Parashat Pinchas: Actions and Signs

Numbers 25:14:

The name of the slain Israelite man, the one who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri son of Salu, leader of the ancestral House of Shimon and the name of the Midiantish slain woman was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur (who was one of the five kings of Midian).

The final portion of last week's Parasha described the catastrophic events initiated by the evil prophet Bilaam, when he saw that he was unable to curse the people as per Balak's requests.  If you recall, he sent harlots into the camp of the Bnei Yisrael who caused the men to commit idol worship (and all the immorality that this entailed).  Pinchas, the grandson of Aharon, saw an Israelite and a Midianite having relations and killed them, which stopped the plague that had taken the lives of 24,000 people.  This week's Parasha provides more details as to whom this licentious couple were.

We have come across Zimri previously in Sefer Bamidbar.  The Gemara in Sanhedrin (82b) identifies him as Shlumiel ben Tzurishaddai, the Prince of Shimon who also presented his tribe's gifts to the Mishkan as described in Parashat Naso.  It seems that, as per his name, he was also more than just a 'shlemiel', granted that he disgraced both his position and the family from which he emanated.  By extension, his behaviour also cast a long dark shadow over his fellow Simeonites.

He wasn't the first to tarnish the tribe's reputation.  To understand this fully, we need to cast our minds back to Sefer Bereshit.

In Parashat Vayishlach, Yaakov had survived the encounter with his twin brother Eisav and settled with his family in central Israel, in the region of Shechem (not far from the modern city of Nablus).  His young daughter, Dinah had wanted to explore the area and meet some of the local inhabitants.  She encountered Prince Shechem (the son of Chamor the Hivitte) who took her and then raped her (you can read the story in Bereishit Chapter 34).  Having behaved so despicably, the Torah tells us that his 'soul cleaved to her' and he wanted them to get married.

There followed a series of protracted negotiations between Yaakov and his sons, and Shechem and his father, Chamor.  The sons agreed to the marriage (and future unions between both peoples) on the condition that the men of the town circumcised themselves as per the Hebraic faith.  The townsfolk agreed to the pact and 'every male was circumcised.' On the third day, which is the time at which they would be at the apex of their pain and extremely vulnerable, Dinah's brothers, Shimon and Levi, massacred the entire adult male population.  They also took their wives and children as captives in addition to the ‘herds, flocks and asses and that which was in the field'.

Yaakov was incensed but he waited until he was lying on his deathbed in Egypt, decades later, to pronounce his verdict on his sons' barbaric behaviour.

On his last day, surrounded by his family, Yaakov did not refrain from giving a prophecy of the future that would impact upon Shimon and Levi’s descendants.

Genesis 49:

Shimon and Levi are brothers; Weapons of violence their wares.  Let me never join their council, nor my honour be of their assembly.  For in their anger they killed men; at their will, they hamstrung oxen.  Cursed be their anger, for it is most fierce, and their fury for it is most cruel.  I will divide them up in Yaakov and scatter them in Israel."

 

With regard to Levi, we know that the tribe was not assigned a portion of the land of Israel, due to its umbilical ties with the Temples, through the Avodah (Holy Service) of the Cohanim, ably assisted by the Leviim.  They were truly scattered amongst the people and had to settle in the 48 Levitical enclaves, of which 6 were designated Arei Miklat (cities of refuge for the people who had committed manslaughter - we will read about these in Parashat Maasei next week).

Levi's descendant, Korach, was responsible for the uprising which brought the Tribe's name into disrepute.  When describing his lineage, the Torah stops with Levi in order to honour Yaakov's dying wish that he not be mentioned and thereby dishonoured in connection with Korach’s rebellion.  Not forgetting that Korach's behaviour resulted (directly and indirectly) with the death of nearly 15,000 people.  His older brother, Shimon's actions, were similarly punished, not only as a result of Shlumiel's behaviour but also in another devastating way.

As Moshe prepares to meet Gd on his last day, he blesses all of the tribes in the beautiful prose that we read on Simchat Torah.  There is however one of the shevatim that is noticeably absent from the roster.  That of Shimon.

Chazal, our Sages, discuss his omission and as per the Artscroll Stone Chumash, there is a difference of opinion between the Ibn Ezra (who says that this was because of Yaakov's castigation) and the Ramban's assertion that the land could only be partitioned into twelve portions, one for each tribe.  Since the tribe of Shimon was very small in number, it was not given its own area but instead shared its allotment within Judah's territory.  It was indeed 'divided in Yaakov and scattered in Israel'.

And, like Korach, Shlumiel's highly irresponsible behaviour led to the deaths of thousands of Israelites- 24,000 to be exact.  Chazal note that in both the brothers' cases, their descendants caused others to sin and, as a result, thousands were punished with death through plagues in the desert.  Please note that the brothers and their descendants were in fact very righteous men.  This did not, however, stop them from committing the most grievous crimes.

The word 'Torah' literally means 'instruction' (coming from the shoresh of Yarah  ירה, which is also used in the word for a teacher - 'moreh').  This is a very appropriate name as it demonstrates that the Torah is not 'just' a history book but so much more than this.  Our ancestors were human beings.  Not gods and certainly not angels, and they were just as susceptible as their descendants would prove to be.  As great as Shimon and Levi were, their individual actions led to events that would have an impact for generations to come.

There is a dictum in the Torah of Maaseh Le'avot, Siman Lebanim, or the actions of the fathers are a sign for the children.  Avraham Avinu, as great a person as he was, (and he was the first Jew) went to Egypt and must have suffered immensely when his beloved wife Sarah was abducted by Pharaoh.  Similarly, his descendants would end up in Egypt as a result of also fleeing a famine and we know what that led to.

Many years ago, my parents befriended a German Jewish refugee who used to come to lunch at our house every Shabbat.  One saying she always repeated was that 'nothing happens in isolation'.  It has stuck with me through my life and made me think on how my actions can have reverberations on other people.

In these Three Weeks which lead up to the fast of Tisha B'Av, we are told to look inwardly and ask why we, as a nation, have suffered so much and continue to experience woes beyond our comprehension.  We should consider the ramifications of our actions and try to improve ourselves and the way we relate to others.  If we do so and remember how even great individuals like Shimon and Levi can err and behave in a way that caused such destruction in their time and later on, we can have a significantly positive impact on others in our own generation and beyond.  Perhaps then, in the very near future, we will be celebrating the return to Jerusalem and the Gulah Shelaimah, the final redemption.  May it happen speedily in our days, Amen.

Shavuah Tov.

Parashat Balak: The Power of Words

 3rd July

Three people were shot dead in a shopping mall in Copenhagen, Denmark.

4th July

Seven people were shot dead in Highland Park, Chicago.  A two-year-old became an orphan as a result.

8th July

Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese Prime Minister was assassinated in Nara, Japan.

In the United States alone, there have been over 300 mass shootings since the start of 2022.  A mass shooting is where at least four or more people are killed or injured in a single attack.

Three hundred attacks in six-and-a-half-months and that is just in the USA.

There is an old saying that, “Guns don't kill people.  People kill people.”

On the face of it, this seems like a trite comment that is particularly favoured by those Americans who hold the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms) so dear to their hearts.  The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defence within the home.”

However, I think that if we peel away the emotion that fuels this argument, there is a great deal of truth in what is being said, particularly in the second part of the statement, 'people kill people'.

There are many ways for a human to impact negatively on another person's life.

One of these is through physical violence, the kind that I have been referring to.  Another is the damage that can come about as a result of using, not a pistol or rifle, but a deadly weapon that each of us has the power to control, namely the words that come out of our mouths.

If I asked you to name an assassin, which of these would you think of first?

·         John Wilkes Booth, who shot Abraham Lincoln?

·         Lee Harvey Oswald?

·         Sirhan Sirhan, who killed Bobby Kennedy?

·         James Earl Ray, who shot Martin Luther King?

·         Mark Chapman who robbed the world of John Lennon?

·         Yigal Amir, Yitzchak Rabin's killer?

I have one more name for you to consider.  Someone, whom, had he succeeded, the repercussion on his actions could have affected every single one of us.

Can you guess who I am referring to?

Numbers 22:2-7

And Balak, son of Zippor had seen all that the Israelites had done to the Amorites.  The Moabites were in deep dread of the people because they were so numerous.  Fearful of the Israelites, the Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will now lick up everything around us as an ox licks grass in the field.”

Balak son of Zippor, was king of Moav at that time.  He sent messengers to summon Bilaam son of Beor who was at Petor, which is by the Euphrates, in his native land.

“A people has come out of Egypt and now they cover the face of the land - and they have settled down alongside me.  Please come now and curse this people for me, for they are stronger than I.  Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them from the land.  For I know that whomever you bless is blessed and whomever you curse is cursed.” 

So the elders of Moav and Midian, went with them carrying payment for divination.  They came to Bilaam and gave him Balak’s message.

The Moabites and the Midianites, who were sworn enemies, banded together to defeat the perceived threat of the Israelites (even though Gd had forbidden Israel from attacking Moav).  Instead of arming themselves with the Biblical version of guns, Balak sent for Bilaam to carry out his sordid plans.  This made Bilaam effectively a 'gun for hire’ as it were.  His curses could potentially do as much damage as a heavy barrage of modern-day artillery and both men were very much aware of this.

We read time and again in the Torah and beyond about the destructive power of curses.  A few weeks ago, we heard the Tochacha which described the curses that would afflict the Jewish people were they to stray from the good path.  In a few months’ time, we will read about the ceremony that would take place on Mount Gerizim and Mount Eval in Samaria, where the blessings and curses would be read out by the Leviim to the tribes gathered on both mountains.  Curses were not to be taken lightly.

As we know, Gd intervened and ensured that whenever Bilaam opened his mouth to curse the people, a blessing emerged instead.  To this day, many have the tradition to say the 'Ma Tovu' (how beautiful) verse that we read today every time they enter a shul.  In fact, one of my favourite quotes from the Torah is when Balak, frustrated with Bilaam's turn of words admonishes him by saying (in an almost comical manner):

“Don’t curse them and don’t bless them!”

As people of faith, we view Hebrew as being 'Lashon Hakodesh - a Divine language since the Torah was directly given by Gd to Moshe.  I also note in it some interesting anomalies when compared to English.

Famously the Hebrew word 'הוא' means 'He' in English and 'היא' in Hebrew means 'She'!  In the context of this week's Parasha and the issues that I have raised, I spotted another interesting connection between our two languages.  If you spell the English word 'Gun' phonetically into Hebrew, you see that the Hebrew word 'גן' means a garden, as in ‘Gan Eden’.  Similarly, it is the word used to describe a children's nursery, which makes sense.  Just as a garden is a location where we tend carefully to nature and nurture plants and young trees, so it is with a pre-school establishment.  It is the garden where our children are carefully and lovingly nurtured and prepared for the next stage in their emotional and intellectual development.

In fact, the Hebrew word 'Gan' is diametrically opposed to its English simile.  Where a Gun destroys, a 'Gan' builds.  Instead of the curse that has been thrust upon the world through the destructive use of gunpowder, we see how our children are blessed in their early years as they emerge like young trees from our wonderful nurseries.  Where English used a word to describe a weapon of destruction, Hebrew, Ivrit, gives it a very different and beautiful meaning.

Despite the Bilaams that try to curse others through bloodshed, they cannot succeed as long as there are people who want to protect the young with blessings.  It is sadly the case that, as we have seen, quite a few have lost their lives in the course of trying to protect the vulnerable human saplings in their care. 

Bullets kill and maim; love protects and builds.

Words can destroy and words can build.  Chazal tell us that Gd created our universe with words.

We cannot bring back those who have died but at the same time, we must never give up hope that one day, the blessings will outnumber the curses.  Bilaam tried his best to destroy us but instead uttered some of the most beautiful prose in the Torah. 

May the names of the people who have perished be a blessing to their families, friends and the wider society and may we all pray, paraphrasing the words of Isaiah (2.4)

Isaiah 2:4

And they shall beat their swords (or guns) into ploughshares

And their spears into pruning hooks:

 Humans shall not take up

 Guns against humans;

 They shall never again know war.

Shavuah Tov.

Parashat Korach: LeShem Shamayim [For the Sake of Heaven]

 

Pirkei Avot 5:17

Any dispute for the sake of Heaven, will have enduring value, but any dispute not for the sake of Heaven, will not have enduring value.  Which is an example of a dispute for the sake of Heaven?  The dispute between Hillel and Shammai.  What is an example of one not for the sake of Heaven?  The dispute of Korach and all his company.

Who was Korach?  To appreciate his grievance and that of his followers, we need to understand the various family structures that brought about this situation.

Levi, the son of Yaakov had three sons, Gershon, Kehat and Merari along with a daughter, Yocheved (who was also Moshe's mother).  Kehat had four sons which included Amram (Moshe's father and therefore Yocheved’s first cousin) and Yizhar who was Korach's father.  Korach was therefore a first-born son.

Who were Korach's followers?  Two-hundred and fifty men, mostly from the tribe of Reuven, Yaakov's firstborn son.  They were led by Datan and Aviram (and initially by On ben Pelet but he listened to his wife who wisely advised him to stay away from the crowd).

Rashi suggests that the issue spurring these men in their uprising, particularly Korach himself, was the fact that Moshe, the youngest of Yocheved and Amram's children had appointed Aharon, his brother to be the Kohen Gadol.  Korach, by his description in this week's Parasha, was anything but a modest man and saw this as favouritism.  The rebels who were all first-born men had lost their initial favoured status when they orchestrated the episode of the Golden Calf.  Hitherto, they had been earmarked to carry out the work that was subsequently passed onto the tribe of Levi - the only collective that did not participate in the sin.

 

 

When you consider the Ramban's view that this revolt came on the back of the decree following the Spies' report and its dire consequences, you have what we colloquially call 'a perfect storm'.  As a mathematical equation, you could express it in the following manner:

Forty year punishment +

long-standing firstborns' resentment +

populist sentiment stoked by some charismatic OPPORTUNISTS =

replacement of the current leadership.

Rabbi Sacks ztl writes:

"Populism is the politics of anger.  It makes its appearance when there is widespread discontent with political leaders, when people feel that heads of institutions are working in their own interest rather than that of the general public, where there is widespread loss of trust and a breakdown of the sense of the common good...The Korach rebellion was a populist movement and Korach himself an archetypal populist leader."

This is what he said about Moshe and Aharon:

Numbers 16:3

"You have gone too far!  The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is Among them.  Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”

That the Lord had originally commanded Moshe to appoint Aharon and his sons as the priests is conveniently ignored (see Exodus 28.1).

Korach accused Moshe and Aharon of nepotism.  In other words, corruption.  If that isn't insulting enough, Datan and Aviram accused Moshe of taking the Israelites out of Egypt - which they have the chutzpah to call the 'land flowing with milk and honey' in order to 'be killed in the wilderness.’  To add insult to injury, they accused him of the sin of the spies and said that he was holding onto the leadership 'for his own prestige'.  As Rabbi Sacks adds: "all three, outrageous lies."

 

 

Quoting our original text - this is an example of a dispute that is not created 'for the sake of heaven'.  Korach and his company are not trying to further brotherly peace. 

When it came to the great Talmudic schools of Hillel and Shammai, their arguments may have been just as forthright and no doubt their views, as fiery.  But the rationale behind their passion was firmly grounded in a desire to bring the Torah to the masses.  It was Leshem Shamayim - for the sake of heaven.  It was pure.

Korach's rebellion shows that populism can be corrosive if channelled in the wrong direction.  What would happen if the opposite could take place?  A leader who would launch a gentle revolution that would inspire millions of people to return to the Torah and its teachings.  A leader whose Yartzheit we commemorated yesterday which was twenty-eight years since the passing of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson ztl.

One does not need to be a member of Lubavitch to appreciate not only the wonderful work that his organisation does around the world day in and day out but the love they show to each and every Jew.

The Rebbe's raison-d'aitre was to emulate the legacy and teachings of Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai.  Everything he did was leshem shamayim - for the sake of heaven.  After the destruction of a third of the world's Jews, he spearheaded a campaign to rebuild, along with other Sages of the age, the shell that remained of our holy nation.

Travel virtually anywhere in the world and you will find a warm and welcoming Chabad house.  An emissary or Shaliach as they are known and a kosher meal to tuck into.  Friday night to celebrate in places where no-one knows what Shabbat means.  Someone who cares about your soul.  Another Jew who believes in you as a fellow Jew - irrespective of how connected you feel to Judaism.

May his memory be a blessing, a bracha to all of us.  He showed us that populism doesn’t need to be spearheaded by the wrongheaded approach of people like Korach and his followers.  It can be just as successful and influential if it powered by deep-felt love towards others.  That is the true kind of populism, and it takes place - Leshem Shamayim.

Shavuah Tov.