Parshat Pinchas 5777-Can the Kanai/Zealot be the leader?

יב  לָכֵן, אֱמֹר:  הִנְנִי נֹתֵן לוֹ אֶת-בְּרִיתִי, שָׁלוֹם.

12 Wherefore say: Behold, I give unto him My covenant of peace;

The reward for the act of zealotry by Pinchas is to be blessed with the covenant of peace.Obviously this seems strange, as his act of killing the prince of Israel and the princess from Midyan was very violent indeed. Why is his reward a ‘covenant of peace’ and what is the message to both Pinchas and to the Jewish world in the 21st century?

When I was working in London, before making Aliyah in 1979, my boss at the time was an ex British major who had been in Palestine in 1947 during the British Mandate period. He never spoke to me about his experiences until the day after the ‘mahapach’/change in government in Israel in 1977 and Menachem Begin zal became the Prime Minister.My boss asked me one question after telling me he was in Palestine during those years:”How could Israel elect a terrorist to become a Prime Minister?”In his mind Menachem Begin was still the wanted criminal that the British had been hunting, and he failed to recognize that ‘yesterday’s terrorist’ can become today’s political voice. I can now answer his question by referring to Northern Ireland and the way that the IRA leadership became accepted politicians in the Northern Ireland parliament.This is one of the greatest tragedies of the Palestinian leadership, that they cannot leave terrorism behind them and they do not realize how more productive their situation would become if they would adopt a position of negotiation and become a partner to peace.

This I believe is the message to Pinchas and to us as well. To maintain a continual level of zealotry and extreme behavior does not create the environment of peace which we all look forward to. Within our own communities there are many voices of extreme behavior being advocated, be it in religious practice or ideology. Pinchas is awarded the ‘covenant of peace’ as he has to realize that his tactic must change in order to achieve real peace in the world. As I once heard from a senior Rabbinic figure in the UK: “we have needed the element of kana’ut/zealotry to have survived for as long as we have , but this is not the basis for gaining a modus operandi in coping with the tribulations that life puts upon us, especially as Jews in the non-Jewish world”.

The kanai is definitely not fit to be the leader. This explains why Pinchas never became the shofet in later years, even though he remained alive until the days of King David(and according to Chazal, even beyond).

I would add an interesting observation of Rabbi SY Zevin zal(Israel: d.1979-the first editor of the Encyclopaedia Talmudit), in his sefer LeTorah Ulemoadim.He notes that the letter ‘vav’ in the word  שָׁלוֹם.is meant to be a ‘vav ketuah’ , which means that the letter is actually written with a small gap in the middle of the letter. Why is this so? Rabbi Zevin suggests that this is the lesson of peace making. If each side is totally inflexible and cannot meet anywhere in the middle, then peace is a faraway reality. However when the two parts of the letter ‘vav’ meet, then this represents the two sides coming together and then the word  שָׁלוֹם.is complete.

We all repeat many times the famous pasuk: ‘Hashem Oz Leamo Yitein, Hashem Yevarech et Amo Bashalom”/God gives strength to His people, may He bless his people with peace.It sometimes feels that the only way to peace in the Middle East is by relying on God and forgetting any negotiation. Our parsha and its message to Pinchas is somewhat different. When we have that partner for peace then we must pursue it and with God’s help this will be achieved.We must never give up trying.

This is a timely message for the 3 weeks which are now upon us when we are focusing so much on the future in Eretz Yisrael. May we see true peace speedily in our days.

Rabbi Ian.Shaffer   Cherry Hill NJ/Camp Emanuel in the Berkshires