MidrESHET Hayil

Friday, July 15, 2011

Parashat Pinhas

                                                                                                                                                                                                     B’’SD
Please learn in zekhut of the Refua Shelema of Sara Bat Morvarid, Yehezkel Ben Morvarid, Shahin Shmuel Chai Ben Hadassah and Mordehai Ben Iran. Also for the iluy Neshama of Yehuda Ben Ita Ester and Yaakov Ben Mazaltov. Thank you! Tizku lemissvot rabot!
Parashat Pinhas recounts how Pinhas zealously stabs Cozbi and Zimri, a Midianit woman and a member of Am Yisrael during a public impious act. The Parasha opens with HaShem’s promise to Pinhas and every generation that comes from him a convenant of Peace, Shalom and the guarantee that they will be a family of Kohanim for eternity. What was so special about Pinhas’ murderous act that he merited to such a berakha? Why when Moshe Rabbenu hit the rock, an inanimate object did he lose his merit to enter Eres Yisrael, something he had been looking forward to his entire life, but when Pinhas violently MURDERS two individuals in public, he is guaranteed eternal peace and honor? How did rage and murder bring Pinhas and his family eternal Shalom?
When Pinhas witnessed the immorality going on around him, he took matters into his own hands and in the defense of HaShem’s name and killed the couple during the act. By doing so, Pinhas wished to bring peace onto Am Yisrael and stop the ongoing plague around him. This is why he merited to enter a covenant of Peace with HaKadosh Barukh Hu; he consecrated the name of HaShem. To stress this idea further, HaKadosh Barukh Hu, in his infinite wisdom, inserts the seemingly random episode of the transferring of power from Moshe Rabbenu to Yehoshua in this very Parasha. Moshe Rabbenu did not merit to enter Eres Yisrael because when he hit the rock to bring forth water instead of speaking to it as he was commanded, he did not consecrate the name of HaShem in front of the entire congregation of Am Yisrael, while Pinhas did.
We learn from Pinhas the importance of actively making peace and not passively letting things remain peaceful. Sometimes, we believe ourselves to be the pinnacle of peace, the epitome of kindess because we do not enter arguments with others or because we are not angry people. But do we seek peace? Do we go around looking for reasons to bring Shalom unto us and those around us? It is always easy for us to be good with those that are good. The true test lies in how we deal with those that are not so good or those who do not act in the way which we want them too. Do we have patience with them? Do we act with kindness? Do we ‘hit’ them or do we speak to them softly? Just because the situation around us is peaceful, it does not mean that we are beholders of peace.
We must constantly engage in deep introspection and bring forth to realization how ACTIVELY peaceful we ourselves are as people. We must always analyze our actions, speech, and thought to determine how much peace we actually seek and how much peace simply finds us. May HaKadosh Barukh Hu bless us with the koah and the clarity to achieve peace by taking matters into our own hands like Pinhas did and to perpetuate this Shalom as was done with Pinhas.
Wishing everybody a Shabbat SHALOM!
Ariella Samimi

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