MUSSAR D’ORAISA
Parshas Pinchas 5764
וידבר ה' אל משה לאמר: פינחס בן אלעזר בן
אהרן הכהן השיב את חמתי מעל בני ישראל בקנאו את קנאתי בתוכם ולא כליתי את בני
ישראל בקנאתי. (במדבר כ"ה:י-י"א)
And
Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying: Pinchas son of Elazar son of Aharon HaKohen
turned back My wrath from upon the Children of Israel, when he zealously
avenged My vengeance among them, so I did not consume the Children of Israel in
My vengeance.” (Bamidbar 25:10-11)
Pinchas saw that a terrible sin was being committed which was causing devastating destruction among Klal Yisroel. So, within the confines of halacha, he took it upon himself to destroy the perpetrator of this sin, appeasing Hashem and ending the plague. With apparently great personal risk to his own life he entered the camp of a foreign tribe (Pinchas was from the tribe of Levi and Zimri was from the tribe of Shimon), made his way past their guards, carried out the assassination of a tribal leader and miraculously emerged alive. And when he emerged people thought that he had committed a grievous murder, so Hashem made it known that it was in fact Pinchas that saved the people from continued plague by rising up and seeking to rid the camp of evil.
Pinchas's act is the model for zealotry condoned by the Torah. In the way that he carried out his task, it is clear that his intentions were purely for the sake of Heaven rather than for any personal ulterior motive. But how did Pinchas know that he would be successful in carrying out the act purely for the sake of Heaven? What about Pinchas's character assured that he had achieved enough to be on the high level of a zealot for Hashem?
The Gemara
(Pesachim 82b) says that when Pinchas arrived near the tribe of Shimon he said,
"From here we find that the tribe of Levi is greater than Shimon."
Rashi there explains that Pinchas meant You (the tribe of Shimon) permit
yourselves to the daughters of
Pinchas knew
that he could be a zealot with pure motives because he had already mastered the
spiritual levels of Prishus (separation) and Tahara (purity). Mesilas
Yesharim says that prishus involves separating oneself from that which is
even permissible to him; to make further personal fences preventing him from
even approaching sin. There are three levels—the sin itself, the fences enacted
by our Sages ז"ל on all
of Klal Yisroel to steer clear of sin, and there are further acts of distancing
oneself from even those fences by forbidding to oneself certain things that are
permitted—this third level is the level of prishus. Even beyond that, tahara
is the tikkun of the heart and thoughts, in order that the yetzer
hara have no place in his deeds, but rather that all his actions are on the
side of wisdom and fear of Heaven as opposed to being on the side of sin and
desires. This includes the idea that everything a person does in this world is
with the intention of serving Hashem and even when deriving benefit from this
world his motives should be pure from seeking meaningless enjoyment and
pleasure, but should only be for the sake of Heaven.
Pinchas was on this lofty level of self perfection
and stellar character, and these are the prerequisite characteristics necessary
in order to be a true zealot for Hashem. A real kanai is one who has
perfected his heart, mind, and actions to the extent that everything he thinks,
feels, and does is pure, selfless, and completely for the sake of serving Hashem.
While for some it may seem exciting or spiritually fulfilling to think and act
like a zealot, it behooves us to closely examine our personal deeds and to
determine whether the criteria for zealotry have been met by our character
before serving Hashem in an inappropriate manner.
Yitzchok Pinkus
Yeshivas Mir Yerushalayim