This week’s Torah Parsha is about Pinchas, a Levite who, in the midst of a plague brought on by the Israelites infidelity to HaShem, took action into his own hands, slaying a “mixed” couple fornicating in full view of the camp. Traditional views see Pinchas as a hero, for HaShem grants him a “Birkat Shalom” (blessing of peace) and he is made a Kohen and I believe later the Kohen Gadol, high priest. Others view him as a dangerous zealot who didn’t consult HaShem before acting on his behalf on something as serious as taking a life. His being made a priest put him in a visible, and thus accountable, position (though many view his later actions in the time of the Judges as less than…). The considerations are endless.
There is also a tradition that Pinchas never died. That he walks among us today, cantankerous and zelous for HaShem. Perhaps too much so. In every generation there is a Pinchas. Yesterday, at the height of the crisis in Israel, a few Pinchas wannabes calling themselves “Gilad Shalhevet Brigade” (apparently named for Kidnapped Cpl. Gilad Shalit) kidnapped two Palestiniansfrom E. Jerusalem. Apparently in retribution for the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers from Israeli soil. Are they Pinchas? Dangerous extremists working without consulting Hashem? Without consulting the community? Sounds familiar, no?
Lo bShamayim Hi, we’re told, decisions of law are no longer in the hands of heaven alone but in the hands of human. So are they dangerous, or are they holding to the letter of the law: an eye for an eye- that is ONLY and eye for and eye- kidnapping for kidnapping and not escalation.
It seems to me that this is not the answer, much as I hate to see the violence escalating on Israel’s borders. Israel’s leadership, like Moshe Rabbeinu, draw on consultation with G-d and his law, the concensus of the people, righteousness, the right of nation to prevent loss of life among the populace and a desire to preserve moral sanity. Its a responsible action, one where our conbantants can regulated and held accountable not only to secular and internatinal law, but to the Jewish laws governing warfare. These kidnappers are Pinchas indeed, but not the heroes some saw as saving the Jewish people. They are the zealots, the same ones whose sinat hinam later caused the destruction of the Temple, whose destruction we began mourning at the beginning of the Three Weeks with yesterday’s 17 Tammuz fast.
I also think about my inner Pinchas. The fanatic within. I often take action for the sake of Am Yisrael and Kehila without consulting anyone, be it to start community initiatives, this blog, Kavanah Shabbat, KFAR, Saturday in the Park or whatever. Mea Culpa, I’m a zealot for the cause… Without a Pinchas, where would we be? Without Zealots willing to push the envelope and possibly offend the community, wouldn’t our community become staid, stale and static? Love him or hate him, a Pinchas in our community, in ourselves and in the world is a force of personality that makes us sit up and pay attention.
