My covenant of peace

(Numbers 25:12)

Tammuz 20, 5777/July 14, 2017

The story of Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aharon, after whom this week's parasha, (Torah reading), is named, actually began at the conclusion of last week's reading. This division of the parashot is unique in this way, being the only time throughout the yearly reading of the five books of Torah that a narrative is begun one week and is only concluded the following week. It seems that our sages, of blessed memory, who determined the division of the weekly Torah readings, really wanted to keep us in suspense, as last week's reading of Balak closed with a real cliffhanger:

"Then an Israelite man came and brought the Midianite woman to his brethren, before the eyes of Moshe and before the eyes of the entire congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Pinchas the son of Elazar the son of Aharon the kohen saw this, arose from the congregation, and took a spear in his hand. He went after the Israelite man into the chamber and drove it through both of them; the Israelite man, and the woman through her stomach, and the plague ceased from the children of Israel. Those that died in the plague numbered twenty four thousand." (Numbers 25:6-9)

Okay, the plague was stopped, but what next? Is Israel going to war with Midian? Will Israel descend into a bitter internecine war? After all, Pinchas, a hitherto unknown entity to us, has killed a fellow Israelite, in cold blood, no less. What will Moshe do? How will Pinchas be judged? And finally, what does G-d think about all this? To be continued, as they say...

This week we receive all the answers:

"HaShem spoke to Moshe, saying: Pinchas the son of Elazar the son of Aharon the kohen has turned My anger away from the children of Israel by his zealously avenging Me among them, so that I did not destroy the children of Israel because of My zeal. Therefore, say, 'I hereby give him My covenant of peace. It shall be for him and for his descendants after him as an eternal covenant of kehunah [priesthood], because he was zealous for his G-d and atoned for the children of Israel.'" (ibid 25:10-13)

Our sages teach us that Moshe and the elders were stymied as to what to do about Zimri the Israelite chieftain and Cozbi the Midianite woman, who were sinning before the very entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Either they had forgotten what had been taught them by G-d concerning such a situation, or they simply did not possess the intellectual wherewithal to properly analyze what was happening and respond to it in real time. In their helplessness, they cried.

Pinchas, however, saw, understood and responded. His response was so swift and so 'extreme' that it required G-d Himself to testify, as we read above, in the opening verses of this week's parasha, that, not only did Pinchas' swift action stay the plague, but it assuaged G-d's anger, effectively atoning for the entire nation of Israel which had become caught up in the duplicitous seduction and corruption of the Moabite women, and that as a reward for his swift and proper response, G-d was granting Pinchas a covenant of peace and the covenant of eternal priesthood for him and his children forever. Wow!

Fast forward three thousand five hundred years or so, and consider this: In 1967 Israel liberated the Temple Mount in the Six Day War. Our leadership then, both political and spiritual, and the entire congregation of Israel, wept with joy, but also with trepidation. Like Moshe, they did not know what to do, or how to respond to, (in this case), the miraculous gift from G-d. So intimidated were they by the magnitude of the blessing, that they immediately handed they keys to the Temple Mount back to the defeated and demoralized Arabs. G-d's presence was so close that His breath, as it were, was on their necks, and the Israeli leadership melted. They feared a war with the Muslim world should Israel lay claim to the Mount. Really? Israel had just crushed five Arab armies in six days. The threat of renewed war was imaginary, but the fear was real. But even more so, the Israel elite was woefully ignorant and fearful of what to do with the two thousand year old dream come true of a return to the Temple Mount. Like Moshe at the conclusion of forty years in the wilderness, they were not suited to lead the people further and were destined to leave the stage of history forever left outside of the land of Israel, outside of the sacred space of the Temple Mount, the place chosen by G-d to rest His holy presence.

-The Temple Institute