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Kahane on the Parsha
Parsha Pinchas
VENGEANCE
The desecration of the name of the L-rd is the very cardinal of
sins. It strikes at the very existence and reality of the G-d of Israel. It is
intolerable that it be allowed, and impossible that it not be erased.
When Pinchas beheld the open Chillul Hashem that took place at
Shittim, he burned with zealousness over the desecration of G-d’s Name. And he
looked about to see who, burning with similar indignation, would leap to put a
stop to it. At that moment, Pinchas said: “Is there no man here who will kill
Zimri?...When he saw that all were silent, he arose himself from the Sanhedrin
and killed Zimri” (Sifri, Balak 131).
Note: Pinchas was in the midst of Moses and all the elders of
Israel. He waited for them to act, and they did not. And so he, not one of the
elders, leaped to end the desecration and put a stop to the plague that was
raging in the camp through G-d’s wrath. And so, “Pinchas the son of Elazar
saw…” (Numbers 25:7). The Tanna Shmuel said, “He saw [and remembered] the verse
in Proverbs (21:30): “There is neither wisdom nor understanding nor counsel
against the L-rd.’ Any time that there exists Chillul Hashem, we do not give
respect to the scholar” (Sanhedrin 82a). And Rashi explains, “Therefore,
Pinchas did not wait to receive permission from Moses [who hesitated and was
subsequently punished as a result, as stated in the Tanchuma] but acted on his
own lest the elders, out of fear, not act according to the Law.” And he killed
the head of a tribe.
And when the angels sought to punish him for acting as he did,
and without permission, the Almighty said, “Leave him alone. He is a zealot,
the son of zealots; he turned away My wrath and is the son of those who turned
away My wrath” [i.e., he comes from the tribe of Levi who turned away G-d’s
wrath from Israel by killing those who had bowed down to the Golden Calf]
(Ibid. 82b).
This was the response that the Almighty demanded from the people
of Israel, from the leaders of Israel, from SOMEONE in Israel. And because
Pinchas acted, of him is it said, “Who caused the Holy One Blessed Be He to
turn away His wrath and not destroy all Israel? Pinchas” (Tanchuma, Balak 21).
And thus speaks the Law: “Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aaron the Priest, turned away My wrath from the Children of Israel when he was zealous for My zealousness in their midst, so I did not consume Israel in My zealousness” (Numbers 25:11).
And thus speaks the Law: “Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aaron the Priest, turned away My wrath from the Children of Israel when he was zealous for My zealousness in their midst, so I did not consume Israel in My zealousness” (Numbers 25:11).
And thus says the Ibn Ezra: “For he was zealous just as his
Maker, of whom it is said: ‘A G-d of jealousy’ (Exodus 20:5). And had he not
acted with zealousness, I, G-d, would have destroyed all of Israel.”
And the Sforno: “He took My revenge before the eyes of all
Israel, so that they were forgiven for not acting to protest the sinners.”
And the Ramban: “He was worthy of great honor, for he killed a
chief of Israel and the daughter of a gentile king and feared not, because he
was zealous for his G-d.”
And Rashi: “’When he was zealous for My zealousness.’ Meaning:
when he avenged My vengeance, when he was angry for the wrath that I would have
shown. Every expression ‘zealous’ means one who is anxious to avenge
something.”
Vengeance is the inability to abide the act of abomination and
injustice. It is the need to erase from the land the free perpetration of an
act of evil, done without punishment. It is the need to show that in the world
of the Almighty one who pollutes and defiles the world by an act contrary to
its precepts will be punished.
Shabbat Shalom
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