Shattered Peace

Parshas Pinchas

Having failed to bring the people of Israel down by cursing them, Bilam now resorted to another tactic. He knew that the G-d of the Jews hates promiscuity, particularly when linked to idol worship. So he counseled Balak to have Moabite women lure Jewish men into their tents and have them bow down to the image of the pagan idol of Pe’er (Rashi to 24:14). The strategy worked. Immediately a plague broke out and began to claim the lives of thousands of Jews.

In the midst of this turmoil, a strange thing happened. Zimri, the head of the powerful tribe of Shimon, gathered an army of 24,000 men, and after having persuaded Cozbi, the Midianite princess to cohabit with him, confronted Moshe and asked him an impertinent question. Was it permissible to have relations with a Midianite woman? If it was forbidden, taunted Zimri, who allowed you, Moshe, to marry Tziporah, your Midianite wife? The brazenness of this question threw Moshe off balance and he forgot the law that permits one to kill one who cohabits with an idolatress (Sanhedrin 82a).

It was at this point that Pinchas sprang into action. Like Aharon before him, who had stopped the plague in the days of Korach (17:12), Pinchas put an end to it by killing Zimri and Cozbi. He didn’t care that the odds were stacked against him. He didn’t care that he was taking on an army of 24,000 Shimonites and battalions of Midianites who would certainly hunt him down and kill him if he harmed either Zimri or Cozbi. Regardless, he entered the tent of ignominy pretending to want to take part in the revelry and, with his concealed spear, put an end to the spiraling plague of death.

Indeed it is only after the act was done that the Torah informs us in the opening verses of Pinchas who the individuals were that Pinchas faced down. While the act was taking place, these individuals are referred to in the closing chapter of Balak as a “man” and a “woman” (25:8), not because Pinchas did not know who they were, but because that was not going to stop him.

It is the job of the kohen to appease G-d’s anger even as it is stoked by the infidelities of His people. Usually, this is achieved in peaceful ways by the bringing of korbanot. But sometimes it takes extraordinary measures to restore peace, even if the measures themselves are less than peaceful.

We are told that Pinchas became a kohen only after this act. Unlike the sons of Aharon who were born into the priesthood, Pinchas earned the title by restoring peace. Yes, he had an impetuous nature, just like his descendants, the Hasmoneans after him, but like them, he used it for a good cause. And those who derided him and attributed his motives to bloodlust (Rashi to 25:11) are told by G-d that he was awarded the covenant of peace. After all, the kohen must be all about peace, like the archetype priest that Aharon was. He loved peace, he pursued peace and he loved people (Avos 1:12). The kohen must bless the people with peace and he must do it out of love. Notwithstanding this violent episode, Pinchas was blessed with peace and unlike all other kohanim who are not allowed to recite the Birkas Kohanim if they have killed someone, Pinchas was given this prerogative.

And yet, such extreme actions leave a bitter taste behind and are not pleasing to G-d, who prefers persuasive talk over violent action. That is why the name Pinchas is written with a small letter yud. The letter yud, which has the numerical value of ten, symbolizes the Ten Commandments, one of which is “You shall not kill.” By killing, even under such extenuating circumstances, Pinchas weakened and diminished the absoluteness of this prohibition. Now that somebody killed in public, there was the danger that others would also justify murder by claiming mitigating circumstances. The peace that came in the wake of Pinchas’s actions was a shattered peace. That is why the vav in the word Shalom is written as a broken vav.

After Moshe is told by G-d that he will die in the desert and will not lead the people of Israel into the land, he asks G-d to appoint a successor. G-d asks him to place one hand on the head of Yehoshuah and appoint him (27:18). This must have been difficult for Moshe. First, why is Moshe being denied his victory lap of bringing the people into Israel after all that he did for them for the past 40 years? Second, why are his sons not taking over his job like Aharon’s sons took over his?

But what does Moshe do? He unstintingly places both of his hands on Yohoshua’s head in an attempt to delegate to him all of his wisdom and charisma. Moshe shows Yehoshua that he means what he said back then when Yehoshuah complained that Eldad and Meidad were behaving like prophets, and Moshe responded, “I only wish that all of G-d’s people would have the gift if prophecy. Let G-d grant his spirit to them all.” Yet, despite his selfless generosity, we are told that Moshe was only able to pass on some of his charisma to Yehoshua, not all of it (27:20).

We are told that Moshe’s face was compared to the sun and Yehoshua’s face to the moon? Why was that? Because it was Moshe who received the Torah from G-d and that brilliance could never be replicated. Moshe then passed the Torah on to Yehoshuah, who passed it further down the line and with it its brilliance declined. But that is the way G-d wants it. “For I have given you a beautiful teaching, do not abandon it” (Mishlei 4:2).