Pinchas: Repairing the Peace of a Letter (repost)

I've said this before, but the Torah really does have an amazing amount of different ways of getting a point across. This week, we see a few of those crafty techniques
crafty techniques at work, yielding some fascinating subtle messages embedded within the text. These lessons are especially crucial for us to take to heart today, as we think about issues like violence, reward and punishment, passion, and that most important of pursuits, peace. The rabbis who divided up the Torah into weekly portions, parshiot, were usually very good at keeping stories intact; breaking up the narrative so that a single story played out in one portion and didn't get split up awkwardly. Knowing that, we already see something strange going on in the story of Pinchas, the grandson of Aaron.

Last week, we were introduced to him as he violently and passionately killed an Israelite and his Midianite female companion for brazenly transgressing the law against idolatrous interfaith cohabitation, in full view of the community. That Torah portion ended
abruptly in the middle of the story; AND it ended on a negative note, which the rabbis almost never allowed: "Those who died of the plague numbered twenty-four thousand" (Numbers 25:9). The End. Lovely... This week's reading is a continuation of that story, where we are told that Pinchas is rewarded for his actions (!). God declares that Pinchas will receive a "Brit Shalom," "A Covenant of Peace." Now, if we stop here for a moment and examine this story a bit more closely, we see some of those 'crafty techniques' I was referring to earlier. First, we are puzzled by the splitting of the story into two sections, and more specifically separating the action itself from its reward. In his writing on this issue, the 13th Century commentator, Moses of Coucy, noted that this teaches us not to rush to reward extremism. Second, our parashah contains two additional hints that something is truly 'off' in this story. The name 'Pinchas,' just in this one verse, in 25:11, is copied down in EVERY Torah scroll - according to tradition - with a miniature Yud.


That letter, often representing God's Presence, is reduced in size in all Torah scrolls, perhaps to indicate that Pinchas' violent actions have diminished the experience of God in his life.
Similarly, the term 'Brit Shalom,' which means "Covenant of Peace' sounds unequivocally positive for Pinchas, no?


Well, much like our Yud-issue above, every Torah scroll contains a 'broken' letter in the word 'Shalom.' The Etz Hayim Torah Commentary explains the broken letter as indicating that, "the sort of peace one achieves by destroying one's opponent will inevitably be a flawed, incomplete peace." It's almost equivalent to writing an asterisk in the corner - yes, it's peace... but is it really?


So does the Torah support Pinchas' actions, or denounce them? Why the disparity between overt praise and subtle critique? Several commentators also point out that his 'reward' is to become the new High Priest - a job filled with rules and regulations, scripted actions and rigid limitations.
Maybe it's not so much a reward as a vehicle for teaching the 'hot-headed' Pinchas how to play by the rules of society? As is often the case, we're left with more new questions than answers. But it's still a crucial lesson for us today, as we too struggle with how to respond to extremist violence and uncompromising leadership. The Torah advocates balance, but sometimes it doesn't hit us over the head with that lesson by stating it outright. It drops small hints to help us get there on our own. If we are ever going to achieve a 'Brit Shalom' of our own, it can't be manufactured or forced - that will only lead to more broken letters and broken dreams. And if we ever want to increase the size of that Yud - the Presence of true Divine peace in our lives - we have to first notice that it's diminished, and only then can we start doing something about it. There are many ways to learn from the story of Pinchas; let's broaden our minds to learn from them all.



Images in this blog post:
1. CC image courtesy of MojoBaer on Flickr
2. CC image courtesy of marianne muegenburg cothern on Flickr. 
3. Image courtesy of Rabbi Gerber's iPhone and one of Ohev Shalom's very photogenic Torah scrolls.
4. Image courtesy of the same iPhone and camera-friendly Torah scroll as above.
5. Image courtesy of Rabbi Gerber's computer.