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The Jewish Home | JULY 21, 2022
From the Fire Parshas Pinchas
You’ve Got Mail By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf
W
e will begin reading the first of the three haftorahs from Yirmiyahu, describing the imminent destruction of the Beis Hamikdash customarily read before Tisha B’Av. Hashem warns the Jewish people, “For, behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north…and they will come and place, each one his throne, at the entrance of the gates of Yerushalayim” (Yirmiyahu 1:15). This is a warning that if the Jewish people don’t change their ways, Hashem will call the Babylonian leaders to begin the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash with the placement of their chairs in the gates of Jerusalem, a symbolic act of conquest. Indeed, as Rashi points out, the outcome of this prophecy is recording later in the Navi: “And in the eleventh year of the reign of Tzidkiyahu, on the ninth day of the fourth month, the walls of the city were breached. And all the officers of the king of Babylon entered and sat in the middle of the gate” (Yirmiyahu 39:2-3). We need to understand what the Navi means when he says, “Behold I am calling” the leaders of Babylonia. What does he mean the Hashem called these leaders? Can it be that the leaders of Babylonia were sitting around and suddenly Hashem appeared to them in a vision? Did they hear some sort of Heavenly proclamation from Hashem? The Jewish people today do not receive direct messages or imperatives from Hashem, so how could it be that these Babylonians merited such a thing? We have to understand what this calling really is. The Radak shares a powerful idea with us. He explains that Hashem is saying, “It is as if I am calling them to come. In other words, I will place in in their hearts that they should come.” There was no audible announcement
from the Heavens summoning the leaders to attack Yerushalayim. Hashem did not actually say anything. And they did not actually hear anything. Rather, Hashem placed this idea in their hearts. The Babylonian leaders felt as if they were following their own desires. They thought that they were acting based on their own inspiration. But really, their plans stemmed from the Divine inspiration implanted in their hearts by Hashem. Hashem placed these ideas in their hearts in order to carry out His plans. So, what is the calling of Hashem? It is not a booming voice descending from Heaven. The calling of Hashem is a quiet voice heard only in the inner depths of our hearts. Chazal describe the conversation between Moshe Rabbeinu and Pinchas before Pinchas arose and killed Zimri (Sanhedrin 82a). Pinchas, after witnessing the terrible act of Zimri’s relations with the Midianite woman, came to Moshe with the halacha of kana’aim pogim bo,
meaning, if someone witnesses two people engaged in such an act, a zealot should get up and execute the violators. Pinchas was bothered by the fact that nobody was getting up to take action, as the halacha seems to mandate. What was Moshe’s response? “Let the one who reads the letter be the agent to fulfill its contents.” Moshe was telling Pinchas that if he was the one who recalled such a halacha, then he should be the one to act on it. The Ran points out a difficulty in the response of Moshe Rabbeinu. While it is true that the halacha is kana’aim pogim bo, there is a second halacha that tells us that we do not actually teach this law when asked. We conceal that this is, in fact, the halacha. We will not find this halacha in the Shulchan Aruch. The rebbe is not supposed to teach his talmid this halacha. This halacha is concealed because a zealous act like this can only come about through a spontaneous response. If one only acts after seeing the halacha
formally codified, that is not the zealotry permitted by the Torah. And yet, the Ran points out, Moshe Rabbeinu does seem teach the halacha that a zealot may kill those engaging publicly in immorality to Pinchas. When Pinchas asks if this halacha is, in fact, correct, Moshe’s response of “let the one who reads the letter be the agent to fulfill its contents” seems to be an approval by Moshe Rabbeinu. He seems to be telling Pinchas to get up and take action. How could Moshe approve of this if we do not actually teach this halacha? How did Moshe seemingly permit Pinchas to carry out this zealous act? The Ran answers that Moshe did not actually tell Pinchas to act. Rather, all he did was point out to Pinchas that he received a letter. “Let the one who reads the letter be the agent to fulfill its contents.” What was this letter that Pinchas received? This was the burning desire that Pinchas felt within him to get up and act, a desire that was placed in the heart of Pinchas from Hashem. All Moshe said was that if you received a letter from Hashem, then you should read it, listen to it, and do what it says. If you feel something deeply in your heart, then you should know that it is a letter from Hashem. Just like Hashem called to the Babylonian leaders in the inner recesses of their hearts, so too, Hashem called to Pinchas in the inner recesses of his heart. This is the calling – or letter – of Hashem. We also find the calling of Hashem by the construction of the Mishkan. “See, I have called out by name of Betzalel, the son of Uri, the son of Chur, of the tribe of Yehuda. I have endowed him with a Divine spirit of skill, ability, and knowledge in every kind of craft” (Shmos 31:2-3). What does it mean that Hashem called out to Betzalel? Did a voice come
