Torat Moishe - Moishe's Torah

Parshat Pichas
Bamidbar 25:10 - 30:1
24 Tammuz 5772 / July 13 – 14, 2012

Rewarded Punishment
by Zvi Bellin, MHHQ

This is a D’var Torah about first impressions. Whenever I meet anyone tall, I immediately think that I cannot have any possible relationship with this person. It is like an automatic trigger in my head – tall person and little me = do not mix. Well, I have been proven wrong many times and have some amazing relationships with people who tower over me. Many of these people, I have actually met through Moishe House ;-) .

This week’s parsha is like a tall person for me. It begins with Pinchas (Aaron’s grandson) who, after killing an Israelite man and a Midianite woman in the midst of coitus, is rewarded by God with the eternal gift of priesthood.  The background is that the Israelites meet the Midianites on the way to Israel and the Midianite women lure the Israelite men into a bit of a sex party. Pinchas’ bloody actions, as you might guess, breaks up the fun. The fact that violence is commended and rewarded so highly does not compute in my brain and my reaction is, NOPE – I don’t get it.

I would like to pause from my negative first impression of this story and see if I am missing something that I can relate to.

The text states, in last week’s portion, that as the couple was publically doing the nasty, there was a plague occurring where other Israelites were dropping like flies. This plague claimed 24,000 lives and after Pinchas’ act of zealotry, people stopped dying. This leads me to believe that there was more at stake here than inter-religious baby making. The Israelites were under a spiritual and/or cultural attack. This was no meeting of two peaceful cultures for the sake of expanding wisdom. The Israelites were vulnerable and ungrounded, and if the charge led by this Israelite fornicator would have succeeded, our history might have ended there. Pinchas killed two and saved thousands, and generations to come.

This ultimately does not satisfy me. I do not love Pinchas. Aaron’s lineage is about being a Rodef Shalom (a pursuer of peace) using peaceful means. His grandson seems to bring peace, though falls short in employing peaceful means – so there is a bit of a stain on his reward. The text suggests that God’s feelings towards what happened was not super positive either. First, in the parsha, when Pinchas is first mentioned, his name is spelled with a smaller-than-usual yud ( (י,this might denote a limiting of Divine favor, as yud is a letter in God’s holy name. 

In addition, in the word for Pinchas’ blessing, which the Torah says is a Brit Shalom - ברית שלום -   a covenant of peace – the letter vav (ו )in the word Shalom is broken in the middle. This letter is also a letter in God’s name. To me this says that this covenant of peace has something broken within it.

In the end, my first impression of this story has been somewhat complicated. Sometimes drastic actions are needed in order to save lives – needing to choose the death of a few to save many. Most of us will never make such a decision, but people in positions of national/global leadership do have to make such hard decisions daily. I do feel a little bit better knowing that God does not feel completely whole with the way things turned out. And perhaps – Pinchas is gifted the priesthood in order to tame his passions within the rigid system of priestly life.   

Parshat Balak
Bamidbar 22:2 – 25:9
12 Tammuz 5772 / July 6-7, 2012

Own your Jewish Karma 
by Zvi Bellin, MHHQ

Holy Blessings Batman!

When Balak, the King of Moav, enlists the desert dwelling prophet Bilaam to curse the Israelite nation, words of  blessing emerge that become timeless as part of our daily prayer. Balaam is summoned to an overlook where he can see the entire Israelite encampment. He intends to curse the people, but has promised that he will only speak the words that G-d puts into his mouth. Balaam closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, and chants these famous words that have found their way into scripture:

Balaam’s prophecy is a timeless blessing that includes us, the current generation of Jewish people. Our pluralistic and progressive homes are tents of Jacob and dwelling places of Israel. And so they are good. What is the goodness that this familiar line (verse 5) of prayer is talking about? Perhaps there are clues to be found in the lesser known continuing lines.

How exciting that verses 6 and 7 contain beautiful images from the natural world! “Gardens by the river side,” and “water shall flow from his branches.” Our generation is engaged in the process of exploring the deep bond between Jewish identity and caring for our planet. True to Balaam’s verses, we are discovering that our homes are good places because we do not see them as completely separate from the world outside of our windows. We know that we need to use natural resources responsibly in order for goodness to continue.  

Verses 8 and 9 are less politically correct and so perhaps, a bit harder to digest. The blessing connects our relationship to a G-d of war and power. Is that what we need G-d for? To eat up nations and crush their bones?

I want to suggest that we read the end of the blessing as a progression. We began with the need for a G-d that destroys our enemies (verse 8), but we head towards a relationship whereby we have the power to bestow blessings and curses because of a connection with G-d within (verse 9).

Stephanie Nash is an actress and meditation teacher that talks about the resonance between two pitchforks. If you strike one pitchfork at the end of a gymnasium, a second pitchfork at the other end of the room will begin to chime in tune. Human relationships are guided by this phenomenon too. When we watch a movie and witness strong and powerful emotions we begin to experience the same feelings. Might the same be true for the blessings and curses that we put out into the world.

“Blessed be every one that blesses thee, and cursed be every one that curses thee.” If we choose to see truth in these words, then it is our responsibility to ensure that we act in ways that people will bless us, so we can all (Jews and non-Jews) benefit from increased blessing in the world.