Dear Rabbi,
In this week’s parshah, Pinchas, to
me there seem to be oversimplifications, revolutionary decision by G-d, a life
altering decision by the Almighty, as well as details of how holidays are to be
conducted.
With respect to Phinehas (Pinchas), we are told that he is rewarded for his
bravery in slaying a Jewish leader who had taken up with a Midianite princess.
I read an interpretation of what he did, which seems to infer that Pinchas
unilaterally executed the two. I take exception with that interpretation as
over simplistic in that last week in Parshah Balak we read in Chapter 25:4
that:
“The Lord said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of the people
and hang them before the Lord, facing the sun, and then the flaring anger of
the Lord will be removed from Israel.”
In response to that command, Moses in Chapter 25:4 does the
following:
“Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you shall kill
the men who became attached to Baal Peor.”
You did not respond to these two sentences when I brought it up
last week, so I again ask you, why is it described that Pinchas acted on his
own in doing what he did?
Another over simplification is the census of the Israelites. I get
that we are in the middle of the Book of Numbers, but why this constant
counting?
The revolutionary moment is when the daughters of Zelophehad successfully argue for a
portion in the land of Israel. I have
commented on this before, but it is worth noting how little is really made of
this in the male dominated “religious” aspects of our service especially among
the Orthodox.
I would like to devote the rest of what I will comment on with
what takes place in the Fourth Aliyah. If I asked you about Roebuck and Aldrin
and did not follow it with any explanation, would you know what I was getting
at?
Richard Warren Sears founded the R.W. Sears Watch
Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to sell watches by mail order. He relocated
his business to Chicago in 1887, hired Alvah C. Roebuck to repair
watches, and established a mail-order business for watches and jewelry. From
this came Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears, which is
an American chain of department stores.
Why the powers that be decided to drop Roebuck from the name is for others to
answer.
Neil Armstrong is the first person to step on the moon’s surface
when he did it on July 21, 1969. Nineteen minutes Edward Eugene (Buzz) Aldrin,
Jr. followed Armstrong and set foot on the lunar surface as well. Today, who is
the person that most humans associate with landing and walking on the moon? (As
a complete aside, Michael Collins was the third astronaut that was on Apollo
11, but I would guess as little credit as Buzz Aldrin got, Mr. Collins is truly
an afterthought.)
This now leads me to Numbers 27:18 where the following is stated:
“The Lord said to Moses, "Take for yourself Joshua the son of
Nun, a man of spirit, and you shall lay your hand upon him.”
I think you know where I am now going with this. Joshua is
ordained as Moses’ successor. Whatever happened to Caleb? It is my
understanding that the translation of Caleb in Hebrew is "faithful,
devotion, whole hearted, bold, brave".
If we can go back to Parshah Shelach for a moment, specifically
Numbers 13:30 we see the following:
"Caleb silenced the people to [hear about] Moses, and he
said, "We can surely go up and take possession of it, for we can indeed
overcome it."
When the twelve spies returned, it seemed to me that it was Caleb
that led the charge in support of going on to the Promised Land and taking what
was ordained as theirs. Sure Joshua joined him in this support, but why Joshua
and not Caleb when it came time to chose Moses’ successor?
Shalom,
Mordecai
Dear Mordecai,
Are you saying
that Pinchas acted alone, independently or that he acted at Moses'
command?
In the Torah, you have about a couple of parshiot in which women are definitely a focal point. How would you explain the significance of the daughters of Zelophehad? What amazes you more - that they had the gall to ask or that, for one moment, G-d affirms the equality of men and women in the Torah, but you have to concede that the preponderance of the Torah is about men. Why? Is that only because men wrote it?
I very much enjoyed your recap of the history of Sears Co. and Neil Armstrong. Your point is well taken. We seem to be able to remember only one great man at a time. Are you asking why Joshua was chosen over Caleb or why Caleb wasn't chosen alongside Joshua. What I can say is that Caleb is from the tribe of Judah and Joshua is from the tribe of Ephraim. In this respect, the Northern Kingdom won out over the Southern Kingdom in that their ancestor carried Moses' banner.
Yet I feel that all this is beside the point. What do you think of Pinchas' action and why should I care whether he acted independently or at the command of Moses? Are you exculpating him? Do you believe Pinchas acted rightly or not and why?
Shalom,
Rabbi
I do not like it when someone takes the law in his own hands. I always had a problem with Pinchas because that is what I thought he did, yet he was was awarded for his efforts. However, once I read the account as described in the Torah, I realized that there was a legal defense that could be used for Pinchas' actions. It was the ultimate authority, G-d, that gave his instructions to Moses who conveyed it to the leaders to stop the improper actions between the Israelites and Midianite women. If I was called upon to defend Pinchas' actions, if he was accused of acting on his own, using the words of the Torah would be how I would handle it.
As to the daughters of Zelpphehad, I don't think there was any "gall" to their actions, I don't understand why those that "study" the Torah, cannot come to grips with the equality the decision G-d made should not be used to giving women a more equal footing in religious services. Would it not be easy to at least conclude that if there were no male heirs in a Jewish family that a female could come up to the bema and recite what the Orthodox would consider heresy?
Vigilantes are very exciting, though, and serve as a popular topic
on television. Take the show Dexter for example. Bat Man is the same way.
Pinhas would have needed a good lawyer. Sounds like you worked out his defense.
The difficulty is that given the fallibility of human beings, most who think
they are acting in His name are mistaken. Why?
Orthodoxy is particularly focused on controlling sexuality, and because women can attract significant sexual attention, they seek to delimit that person's use of public space.
Shalom,
Rabbi
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