complex aspect of halacha. Their goal was similar to the goal of the levirate Marriage – that the name of their family would not be lost to history.

 

We don’t often think of something like a legal assertion as being heroic, but what happened with the daughters of Tzelaphchad was as brave as that which happened with Pinchas. Pinchas knew the law and carried out that law by killing Zimri (and Cosbi). The daughters of Tzelaphchad knew the law and stood up to declare that it need to be enforced. 

 

They did something incredibly difficult and brave. They stood up and spoke out for themselves. 

 

This may not seem like such a brave thing, but it is something which should not be dismissed. The other recorded times in the Torah when someone approached Moshe with a challenge or a request things didn’t turn out so well (the spies, Korach, the complainers). The Or HaChaim notes that the Zohar in Parshas Balak comments that the daughters confronted Moshe with others around because they were worried that he would hold a bias against them. He writes: “Why would [women] who have been described as righteous by the Talmud assume that Moshe had hatred in his heart against them or their late father? … It is possible that they were afraid that just as with the people who had complained in Parshat Beha-a-lotcha, as well as the spies who had forfeited their inheritance in the land because they had raised their voices against Moshe and against G'd, Moshe would rule similarly against them on account of the sin of their late father” (Or HaChaim on Numbers 27:2:3).

 

The real bravery was not overcoming their fear of bias, however. Rather it was that these women saw that the law needed to be clarified and they did not leave it for someone else to speak up. Whether we like to discuss it or not, approaching the assembly and appealing to Moshe was entering the realm of the man’s world. In the Jewish world, halacha and its discernment is very much in the man’s realm. They didn’t let that stop them. They knew what their rights were, and they didn’t fall back to thinking of themselves as just helpless maidens or insignificant women. They stood up and put halacha first.

 

Little is known about the individual sisters. However, Hebrewversity .com had this interesting understanding of their names:

“Machla – like the Hebrew verb ‘Le-Cholel’ - which means ‘to move’ (and ‘to dance’ in Modern Hebrew). Noha -like the Hebrew verb ‘La-Nua’ - which means ‘to move’ as well. Choglah  – like the Hebrew verb ‘La-Chug’ – which means ‘to circle.’ Milcah – like the Hebrew verb ‘La-Lechet’ - which means ‘to walk.’ And Tirzah – like the Hebrew verb ‘La-Rutz’ – which means ‘to run.’

As you probably noticed they ALL have something to do with the concept of ‘moving’ naturally but in Hebrew ALL of these verbs are also connected to the concept of ‘initiating’ or simply ‘be active’ and that was precisely what the daughters of Zelophehad symbolized. (Hebrewversity .com)

 

The daughters of Tzelaphchad  - Machla, Noa, Chagla, Milca, and Tirza – moved Klal Yisrael. They refused to be complacent when they knew of a wrong that needed to be righted. They longed to move forward and have their descendants flourish uniquely among the burgeoning nation. And so they took action and Hashem said Kain- yes.

 

May we all have the strength to stand up when it is right and to present our needs calmly and respectfully and may our actions move us and all of Klal Yisrael ever forward. 

Parshas Pinchas: Pieces of Unity

 Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch has a beautiful commentary on Bamidbar 26:53, which is the opening of the section of the Torah in which Hashem explains how the Promised Land will be divided. The verse says: “To these shall the Land be divided as an inheritance, according to the number of names,” Rav Hirsch comments that this explains that the land was to be divided by each tribe, each family, and each male over twenty years of age. He then says: “This seems to be a realisation of what we have repeatedly remarked as being the fundamental character of the Jewish nation, that the greatest diversity of tribal family and individual characteristics within an equally great spiritual and moral uniformity belong to the calling of the People of the Torah. Each Tribe, each branch of it, each home had its own special characteristics which it is to keep and develop and which is to have its place on the common universal ground of the Torah…”

Reading this statement brings one to the startling realization that our constant call for Jewish unity is truly attainable - And yet, it remains so sadly elusive. Rav Hirsch here accentuates the beauty of twelve shevatim. Each tribe had their own character traits, their own minhagim, and their own strengths. A man from Dan could not be judgemental about a man from Gad being different from him – wearing different type of clothes or singing different tunes to a song – because it was recognized and understood that they would each be different. Different does not mean better and it does not mean worse. Human nature, however, has an unfortunate habit of thinking that something that is different needs to be something that is comparative. In every corner of the earth, people struggle to realize that it is part of the design of the world that different people have different ways of doing things.

It is actually interesting to take a moment and note that the need to be flexible, to accept and make room for variations on the norm, is a lesson from a separate perek of this week’s parsha. Tzelaphchad’s daughters approach Moshe and request to be the inheritors of their father’s land. Before his sin and punishment, Tzelaphchad was part of those who were to have a portion, and that portion was still the right of their family. In no way does there appear to be an opening for a deviation from the normal laws of inheritance, but the women of the family follow the appropriate channels and make their request. From their actions one could take the lesson that it is ok to step outside the norms as long as one does so in a manner befitting Torah, in a way that still recognizes Hashem and Torah above one’s personal desires.

In the modern age, we have come a long way to accepting differences among major Jewish communities. Ashkenazim and Sephardim have improved significantly on appreciating the cultural differences that make each distinct within the greater whole. The customs that once defined chassidim from misnagdim have blurred as each have taken minhagim from the other. And yet, we still have not come far enough. Even as we speak of respecting others’ differences, within our own communities we make judgements on miniscule variations. This one wears a colored shirt and that one does not… should such small differences really define people? The important part, as Rav Hirsch pointed out, is that all are living within “an equally great spiritual and moral uniformity.”

Jewish unity is a perpetual theme for Divrei Torah because our progress in Ahavas Chinam is two steps forward and one step back. Let us remember that our quest for true Jewish unity begins on the smallest level with our individual interactions. Rabbi Yochanan Kirschblum, in his book Thinking Outside the Box, Bamidbar, references Megila 6a, on which it records that the tribe of Zevulon complained that the other tribes received fields and vineyards and fertile land, while they had received hills and mountains, lakes and rivers. Hashem responded that in his portion would be found the precious chilazon, the snail that provided a unique blue die. Rabbi Kirschblum uses this Midrash to comment that “Each of us is like the land portion of Zevulon. Each of us has hidden valuable talents and abilities that are not readily visible to the undiscerning eye…each one of us has a hidden talent that is representative of all the mitzvos in the Torah.”

In our greater nation and within our individual communities, we have to stop looking at differences as threatening or problematic and start recognizing the values in our variations. We must work to accomplish this and to teach this skill to our children, and only then can we begin to understand the true power of the Jewish nation.

Channelling Zealotry (Pinchus)

Every few years, the world seems to grow angry. Protests and fighting seem to increase. It would seem that now is the perfect time for the world to examine the parsha of Pinchas, which begins with a declaration straight from God that Pinchus’ actions, detailed at the end of the previous parsha, were righteous.  One might sum Pinchas up by saying: Once there was a man named Pinchas who slew two people and received the praise of God because he did so out of zealotry to defend God’s honor and the rightfulness of the Children of Israel. In this day and age, however, perhaps that narrative should include a line that says: Don’t try this at home!

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.

The Privilege of Pinchas (Pinchas #1)

For his great act of zealotry, Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aaron the Kohain was rewarded with both a bris shalom (covenant of peace) and inheritable kahuna (he and his offspring were now part of the priesthood). Pinchas was the only descendant of Aaron that was born before Aaron and his sons were anointed as kohanim, thus making him the only Aaronite who was not a kohain. Reviewing this parsha and this commentary in particular led me to a question: Would the reward have been the same if Pinchas had not been a descendant of Aaron?

To understand the question, let me first present a brief review of the priesthood. Initially, the firstborn of Israel were meant to form the priesthood. However, one of the repercussions of the incident of the Golden Calf was that the firstborn lost that mandate. It was given, instead, to the Levites, who not only refrained from participating in the Golden Calf but who zealously responded when Moshe declared “Whosoever is on God’s side, let him come to me” (Exodus 32:26). Later, God specified the kahuna to Aaron and his sons and all that would be born to them.

Zealotry, passion, seems to be a necessary factor in attaining the priesthood, at least in the original generations. Yet one must ask, could Pinchas have been given a place in the priesthood if he had been a zealous man from any tribe other than a Levi and if he hadn’t been a descendant of Aaron?

It must have been hard growing up as the one Aaronite who wasn’t going to be a kohain. First there was all the fanfare around the dedication of the priests and then there was the necessarily detailed training of the upcoming generation. By the time Pinchas’ father took over the role of Kohain Gadol, were some of Pinchas’ young cousins already starting to serve in the Mishkan? How must Pinchas have felt during Korach’s rebellion, when so much of the argument seemed to revolve around the “special treatment” of his family?

These reflections on Pinchas’ state of mind are significant because it makes it easy to understand why his intentions might have been misunderstood - why anyone could have dared to have thought “Have you seen this grandson of Puti, the father of whose mother used to fatten calves for idolatry (referring to his other grandfather, Yitro!), and he has dared to slay a prince of one of Israel’s tribes!” (Rashi, citing Sanhedrin 82b).  The commentaries explain that God’s statement that “Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aaron Hakohain has turned back My wrath from the Israelites by displaying among them his passion for Me…” was a Divine intervention to make certain that no one doubted the purity of Pinchas’ zealotry.

What else could they have thought? With a background like Pinchas, they could easily have suspected him of being a man out to prove his worth. He could very well have been misunderstood as an outcast who had no definite place. Nechama Leibowitz noted that the sages were ready to excommunicate him, as she cites from the Torah Temimah (Rabbi Baruch Epstein):

“Such a deed must be animated by a genuine, unadulterated spirit of zeal to advance the glory of God. In this case, who can tell whether the perpetrator is not really prompted by some selfish motive, maintaining that he is doing it for the sake of God, when he has actually committed murder? That was why the Sages wished to excommunicate Pinchas, had not the Holy Spirit testified that his zeal for God was genuine. “

One could say Pinchas came by his passionate nature honestly. After all, this was a known character trait of his great-great grandfather, Levi. Some commentaries even suggest that this is one reason for the Torah mentioning that Zimri, the man whom Pinchas slew, was a prince of the tribe of Shimon. Shimon and Levi started out as a pair of zealous brothers willing to decimate Shechem after the immoral treatment of their sister Dinah. Levi, however, took that fire and passion and, over time, transformed it into a zealotry for God. The tribe of Shimon, thousands of whom died for their sins at Baal Peor, remained passionate people who never fully channelled that energy in the right direction. (Idea from the Tzena U’rena).

The factors of Pinchas’ life – being born before the kahuna, being born with the passion of a Levite, being a student and nephew of Moshe, and, even, perhaps, being just a tad bit of an outsider – were all important factors in Pinchas’ ability to be a true zealot.

It is written in the commentary of Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch:

Until now, Pinchas did not bear the character of a priest. But just like the tribe of Levi by their coming to the fore at the Golden Calf attained the rank of “Levites,” which made them worthy of their then being expressly chosen, so did Pinchas by his rescuing deed…truly act as a kohain, showing the way, and achieved the atoning devotion which the avodah of the priests in the Sanctuary symbolically performed.”

One further interesting note. In this week’s parsha, Pinchas is also granted a Bris Shalom, about which Nechama Leibowitz quotes the Netziv:

In reward for turning away the wrath of the Holy One, blessed be He, He blessed him with the attribute of peace, that he should not be quick tempered or angry. Since It was only natural that such a deed as Pinchas’ should leave in his heart an intense emotional unrest afterward, the Divine blessing was designed to cope with this situation and promised peace and tranquility of soul.

Had someone else other than Pinchas done such a deed they would probably have received a different reward. But as that is true, it must also be stated that the very factors that made it the right reward for him are the factors that led him to be the man that he was. 

No Cuddles with Cozbi (Pinchas #2)

The Torah in this week’s parsha (Pinchas) seems to go out of its way, after the conclusion of the story of Pinchas, to go back and name the man and the woman who were slain by Pinchas for their immoral behavior. Zimri, we are told by Rashi, deserves to be named because “Wherever it gives the genealogy of a good man in his praise, it gives the genealogy of a bad man mentioned in the same story to disparage him” (Midrash Tanchuma, Pinchas 2).

But what of “Cozbi bat Zur, the tribal head of an ancestral house in Midian”? So few women are mentioned by name in the Torah, one must wonder why she merits to have her name included. Most commentators stress that this is significant because she was a princess, and this informs us that the Midianites were even willing to push their princesses into lascivious behavior.

Cozbi is actually an interesting name. Perhaps, that there is more to know about her through her name, at least through the name used for her in the parsha, since the sages note that “Her name was not Cozbi, but Shvileni. Why was she called Cozbi? Because she was false to her father”

Jewish tradition loves word play, so what happens when one begins playing with the name Cozbi - כזבי Isn’t it interesting how similar, especially in script, the word כזבי is to the word כלבי C’lavi, like my heart. Cozbi came and made overtures at the Israelite men, offering them intimacy without heart. It was therefore more interesting when I realized that the central part of Cozbi’s name is zav, a word that refers to a state of ritual impurity arising from abnormal male discharge.

When I first started this line of thought, my brain was seen the zayin vais and thinking zev, wolf (which is really zayin-aleph-vais). That was Cozbi, a “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” a shockingly beautiful woman who came to lead men on with no involvement of her heart.