Unpretentiousness Unveiled
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Often in Tanach events recorded in the Torah are clarified with gaps being filled in through other verses in Tanach. The events surrounding the elevation of Pinchas, son of Elazar son of Aharon to the priesthood is one of these events.
After Bilaam failed in his attempt to curse Bnei Yisroel on behalf of Balak, King of Moav, the Moavites used a ruse to arouse Hashem's anger against Bnei Yisroel. In a well thought out plan, the Moavite women lured the men into desiring a sexual relationship with them. The fee would be to perform an act of obeisance to Peor, their god. The level of idolatry was so high that Zimri, a prince of the tribe of Shimon, appeared before the Tent of Meeting and openly began fornicating with Kozbi, a Moavite princess. In what at first glance seems to be an act of total zealotry and anger, Pinchas grabs a romach/spear and pierces the two of them together through their intestines.
For this act of courageous zealotry (Pinchas actually put his life in danger as Bnei Yisroel was ready to kill him), Hashem validates the justness of Pinchas' action and granted him a covenant of peace and the priesthood. Our Sages all ask how such a seemingly totally violent act could generate peace.
Tehillim 105-106 present a historical narrative of Bnei Yisroel's redemption from Egypt through all the trials in the desert, their entry into Eretz Canaan, and Hashem's mercy on them time and time again in spite of our iniquity. Tehillim 106:27-31 recount this episode with Baal Peor, how Pinchas arose vayephallel, and how his action stopped the plague Hashem had unleashed on Bnei Yisrael. It is that word, vayephallel, that our Sages struggle to translate and explain in order to understand Pinchas' motivation and Hashem's rewarding him in this way.
The simplest translation of vayephallel is that Pinchas executed judgment. This was the death penalty decreed upon a Jewish man who fornicates with a gentile woman. As Reb Elazar explains, that the heavenly angels themselves wanted to execute Pinchas, but Pinchas "went to court" with God, for he was acting as a zealot for Hashem's honor.
But in order to exact vengeance for Hashem's honor, writes Rav Asher Weiss, one's motivation must be completely noble and must be motivated by compassion. Indeed, Pinchas was motivated by compassion for Bnei Yisroel for, as Hashem testified, he repelled Hashem's anger from Bnei Yisroel. As such, he was privileged to serve as kohain in the Beit Hamikdosh, a position that serves both Hashem and Bnei Yisroel. A kohain's role is to serve Hashem and to encourage others to serve Hashem, and to purify them when they sin, to bring peace between Hakodosh Boruch Hu and Bnei Yisroel, thereby earning the eternal reward of a covenant of peace.
Let us now return to our original translation, that Pinchas executed judgment with Hashem. How did he do that? The Tosher Rebbe quoting Chazal, answers that Pinchas argued with Hashem: How should 24,000 people die for the sin of these two? And the plague stopped. Our tradition tells us that Pinchas and Eliyahu Hanavi are one and the same. [Whether Pinchas lived forever as part of the covenant of peace or was reincarnated as Eliyahu is a topic for another discussion. CKS] Eliyahu is held accountable for being zealous for Hashem but not standing up for Bnei Yisroel in the process. For this lapse, Eliyahu is instructed to appoint Elisha as his successor. While Pinchas arose from within Bnei Yisroel, writes the Malbim, Eliyahu had fled to a cave, away from interacting with and advocating for the people. In this context, the root of p-l-l also means connection, like the explanation for the name Naphtali. Pinchas was able to connect his zealotry for Hashem and his love for Bnei Yisroel as dual motivation for action.
The name Naphtali is often paired with the middle name Tzvi. Unlike other common name combinations, IE. Yitzchak Isaac, Dov Ber, this combination is not merely a translation of each name into another language. [Perhaps the best known person of this combination is the Netziv, with yet a third name, Naphtali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin.] The Ohr Doniel speculates as to why these two names are put together and how they complement each other. A ptil is a twisted strand of fibers that winds around to make one finished thread. [Think tzitzit.] A tzvi/deer, unlike other animals, will not stop or turn back when it finds an obstacle in its path. It may not be the swiftest, but it will keep running to find a way to reach its destination.
This is a model for leadership. When there is a lapse in the community, a leader must do more than just stop, stand up and shout in righteous indignation for the honor of God. One must connect to the people and find a way to critique and improve their behavior through sensitive connection, through first finding the good in them.
Rabbi Aaron Soloveitchick notes that the Talmud recognizes two aspects of a person, his inner essence and "that individual." When we see someone acting inappropriately, we should be concerned not only for Hashem's honor, or for society, but we should also be concerned with the inner positive core of that individual and approach him from that perspective. Hashem Himself can hold both these realities simultaneously, love and the necessity for rebuke, writes the Siach Mordechai. It was these seemingly contradictory approaches that also motivated Pinchas, the need for justice to be served as well as the need for chesed. Especially at the time of extreme anger, Hashem vented that anger on the wood and stones of the Beit Hamikdosh so as to spare His beloved people, rendering both justice and compassion.
The Torah traces Pinchas' lineage back to his grandfather Aharon to teach us that Pinchas derived his sense of balance and peace from Aharon, the paradigm for creating peace among members of Bnei Yisroel. How was Aharon Hakohain the model for Pinchas? Rabbi Goldwicht explains that Aharon was able to achieve balance and promote peace by understanding that every emotion requires boundaries. Emotional triggers are set off because of one's ego. However, Aharon was extremely humble, always thinking in terms of what Hashem would want. When one puts Hashem rather than self as the motivation for action, one moves from the emotions of the heart to the balance the brain provides. Making God the focus removes the egocentric anger. Pinchas could then contemplate both what he needed to do as a zealot for Hashem and as a zealous advocate for Bnei Yisroel.
The last verse of the Haftorah of Parshat Balak, Micah 6:8 provides guidance in achieving this balance, continues Rabbi Goldwicht: "...What is good and what Hashem seeks from you: only the performance of justice, the love of kindness, and hatzneyah lechet/walking humbly with your God." Aren't performance of justice and love of kindness contradictory, mutually exclusive? Not necessarily. When one minimizes one's ego and walks humbly with God, when one always contemplates God's will and makes it his own, one makes peace within oneself. That is how Aharon could feel joy rather than resentment for his younger brother's appointment as leader of Bnei Yisroel, a position he himself had held until Moshe's return. Aharon could project the peace within himself to encompass others.
As Rav Scheinerman notes, judging an action as good or bad is a product of intent rather than of result. [Good may result from Hashem's intervention rather than from the intention of the doer. CKS] The midwives in Egypt were granted batim/houses because they feared God [even if they could not always be successful in saving the babies]. Let even those actions you claim to be lshem shamayim/for the sake of Heaven truly be for the sake of Heaven, not an excuse for your ego.
When Amalek came to attack Bnei Yisroel, Moshe instructed Yehoshua to go to battle machar/tomorrow. Amalek was trying to confuse Bnei Yisroel, to make them unsure of how to proceed. Would this war be a mitzvah, commanded but not obligatory, a chovah/mandatory war, or a war of rshut/optional choice. Pinchas had no such confusion, writes Rabbi Kofman in Mishchat Shemen. He had the same three options, but because his motivation was clear, he decisively took the romach and acted. Therefore, as our verse in Tehillim attests, Pinchas' act is considered an act of tzedakah rather than and act of mishpat/strict justice. Pinchas acted thoughtfully and compassionately, not as a hothead seeking vengeance.
Taking us is a completely different interpretation, Mesillot Bilvovom quotes the Targum, who translates vayephallel as he prayed, from the same root as tefillah. As Rabbi Eisenberger explains, there is prayer, and there is the power of prayer; there is the sword, and the power of the sword. While the words and the actions may be fairly identical, their power comes from the mindset. There is tremendous power in focusing on Hakodosh Boruch Hu and being totally dependent on Him. Both prayer and the "sword" lose their power when one injects their own ego into the exchange. Pinchas understood that he had to reinject humility into the people.
If we fully understood that we were standing before Hakodosh Boruch Hu when we were davening, we would be so in awe that we would be struck dumb. That is why we begin our Shemoneh Esrei prayer with, "Hashem sephosi tiftach.../Hashem, open my lips..." for I do not have the power to speak on my own.
Hashem has instilled a sense of humility in human beings by creating us as functioning in some way in ways similar to the functioning of animals We relieve ourselves as do animals, but we acknowledge Hashem's sovereignty when we recite Asher Yatzar afterwards. When Bnei Yisroel relieved themselves in from of Peor, as this was his idolatrous service, the act was an act of pride lacking any humility. [Think of a child in toilet training. He is so proud of what his body has "produced." Only as he matures, does he understand the privacy and humility required of a human being. CKS]
If vayephallel means to judge, lehitpallel is its reflexive form. When we pray, we are in essence judging ourselves and our shortcomings. When we ask Hashem for what we need, do we resolve to use His gifts to us judiciously? The Brit Shalom/Covenant of peace would bring Hashem back into our lives both when we pray and when we act.
When we pray to Hashem, we are reinforcing one of the thirteen Articles of Faith, the belief in the need to establish a dialogue with the Creator by praying to Him and to no other. While we may do our hishtadlus but asking for help at the graves of tzadikim, or taking on a segulah/directed action or stringency, we must always remember that our hishtadlus is peripheral and not the answer. As Rabbi Elias explains, the segulah may act like Motrin, relieving symptoms, but will not cure the cause of the problem or illness.
If we are to navigate life successfully, we must face life and its challenges with pillul, with introspection and self awareness and judgment of our shortcomings, with love and compassion for ourselves and for others, and with turning to our Creator in prayer to meet these challenges, overcome them, and remain shalem/whole and in peace.