We’ve just entered the ‘Three weeks’.
This summer, as each year, from the 17th of Tammuz, in the heart of the Summer, we open three weeks of progressive embodied mourning, to commemorate the descent from the breach in the walls of Jerusalem till the destruction of the Temple.This year the collective mourning takes on a whole new level of meaning.
Our walls have been breached. Literally.
I still remember footage of the huge trucks driven by masked Hamas warriors breaking through the fences; then breaking through homes; then, in too many cases, breaking through human bodies.Our walls have been breached and so many of our Temples have crumbled down. The temple of Safety. The temple of human dignity. The temple of faith in Peace Activism or in International Institutions. The temple of trust in a possible coexistence.
Yet what we have also learned from the destruction of our Temple is that we can rebuild.
The second Temple, just like the second set of tablets, taught us that destruction doesn’t need to be forever. Which is why Jews are still waiting to rebuild the Third, no matter what it will look like.
In fact destruction can be seen, on a deeper level, as a hidden gift: an invitation to build anew- and often better. New buildings, new covenants, new relationships.
How do we do that?
If anger destroys, what can save us is compassion.
This is the message of the Divine when giving the second Tablets.
And this is the surprising, almost subversive reading, by the Mei ha Shiloach, of the “covenant of peace” בְּרִיתִ֖י שָׁלֽוֹם: Pinhas receives at the opening of the Parasha (Bamidbar 25.12).
Flash back: at the end of last week’s parsha, Balak, we witness a painful episode:
וְהִנֵּ֡ה אִישׁ֩ מִבְּנֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל בָּ֗א וַיַּקְרֵ֤ב אֶל־אֶחָיו֙ אֶת־הַמִּדְיָנִ֔ית לְעֵינֵ֣י משֶׁ֔ה וּלְעֵינֵ֖י כָּל־עֲדַ֣ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְהֵ֣מָּה בֹכִ֔ים פֶּ֖תַח אֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵֽד
“an Israelite man came and brought the Midianite woman to his brethren, before the eyes of Moses 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” (Bamidbar 24.6).
Rises Pinhas who kills them both.
Seeing personal initiatives- especially killing- remaining unpunished is quite rare in the biblical narrative.
Think about Aharon’s sons, Nadav and Avihu: they were consumed by fire for bringing, in their enthusiasm, an incense that wasn’t called for.
Think about Moshe. He was prevented from entering the Promised Land he brought Bnei Israel towards… Because he struck a rock instead of speaking to it.
And here is a man who rises on an impulse to kill because he decides this is what to be done, and God rewards him with “a covenant of peace.”
Why is pinchas granted the Brit Shalom, and what can this teach us?
For much commentators through History, the covenant is a reward: from the pshat, they consider that Pinchas is rewarded for having avenged God.
But there is a danger inherent in drawing such conclusion. Anyone can decide to take on the role of God’s defenser and kill others in God’s name with a true sense of righteous action.
Such was the act of the Haredi jew who stabbed to death a 16 years old teen from Jerusalem innocently attending the gay pride in 2016, Shira Banki, because in the name of God and scripture, he wanted to eradicate homosexuality.
Such was the act of the young French muslim extremists who broke into a concert at the Bataclan Paris just a year before that, because in the name of God they wanted to punish those drinking alcohol and enjoying music.Such was part of the motivation of the Hamas fighters who went for the Nova music festival on october 7 2023.
People who put it all on the account of what is now uncritically called “the zionist occupation” not only clearly ignore the reality of the Israeli-Palestinian socio-political configuration. They also ignore the reality of a Global Jihad (Religious War) for which those who drink alcohol, dress as they wish and dance as they wish, deserve to die.
On a metaphorical level, sometimes we need to act like Pinchas.
This is for instance how western medicine treats cancer.
But the danger of all fundamentalism lies in literally reading texts and then liberally deciding that one’s subjectivity counts for Divine mandate.
Why then, was the covenant of peace given to Pinchas?
The Mei ha shiloach takes a radical stance: he suggests that in fact, the Covenant of Peace was not given to him as a reward, but as a remedy. To him, Pinchas made a mistake.
In fact the verse on which he bases his interpretation, points to it:
“And Pinchas saw, and he took” (Bamidbar 25.7)
וירא פינחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן, ויקח וכו'
We know that in the biblical narrative, the continuum between “seeing and taking” is usually a bad sign.It talks about impulse. This is what happens when Eve sees and then takes the fruit. This is what happens with David seeing Bat Sheva bathing on the roof.
So much so that our works of Jewish Ethics such as the Messilat Yesharim really admonish us to guard ourselves from being drawn by our eyes.
So without saying it explicitly, by choosing to comment on this verse, the Ishbitzer rebbe seems to point to Pinchas’ impulsivity.
To him, "it seemed as if Pinchas was angry"
שמצוי בו מדה הנראה לעינים שהוא כעס
And this was a mistake, because, he adds, there was a Sod (secret) Mystical meaning, according to Kabbalah, to what was happening there. And Pinchas, for the Mei Ha Shiloach, Missed it.
ונעלם ממנו עומק יסוד הדבר שהיה בזמרי
“The depth of the foundation of the matter with Zimri was hidden from him.”
Why then, isn’t the anger impulse punished in this case?
Because of divine compassion.
Pinchas’ response in this action is thus compared to a child, meaning that he didn’t know the depth of the situation, seeing only through human eyes and no further.
ונמצא שפנחס היה במעשה הזה כנער היינו שלא היה יודע עמקות הדבר רק עפ"י עיני שכל אנושי ולא יותר,
With parashat Pinchas, the Mei haShiloach invites us to a lesson in Divine compassion:
Seeing that sometimes, when people act compulsively or violently, it is simply out of immaturity or ignorance.
And if sometimes violent actions need to be stopped, it doesn't mean we need to judge those who acted in such a way.We can be firm in action while free of hatred in our hearts.
When a child misbehaves, including if they are violent, while we need to take action and stop them, it wouldn't come to mind to bare a grudge against them: They are children. They don’t know better.
Why then can't we apply it to each other? As grown ups, we have many various levels of consciousness.
Seeing people from where they are at can help us have more compassion.
This doesn't mean excusing unacceptable action. But this will help us choose right action, and stay free of anger in our hearts.
We have a lot to learn about this, as Israel is still fighting an agonizingly painful war.
This means being capable of acting with gevurah on the outside, while relating to others from a place of chesed on the inside:
Taking strong action to set limits, and using strength as needed, is the skilful response embodied by the balance between gevurah and chessed, the two opposite sefirot which balance each other.
Oh, may we live from this place!
This is the balance which my friends who are fighting right now against Hamas and Islamic Jihad, against Hezbollah and the Houthis, are trying to find, day after day.
And I was of age, as an Israeli citizen, it would have been me called to do the dirty job to protect Israel from being destroyed, whether I’d want it or not. I would have been called to put on a uniform to help make sure the plans of Israel's neighbors to see it destroyed don't come to completion.
I know that not all Israeli soldiers are like my friends and I.
No army is 100% virtuous. No human group is entirely ethical- no matter how ethical the guidelines are.
All sides, ‘us” and ‘them’ have Pinchas’ is among them- especially , unfortunately, among the Religious Fundamentalists everywhere, humans who sincerely think that they will protect their people better by simply eradicating others. I believe fighting is sometimes unfortunately necessary. I don't believe eradication works.
Today Peace Activists have a lot of work to do.
Including within their own camp.
Each of us is called to take responsibility for our own. I would love to see the other side do it, too.
This would be the covenant of peace I am dreaming of.
It starts within each camp.
It starts within each heart.
Are we willing to grant others what we claim for ourselves?
And when we need to take action, can we do it while staying free from hatred in our heart?
This may be the greatest challenge of War.
And on our small level of everyday life, where we also fight our micro, symbolic wars, this applies, too. Can we recognize that humans have various levels of consciousness? Can we acknowledge where others are at, and while doing whatever needs to be done, act, deep inside, from a place of compassion?
God did it for Pinchas.
God gave him the Covenant of Peace. Perhaps it was likig giving a Remedy for the illness of Anger.
This year more than ever, it is not Pinchas’ action I want to remember.
It is Divine compassion.
Maybe if we start within our own people, we will be able to rebuild the next Temple.
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