Pinjas 5776 - English

By Rabbi Daniel A. Kripper

Beth Israel - Aruba.

Religion and Zealotry

The parashah tells the story of Pinchas, grandson of Aaron, the Kohen Gadol, the young man who dramatically proved his loyalty towards pure monotheism. His feelings of fervor and dedication were so intense that when he saw the children of Israel involved in idolism and promiscuity, he resolved to take justice into his own hands. While others stood paralyzed without taking any specific attitude, Pinchas decided to punish the sinners: he took a spear and killed them in front of everyone.

As a reward for his timely and well-intentioned –albeit violent- procedure, God promised Pinchas and his descendants a pact of eternal peace.

However, from a classic interpretation by our sages, this Pinchas episode has been handled as a one time only event, one that should never be emulated or repeated.

The promised peace pact is not a real peace, for as it has been pointed out, one of the Hebrew letters in the word Shalom, the vav in the Biblical text, appears cut in half. Perhaps this is the way they found to show that even though the passionate action might have been justified at the time, this example must be handled with care.

It is interesting to note that the word “kanai” or fervent, is also used for “zealot.” The dividing line between enthusiasm and radical intransigence is usually very slim and both concepts can be easily confused.

Let us remember that the word fervent comes from the Latin verb fervere, which means to boil. Just like a vapor engine cannot work without boiling water, many noble causes cannot prosper without the ardent enthusiasm of their supporters.

But just like boiling water, zeal can also be very dangerous. The intransigent can become a zealot that does not tolerate opinions other than his own. The zealot is potentially a destructive factor that can compromise peace.

The zealot tends to erase the distinction between the important and the comparatively trivial. Not only does he confuse trees with the forest, he perceives individual trees as if they were the forest.

In this perturbed world we live in, there are times when acts of violence are not only inevitable but even necessary. Individuals and nations are frequently forced to defend themselves from the attack of hostile forces that would subjugate them. When a peaceful

settlement to a conflict is unfeasible, sometimes the only alternative is to turn to brute force “in extremis”, to stand for legitimately justified causes.

Like Prof. Akiva Ernst Simon used to say, Judaism is a peaceful religion, not a pacifist one, meaning it advocates ideally for peace, but not peace at any price.

This has been the fate of humanity throughout history, and everything seems to indicate it will continue to be so.

But Judaism warns about falling into the trap of the glorification of violence. Violence is at times inevitable, but it should never be cause for vainglory.

In its short history, the modern State of Israel has had to use force repeatedly, for reasons of self-defense and security, but always burdened with a feeling of sorrow, as a necessary evil.

Someone who has better conveyed Judaism’s position in recent times is Rachel Frenkel, a scholar of Jewish law and the mother of Naftali, one of the three young Israelis brutally murdered by their Palestinian captors.

Secluded in the pain of her home, she was informed a few days later of the murder in Jerusalem of a Palestinian teenager who was the same age as Naftali and was presumably the victim of revenge.

Rachel made a pause on her drama and raised her voice in solidarity with Suha, the mother of the Palestinian. “We don’t know what has happened in Jerusalem, but if the murder of the Arab young man has a nationalist motivation, it is horrible and despicable. There is no difference between blood and blood. Murder is murder, no matter the nationality and the age,” claimed Frenkel, trying to quench the thirst for revenge that advances these days among different sectors of both populations. “There is no excuse or forgiveness for murder.”

Violence, even when it is inevitable, engenders more violence and shrinks the divine image in the universe.

Rabbi Daniel A. Kripper

Beth Israel Aruba