Numbers 25:10-30 - Zealots
by Rabbi Jeremy Rosen
The story of Pinchas, the grandson of High Priest Aaron is about zealotry, normally a bad quality, in the event of an emergency. It deals with an event as well as a pathology.
The Midianites, having failed in their attempts to block the advance of the Israelites, invited the magician Bilaam to curse the Israelites have come up with another idea. Understanding the power of sexuality Bilaam, having failed to defeat the Israelites with magic advised them that the Achilles heel of the Israelites would be sex. Instead of sending the soldiers in to fight a losing battle, they should send their women in to seduce the Israelites which is exactly what happened. The Torah implicitly blames Bilaam for this advice, but it is mentioned in the later books of the Bible such as Micha (Chapter 6:5).
Significant members with the leadership of the Israelites not only fell victim to the seduction but blatantly and publicly defied Moses and Aaron. Zimri ben Salou a prince from the tribe of Shimon, and Cozbi Bat Tsur a Midianite princess, defied Moses and were intimate right in front of Moses and Aaron and the elders. They were so stupefied they simply stood there weeping. They couldn't act. In this situation of paralysis Pinchasstepped up grabbed a spear and rammed them both through. This was an extra judiciary execution. The other heads of the tribes, according to the Midrash were scandalized both because they thought they were above the law and sought to punish Pinchas.
Interestingly neither Aaron nor Moses reacted. It was God who intervened and declared that what Pinchas had done was to restore order and peace. And therefore, although normally a priest who had taken a life was forbidden to function as a priest, Pinchas was to be the exception because he acted at the moment in crisis, to take action that others had failed to, to protect the values of the Israelites. This contrasts to the Golden Calf where the priests also took lives to stem the rot.
The Torah describes Pinchas as zealot, BeKano et Kinati (Numbers 25:10). The word Kano is used in the Ten Commandments in relation to God. Which is best understood to mean caring passionately. Although it is also used negatively of people who are fanatical. Where does one draw the line? Here God says explicitly that Pinchas acted on behalf of God.
It seems completely clear that the Torah implies that as a general rule we must abide by the law, and go through the judicial process. Even so, there can be emergencies and special situations when one has to take extra judicial action. The haftorah deals with the other rare case of zealotry . In Kings1 Chapter 19 King Ahab and his wife Jezebel have turned the Northern Kingdom of Israel over to idolatry under the control of their pagan prophets of Baal. Elijah has to flee but comes out of hiding to challenge them to a public test on Mount Carmel to see whose sacrifices would be accepted by God.
After he defeated them, he called for them to be executed. Jezebel swears to kill him. And once again he flees and is hiding in a cave. There he begs for death and God reassures him in a beautiful passage
“And God passed by and there was a great powerful wind smashing the mountains and shattering the rocks before God, but God was not in the wind. After the wind was an earthquake. But God was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake came fire but God was not in the fire and after the fire it was a faint sound of silence. When Elijah heard the Sound of Silence, he wrapped his face in his cloak, came out and stood at the entrance of The Cave before God.”
God reassured him that he was right to be zealous to save the people from paganism. God identifying with softness, silence, not violence is at the same time saying that we may have to act out of character.
Elijah too uses the same words used of Pinchas, Kano Kaniti. In both cases otherwise peaceful, gentle human beings were prepared to take dramatic action despite the peaceful past and a sense of reluctance, even guilt. The Israelite prince who was killed by Pinchas was Zimri from the tribe of Shimon.Shimon together with Levi were the violent brothers who avenged the rape of Dina (Genesis 34) by slaughtering the people of Shechem. The “men of violence” in Jacob’s words (Genesis 49:5). Perhaps we all have the capacity for good and bad depending on the circumstances.
The moral lesson of all this is that the general rule is that we must abide by the laws and go through the correct judicial response. But there could be a crisis, not just a biblical one, but even a crisis such as that one which we face now, where we may be forced to take zealous action to combat unusually dangerous situations. And often it is the gentlest of people who are obliged to fight for the survival of our people and our values. As we see with the hundreds of gentle heroic human beings, in Israel who have given their lives so that we may live.
Shabbat Shalom
July 25 2024
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Jeremy Rosen was born in Manchester, England, the eldest son of Rabbi Kopul Rosen and Bella Rosen. Rosen's thinking was strongly influenced by his father, who rejected fundamentalist and obscurantist approaches in favour of being open to the best the secular world has to offer while remaining committed to religious life. He was first educated at Carmel College, the school his father had founded based on this philosophical orientation. At his father's direction, Rosen also studied at Be'er Yaakov Yeshiva in Israel (1957–1958 and 1960). He then went on to Merkaz Harav Kook (1961), and Mir Yeshiva (1965–1968) in Jerusalem, where he received semicha from Rabbi Chaim Leib Shmuelevitz in addition to Rabbi Dovid Povarsky of Ponevezh and Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Shapiro of Yeshivat Be'er Ya'akov. In between Rosen attended Cambridge University (1962–1965), graduating with a degree in Moral Sciences.