Chasing Peace Away

BY RABBI BINNY FREEDMAN

The beginning of Pinchas is a postscript to the end of last week’s portion, Balak. Zimri, a Prince of Israel, is cohabitating with a Midianite princess at the entrance to the Holy Tent of Meeting!

So what does one do in the face of such wickedness? Incredibly, Moses and Aaron fall to the ground, seemingly at a loss for what to do!

Enter Pinchas, Aaron’s grandson; grabbing a spear, he ends this obvious affront to G-d by literally spearing the offenders on the spot, which was the conclusion of last week’s portion, Balak.

This week’s portion then begins with G-d’s reaction to Pinchas’ action:

“Pinchas the son of Elazar, the son of Aaron the (high) priest turned back My anger (says G-d) from the children of Israel… thus do I give him my covenant of peace.”

According to Rashi, the Jewish people are shocked by such an obviously violent and zealous act, so Hashem reminds us that he is the descendant of Aaron, known as the ohev and rodef shalom, the lover and pursuer of peace.

Ohev shalom, a lover of peace, makes a lot of sense here. The term rodef however, a pursuer of peace, is curious terminology. A rodef is a person who is pursuing the killer of a blood relative, determined to kill him as an act of vengeance or justice.

The Torah actually permits and even obligates us to stop this rodef at all costs. So why is this same term of ‘pursuer’ used here to refer to a pursuer of peace?

The Chatam Sofer (Rav Moshe Sofer of Pressburg) suggests that in this instance Pinchas was actually doing the opposite of ‘making peace’; he was chasing it away! Sometimes, he suggests, making peace with something will lead to anything but peace, and the real lover of peace in such

Pinchas Sidra Summary

listed, as well as the overall number within each tribe, as counted in the census. When detailing the tribe of Reuven, the Torah recalls that Datan and Aviram were from this tribe and that the ground swallowed them in Korach’s rebellion. The overall census number is 601,730.

3RD ALIYA (SHLISHI) – 26:52-27:5 an instance has to be willing to chase it away by doing the opposite.

Pinchas understood that to stand by and ‘make peace’ with Zimri’s actions, and do nothing while a Jewish leader was causing such an affront to everything Judaism held dear, would actually allow G-d’s wrath and the resulting plague to continue to decimate thousands of Jewish lives.

Just as in 1938, Chamberlain’s desire to ‘make peace’ with Adolf Hitler and overlook his horrendous human rights abuses and antisemitism, actually encouraged a tyrant and led to the greatest loss of human life in world history.

We live in a world which is so desperate to make peace: with terrorism, with Islamic fundamentalism, with an Iranian desire for nuclear power as a stepping stone to regional and perhaps even world domination. But there are some things with which we cannot make peace. As long as Iran refuses to recognize the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state and declares its desire to annihilate us, we cannot make peace with it. As long as the Palestinian Authority continues to support suicide bombers and teach their children to hate, we cannot make peace with them, and in fact such ‘peace’ agreements will inevitably lead to war.

The refusal to ‘make peace’ with evil, is actually the pursuit of real peace.

And lastly, there are so many things we should not ‘make peace’ with on a personal level. We should not ‘make peace’ with leaders whose behavior is less than exemplary (though we must be careful about pillorying them publicly without being sure of the facts), and we should not ‘make peace’ with unethical behavior, even if it may be unpopular to publicly take that stand.

Perhaps, this week, it would be worthwhile to consider what things we should not ‘make peace’ with, and what we might do to pursue such a reality.

Rabbi Binny Freedman is Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Orayta. He is a member of the Mizrachi Speakers Bureau (www.mizrachi. org/speakers).

1ST ALIYA (KOHEN)

25:10-26:4

– BEMIDBAR

G-d tells Moshe that Pinchas, Aharon’s grandson, is to become a Kohen in recognition of his righteous actions in stopping the public display of immorality described at the end of last week’s sidra. The names of the two offenders are given – Zimri from the tribe of Shimon and Kozbi, a Midianite princess. G-d commands Moshe to smite the Midianites as retribution for luring the Israelites into idol worship and immorality. Moshe and Elazar, the Kohen Gadol, are told to take a census of men above the age of 20.

Point to Consider: Why was Pinchas not already considered a Kohen if he was a grandson of Aharon? (see Rashi to 25:13)

2ND ALIYA (LEVI) – 26:5-51

The main descendants of each tribe are

G-d tells Moshe to apportion the Land to those counted in the census. The tribes with more people will receive proportionally more land area. Although this distribution was calculated mathematically, it was carried out through Elazar drawing lots, guided by Divine inspiration (Rashi). The main Levite families, who were not included in the census, are listed. They number 23,000 males above the age of one month. No one who was included in the first census when the Israelites left Egypt is included in this census, as they had died in the desert, apart from Yehoshua (Joshua) and Calev. The five daughters of Tzelofchad, a descendant of Menashe, ask Moshe to be given their deceased father’s share in the Land, as they have no brothers to inherit him. Moshe consults G-d about their request.

4TH ALIYA (REVI’I) – 27:6-23

G-d declares that Tzelofchad’s daughters are justified in their request and that, in the absence of sons, daughters are to inherit their father. Other hierarchical inheritance rights are stated. G-d tells Moshe to ascend Mount Avarim and look at the Land of Cana’an from afar, reminding him that he will not come into the Land because of his mistake of hitting the rock (see Bemidbar 20:9-12). Moshe asks G-d to appoint a new leader. G-d tells him to appoint Yehoshua, which Moshe does, in the presence of Elazar and the Sanhedrin (Rashi).

5TH ALIYA (CHAMISHI) – 28:1-15

G-d instructs Moshe to tell the Israelites to bring the twice-daily tamid (continual) offering, consisting of a male lamb, together with a flour offering mixed with oil and a wine libation. The additional Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh offerings are detailed.

6TH ALIYA (SHISHI) – 28:16-29:11

The special offerings for Pesach, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are also detailed.

7TH ALIYA (SHEVI’I) – 29:12-30:1

The Torah details the many extra offerings brought during Succot, including 70 bulls. Shemini Atzeret, the day after Succot, has its own set of offerings.

HAFTARAH

Taken from the start of the book of Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah), this haftarah is the first of the three ‘haftarot of tribulation’ read in the build-up to Tisha B’Av. The prophet is told by G-d that an invader will come ‘from the north’ to attack Jerusalem, as happened at the time of the destruction of the First Temple, because of the sinfulness of its inhabitants.

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