Parshas Pinchas – Absolutely Perfect
The Rambam (Hilchot Tefillah 15:3) states that a kohen who takes a life is forbidden to recite Birkat Kohanim, the priestly blessing, even if he repents. If so, the question is: if Pinchas killed Zimri and Kozbi, why would Hashem make him a (fully functioning) kohen?
Hashem’s reward to Pinchas was Brit Shalom, the covenant of peace. If you look carefully at the word “shalom” in the pasuk (Bamidbar 25:13) you will notice that, in an Ashkenazi and Sefardi sefer Torah the letter vav is broken in the middle. (The Yemenite minhag, according to the Rambam, is to write a complete vav.) The Sifri says that between the two Temples there were a total of 380 Kohanim Gedolim – 80 during the first Temple and 300 during the second Temple – and they were all descended from Pinchas. R’ Meir Margaliyot in his sefer Kotnot Or says that by breaking the vav in two, the word shalom becomes “shalim” (with a yud), which in gematria is 380. Pinchas’s reward was that all the Kohanim Gedolim would be descended from him.
Shalom is one of Hashem’s names. Hashem has many different names, each reflecting His different attributes. Seven of Hashem’s names are of the highest status; it is forbidden to erase these seven names (for example, Yud-keh-vav-keh). If you have a printed page with these names and you want to dispose of it, the page must be placed in geniza.
The name Shalom has a lower status than the above seven, but must still be treated with respect. For example, it is forbidden to say the word Shalom in the bathroom or when not fully dressed (Gemara, Shabbat 10b).
This is the origin of the word Shalom – it is HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself, one of His names, one of His attributes.
The next level of Shalom is in reference to a place. If the pinnacle of perfection is Hashem Himself, then the physical location on our physical earth that comes closest to achieving perfection also has the name “Shalom.” Chazal (Yoma 54b) say that when Hashem created the earth, it emanated from one starting point and proliferated until it resulted in the entire planet. That origin was the Even HaShtiya, the foundation stone in the Beit HaMikdash, inside the Kodesh HaKodashim, where the Aron HaBrit (in the firstTemple) was placed.
The Beit HaMikdash is a “building” that embodies Shalom. The person who builds the Beit HaMikdash also has to embody Shalom. That person was King “Shlomo” (Solomon).
The city in which the Beit HaMikdash is located is given two different names in the Torah. The first is Yera’eh, the name given by Avraham at the Akeidah. The second is Shalem, the name of the city of king Malkitzedek (who was Shem the son of Noach). Hashem combined these two names to get the name Yerushalayim, the holy city, which is derived from the word Shalom.
The people working in the Beit HaMikdash, doing the Avodah, also have to embody Shalom. These are the descendants of Aharon, who was ohev shalom ve’rodef shalom – who loved and pursued peace.
The “broken” vav in the word shalom in the pasuk above hints to the essence of the concept Shalom. It means taking two disparate parts, two diametrically opposed poles and bringing them together in symbiosis.
When someone makes shalom between rival parties, what does that mean? It does not mean eliminating one of the parties so that there is no longer any rivalry (with the exception of Amalek, who is not the opposite pole, he is “anti-pole,” the antithesis to Hashem and His Creation). It means finding a way for the two opposite poles to coexist peacefully with each other. Taking the physical world and connecting it to the spiritual world. Connecting earth to Heaven via the Beit HaMikdash, with its epicenter at the core of Creation. Shalom is taking a physical body and a spiritual neshama and enabling them to coexist in symbiosis and harmony.
Shalom was the character trait of Aharon HaKohen, who made peace between people engaged in a dispute, between husband and wife. When Aharon died, 80,000 children named Aharon (probably also Aharona) accompanied his coffin. These children were so named because they were the product of the shalom that Aharon made between husbands and wives in Am Yisrael.
In this sense, the minhag of the Ashkenazim/Sefardim on the one hand and the Yemenites on the other are not so different after all. The “broken” vav of the Ashkenazim/Sefardim is the state before the Geulah, the situation that requires remedy. The complete vav is the state after the Geulah, where the shalom is complete.
Just like the concept of combining opposite poles may seem to be counterintuitive, so does the reward for Pinchas. Taking a life is the opposite of shalom, it is counter to everything that all the above aspects of shalom stand for. So, although killing Zimri and Kozbi might be justified, how did Pinchas deserve the reward of shalom?
The answer is that often it is the counterintuitive things which are the real truth. Intuitively, taking a life is counter to shalom and it is in most cases, but not in this case of Pinchas. Two things that Hashem hates more than anything are idol worship and adultery. Pinchas saw that as a result of Am Yisrael sinning at Ba’al Pe’or, with both these sins, Hashem was intent on wiping us out, like after we had sinned with the golden calf. If Pinchas had not acted, the plague that Hashem had unleashed would have wiped out all of Am Yisrael. By killing Zimri and Kozbi, Pinchas in fact was making peace – between Hashem and Am Yisrael! Pinchas’s act of zealotry was not breaking the vav, it was joining it and for that he was rewarded with the perfect shalom.
Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: Why did Tzlofchad die (Bamidbar 27:3)?
Answer to Last Week’s Trivia Question: What eventually happened to Bilaam’s donkey? After the donkey spoke, the angel killed it. Rashi (Bamidbar 22:33) says that Hashem had mercy on Bilaam. To let the donkey live would be an eternal shame for Bilaam, who was unable to answer the donkey’s rebuke.
No comments:
Post a Comment