Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב Boker tov, welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. We begin as always with our gratitude to our generous sponsors for the year, Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of David Grossman, לעילוי נשמת li'iluy nishmas דוד בן מנחם משה David ben Menachem Manis. This morning's שיעור shiur, פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas, is sponsored by David and Sharon Karpel in memory of Sharon's beloved brother, Cantor Seymour Rakov, אליהו שלום בן חיים שמואל Eliyahu Shalom ben Chaim Shmuel, and by Esther Friedman לעילוי נשמת יואב ברך בן ישראל יצחק li'iluy nishmas Yoav Baruch ben Yisrael Yitzchak on שלשים shloshim. שנשמתו תהא צרורה בצרור החיים she'nishmaso tehei tzrurah b'tzror hachaim. עליה Aliyah, thank you so much for your generosity. There are always opportunities to sponsor individual שיעורים shiurim, and we're always looking for sponsors of the Parsha Perspective write-up. This new write-up that we are providing, it's being read by thousands, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, all over. If you'd like to sponsor for an occasion, please let us know. We have the privilege this שבת Shabbos this week of learning, of reading פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas, page 876 in the ArtScroll Stone חומש Chumash.And the פרשה parsha begins, even before we get to the פרשה parsha, I've been sharing with you some fascinating insights from this אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaos HaTorah. It has some fascinating, obscure, and yet again on this פרשה parsha, I won't take the time and go through it now, we have so much else we want to see. How do you spell פנחס Pinchas? with a יוד yud, with no יוד yud? מלא, חסר malei, chaser? How does it appear? The name יששכר Yissachar, how do you pronounce it? יששכר Yissaschar? יששכר Yissachar? All kinds of fascinating. How long did פנחס Pinchas live? We see that he is represented beyond חומש Chumash into תנ\"ך Tanach. How long did he live and much, much more. But I'll share with you one interesting insight that he quotes. And he says the following. In the ספר בני יששכר Sefer Bnei Yissaschar, he quotes, בשנה שקביעות שמתחלקים משנה פשוטה bishanah she'kvius she'mitchalkim mishanah peshutah, חקת ובלק נפרדות Chukas Balak nifrados, so מטות ומסעי מחוברות Matos u'Masei mechuboros. ולמה לא בהפך v'lama lo b'hepech? Why is it sometimes we combine פרשיות parshiyos, sometimes we read them separately, sometimes we are in sync with the reading in ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, sometimes we are a week behind? How is it divided? Why is it organized in this fashion, in this way? ונראה לי V'nireh li, says the חילק בני יששכר Chelek Bnei Yissaschar, דמהדרינן כולי עלמא דאפשר לקרות הפרשיות שמבואר בהם חלוקת הארץ בימי בין המצרים d'mehadrinan kulei alma d'efshar likros ha'parshiyos she'mevuar bahem chalukas ha'aretz bimei Bein HaMetzarim. Our פרשה parsha contains within it the complaint, למה יגרע lama yigara, again of בנות צלפחד Bnos Tzelafchad, the daughters of צלפחד Tzelafchad, who want to inherit the land of Israel. There's a love, a חביבות chavivus, they cherish, there's an affection, there's a yearning to be and to be part of and to own a piece of ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. So we specifically design the calendar of Torah reading so that the reading of this פרשה parsha falls during the three weeks, בין המצרים Bein HaMetzarim. This time of exile, this time of destruction, this time of distance from our land or our land in its full sense, we read these פרשיות parshiyos. ולזכר הנה אלו הפרשיות תמיד בין המצרים להורות הבטחה לישראל, לאלו תחלוק הארץ גם כן V'l'zecher hinei eilu ha'parshiyos tamid Bein HaMetzarim l'horos havtacha l'Yisrael, l'eilu techalek ha'aretz gam kein. ונהי גם בפרשת פנחס מבואר חלוקת הארץ V'hinei gam b'Parshas Pinchas mevuar chalukas ha'aretz, על כן מהדרינן כולי עלמא שיקרו גם פרשת פנחס בימים אלו al kein mehadrinan kulei alma she'yikru gam Parshas Pinchas b'yamim eilu. So not only do we read מטות Matos, מסעי Masei, דברים Dvarim which have explicit direct reference to the division of the land, but פנחס Pinchas also has the illusion to the division of the land because it invokes the complaint of the daughters of צלפחד Tzelafchad and the response to them. הנה יתנחמו ישראל בראותם לאורך מועדים בימינו Hinei yitnachamu Yisrael bi'rosam l'orech moadim b'yameinu, שהעתידים הימים האלו להיות לששון ולשמחה ולמועדים טובים she'asidim hayamim ha'eilu l'hiyos l'sason u'l'simcha u'l'moadim tovim. Moreover, פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas has in it, says the בני יששכר Bnei Yissaschar, the end of the פרשה parsha, by the end we don't mean the tail end, but the latter part of the פרשה parsha deals with the פרשת המועדים parshas ha'moadim. It goes through the Jewish calendar and the Jewish holidays. Why are we reading that in בין המצרים Bein HaMetzarim specifically? Says the בני יששכר Bnei Yissaschar, because we need to know we have a promise, a הבטחה havtacha. The fast days that we are observing, these days of sadness and despair will be transformed to holidays, to days of closeness, to days of elevation, to days of joy. They're going to be transformed. תשעה באב Tisha B'Av itself, קראו מועד karahu moed. תשעה באב Tisha B'Av is going to be a great holiday. We omit תחנון Tachanun on תשעה באב Tisha B'Av because it already has components of the great holiday. Hopefully we won't talk about it, we'll be in ירושלים Yerushalayim, but if we observe תשעה באב Tisha B'Av this year we'll talk about, what is the holiday component of תשעה באב Tisha B'Av? תשעה באב Tisha B'Av is all about despair, hopelessness, sitting on the floor, sadness, tragedy, loss, grief. Where is the holiday? Where is the רבותי Rabosai, point, the מועד moed in that? But nonetheless, says the בני יששכר Bnei Yissaschar, that פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas, we read it in the three weeks. We've just begun the three weeks and we're studying and we'll read פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas. It should comfort us and give us strength to know that these days too will be transformed into holidays. What now we observe as fasting and sadness will become days of glad, of joy, will become days of holiday.And then he quotes the שו\"ת ארץ צבי Shu\"t Eretz Tzvi. Who was the ארץ צבי Eretz Tzvi? The קאשעגלאווער Kosheglover. ר' אריה צבי פרמר Reb Aryeh Tzvi Frumer, the קאשעגלאווער Kosheglover. The קאשעגלאווער Kosheglover was the אב\"ד av beis din of קאשעגלאוו Kosheglov, then he became the ראש ישיבה Rosh Yeshiva of ישיבת חכמי לובלין Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin after ר' מאיר שפירא Reb Meir Shapiro. He was murdered by the Nazis, השם יקום דמו Hashem yikom damo. And in his ארץ צבי Eretz Tzvi, his שו\"ת shu\"t he writes in the name of the אבני נזר Avnei Nezer, the סאכאטשאווער Sochatchover, נהגו ללמוד הלכות יום טוב בימי בין המצרים nohagu lilmod hilchos yom tov b'yemei Bein HaMetzarim. There was apparently a custom among חסידים Chassidim to learn the laws of יום טוב Yom Tov, complicated difficult laws, to learn the laws of יום טוב Yom Tov specifically during the three weeks. I would have said, learn the laws of לשון הרע lashon hara. Learn the laws of honesty, learn the laws of חסד וצדקה chesed u'tzedakah, learn the laws, בן אדם לחברו bein adam l'chavero, interpersonal relationships, of kindness, of generosity. We spoke the other night about being judging favorably. There are all kinds of laws to learn. הלכות יום טוב Hilchos Yom Tov? In the three weeks, absent a יום טוב Yom Tov? So listen to the words, listen to the words of the ארץ צבי Eretz Tzvi. מה שכתב מרן Ma she'kasav Maran, what the סאכאטשאווער Sochatchover, the אבני נזר Avnei Nezer wrote, דנהגו ללמוד הלכות יום טוב בימים הללו d'nohagu lilmod hilchos Yom Tov b'yamim halalu, יש לאסמכתא לזה yeish l'asmachta l'zeh, מדאי פריוב חל פרשת פנחס בין המצרים midei friyov chal Parshas Pinchas Bein HaMetzarim. Where does this come from? Because פנחס Pinchas we read in the three weeks, אשר שם כתובים כל קרבנות המועדות asher sham ksuvim kol korbanos ha'moados. And all the laws, all the sacrifices for the many holidays appears פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas. וגם פרשת תמידים שבראש פרשת המוספים נראה שהוא הלכות יום טוב V'gam parshas temidim she'b'rosh parshas ha'musafim nireh she'hu hilchos Yom Tov. That is an allusion, a hint to this custom, this tradition of learning specifically the laws of יום טוב Yom Tov during the three weeks. I think maybe going back on the בני יששכר Bnei Yissaschar, why? Because we long for and we דאווען daven for when these days of sadness and despair will be transformed into days of joy and days of of gladness. Days of gladness. Okay. We have so much, it's tempting to share. Such exciting. I find it such fascinating stuff. But I want to get into our פרשה parsha itself.Page 876, פרק כ\"ה perek kaf hei, פסוק י' pasuk yud. וידבר השם אל משה לאמור Vaydaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, God speaks to Moshe. פנחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן השיב את חמתי מעל בני ישראל בקנאו את קנאתי בתוכם Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aaron HaKohen heishiv es chamasi mei'al Bnei Yisrael b'kano es kinasi b'socham. פנחס Pinchas, if you don't know who he is, he's the son of אלעזר Elazar. If you don't know who he is, he's the son of אהרן Aaron. If you don't know about אהרן Aaron, know he's a כהן kohen. השיב את חמתי מעל בני ישראל Heishiv es chamasi mei'al Bnei Yisrael. He turned back my anger, my wrath, my rage against the Jewish people, בקנאו את קנאתי בתוכם b'kano es kinasi b'socham, when he avenged my vengeance among them. ולא כליתי את בני ישראל בקנאתי V'lo chilisi es Bnei Yisrael b'kinasi, and because of פנחס's Pinchas's righteousness, his virtue, because of his zealousness, I did not consume, I did not destroy the Jewish people in my anger. לכן אמור Lachen emor, and therefore, הנני נותן לו את בריתי שלום hineni nosen lo es brisi shalom. I am bestowing upon him the Nobel Peace Prize. The individual who stood up and drove a spear between two people who were united as one, this individual who brutally murdered, who brutally killed these two violators, transgressors gets the Nobel Peace Prize of God. בריתי שלום Brisi Shalom. Not only him, והיתה לו ולזרעו אחריו ברית כהונת עולם v'hayisa lo u'l'zaro acharav bris kehunas olam. His descendants will be bestowed upon this status. תחת אשר קנא לאלוקיו tachas asher kinei l'Elokav because everybody else passively were spectators, everybody else was watching, he stood up and he stood for God. ויכפר על בני ישראל Vayechaper al Bnei Yisrael, and it was an atonement, he atoned for the Jewish people when he when he did so. פנחס Pinchas, why is it a small יוד yud in his name? An אלף's aleph's יוד זעירא yud ze'ira? The גמרא Gemara says that 10 miracles happened for פנחס Pinchas in that moment. 10 things happened for him to be able to do what he did, so the יוד yud is a small יוד yud, an illusion, says the גמרא Gemara, or others say based on the גמרא Gemara, there were 10 miracles that happened for פנחס Pinchas. We spoke about this in last year's פרשה שיעור Parsha shiur. Give you a little secret, you're allowed to listen to previous years also. That week, before the פרשה parsha, we spoke about it last year. Why do we reference? פנחס בן אלעזר Pinchas ben Elazar. ולא כליתי את בני ישראל בקנאתי V'lo chilisi es Bnei Yisrael b'kinasi. I did not destroy the people, says God, in my anger. In a ספר כוכבי אור sefer Kochvei Or, Rav Yitzchak Blazer, the great בעל מוסר Baal Mussar, says פנחס Pinchas stopped the plague. He stopped the plague. Why was he rewarded? בקנאו קנאת השם הציל את המגפה B'kano kinas Hashem hitzil es ha'mageifah. What did פנחס Pinchas do that made him stop the plague? What stopped the plague? לאו דווקא משום תכלית מעשהו היקר עשה, וסילק את מכשול העבירה Lav davka mishum tachlis ma'asehu hayakar asa, v'silek es michshol ha'aveira, אלא בקנאו את קנאתי ela b'kano es kinasi. The Torah tells us, not because he stopped the particular behavior, not because he interrupted or interfered with this egregious egregious act. It's not that he interrupted כזבי Kozbi and זמרי Zimri. It's not that he approached this lewd, licentious, promiscuous, immoral, unethical two people what they were doing in public. That's not why the Torah says he is rewarded with the ברית שלום Bris Shalom. Why is he rewarded? Three words. בקנאו את קנאתי B'kano es kinasi. What are those three words mean? בקנאו את קנאתי B'kano es kinasi. The opening פסוק pasuk. בקנאו את קנאתי B'kano es kinasi. The Artscroll translates, when he zealously avenged my vengeance. Okay, who's going to translate those words now? When he zealously avenged my vengeance? How do you avenge vengeance? What does that mean? Says Rav Yitzchak Blazer, the כוכבי אור Kochvei Or, שהראה שבער בו כבוד שמים שנחלה she'he'reh she'baar bo kavod Shamayim she'nichlal, זה שיכך חמת אף השם יתברך zeh shichech chamas af Hashem Yisborach. כשם שאם יקום איש נבלה וחורף ומגדף ויעשה שר ועיר k'shem she'im yakum ish nivlah v'choref u'megadef v'yaaseh sar v'ir, טבע הדבר שהרב יכעס מאוד teva ha'davar she'harav yich'as me'od, אם יקום אחד מחשובי העיר וישב מניעיו, פעמים לא יעשה האדון כלום, ופרט אם יוסיף להשתיק את הלחי im yakum echad me'chashuvei ha'ir v'yashev mini'av, pa'amim lo ya'aseh ha'adon klum, v'prat im yosif le'hashtik es ha'lechi. לאו דווקא מעצם נושא הוויכוח, כמו עצם החילול כבוד התורה Lav davka mei'etzem nosa ha'vikuach, k'mo etzem ha'chilul kavod haTorah. Says the כוכבי אור Kochvei Or, Rav Yitzchak Blazer, you know why Hashem is grateful, you know why Hashem rewards him? Not because he stopped the particular act, but everybody else watched and had nothing to say. God's name was being desecrated. God's values and being principles were being stomped upon. Godliness and holiness, there was wide desecration and profanity, and everybody else were spectators. Everybody else stood by. Everybody else tolerated in this very tolerant, progressive culture of the desert. The Jewish people were afraid of being cancelled, so they just stood by. Nobody objected, nobody protested, nobody said 'boo'. The רבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam, the Almighty, sanctity, a life of nobility and meaning and purpose, God's vision and values for his world, they were being trampled upon. They were being dissected and dissolved. They were being absolutely desecrated. And what did the people do? They looked down, they looked the other way. Nobody wanted to say anything. Nobody wanted to be the victim, the focus of an attack from the people who wanted to defend the right to, what do you mean, this couple, כזבי Kozbi and זמרי Zimri, they can't show their love in public? But it makes them happy. Who are they hurting? Who are the injured party? They're happy, pursuit of their pleasure. Can't people just dressed and behave and act and perform and identify and do whatever they want? So God says, בקנאו את קנאתי b'kano es kinasi. Now, I want to be very, very clear. I am not suggesting that anybody here follow the footsteps of פנחס Pinchas. Grab your spear, literally or figuratively, and go on the attack. That is not the Jewish way. פנחס Pinchas, the גמרא Gemara says, חז\"ל Chazal contemplated not speaking about פנחס Pinchas in a positive sense. He was a zealot. And we generally reject zealotry, zealousness, because if it's not judiciously and carefully applied, who says it's righteous and noble and has the consent of Hashem? So generally, we do not tell anyone, you have a right, none of us are deputized to stand up and scream and protest, certainly God forbid ever, ever use violence in order of in protest. So I want to be very clear. I am not suggesting and no one should walk out of here and consider themself a student of פנחס Pinchas. And now will take it into their own hands to act out against those who are desecrating God's name.But I do think it's instructive that the Torah is telling us there was a plague. There was a plague brought upon the masses. Why? What did they do? It was only כזבי Kozbi and זמרי Zimri who acted. It was only כזבי Kozbi and זמרי Zimri who desecrated. What did everyone else do? And the answer is there is no innocent passive bystander. When we are spectators to egregious misbehavior, to a violation and offense to Hashem's blueprint for his world, no one has the luxury of saying, 'You know, I'm neutral. I'm Switzerland. I was just in the middle. I didn't stand up, I didn't condone, I didn't condemn, I didn't want to get, I don't want to get involved.' Rabbi, I don't want to get involved. I don't want to get involved. And that's what Rav Yitzchak Blazer, the Kochvei Or gives this mashal. He says imagine somebody stands up and they begin to scream and curse out and threaten the רב העיר rav ha'ir, the מרא דאתרא mara d'asra, the rabbi, the ראש ישיבה Rosh Yeshiva. So everybody says, look, I don't want to get involved. If I get involved, somebody hung posters, somebody cursed out, somebody posted defamatory, unfair, untrue statements, somebody threatened. I don't want to get involved because then they're going to threaten me, and then my family, you're going to hang a poster, they're going to talk about me. Elie Wiesel speaks about the people who don't get involved. He says that's the opposite of, the opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. It's the, it's the bystanders, and we saw the consequence of a world who were bystanders to the worst atrocity in history. So Hashem says, you know why Pinchas is rewarded? It's not a matter of the particular act that he stopped. It's בקנאו את קנאתי b'kano es kinasi. He stood up for me. He avenged my vengeance. He saw me, the way I was being treated, the way I was being spoken about, says God, the way my rules, my blueprint for this world being set back, and he stood up and he protested and he objected. And sometimes you have to be intolerant of the intolerable. Intolerant of the intolerable. As much as we preach and we practice tolerance, and as important as that is, sometimes we have to be intolerant of the intolerable. Again, not in the way that Pinchas was, God forbid, but in a thoughtful, strategic, sensitive, appropriate way to defend the honor of Hashem. His honor also deserves defense. We also have to worry about כביכול kivyachol, so to say, his feelings. We have to care about him too and have a sensitivity towards him. בזה יבואר גם חומר עניין מצוות התוכחה B'zeh yevo'ar gam chomer inyan mitzvas ha'tochacha, שמבואר בתכלית להחזיר את חברו למוטב she'mevuar b'tachlis le'hachzir es chavero l'mutav, יש בו גם עניין להראות שחילול כבוד השם יתברך כואב yeish bo gam inyan le'haros she'chilul kavod Hashem Yisborach ko'ev. Some, we have a principle. The גמרא Gemara in שבת ק\"יט Shabbos kuf yud tes tells us, here we are in these three weeks, לא חרבה ירושלים אלא מפני שלא הוכיחו זה את זה lo charva Yerushalayim ela mipnei she'lo hochichu zeh es zeh. You know why ירושלים Yerushalayim was destroyed? שלא הוכיחו זה את זה she'lo hochichu zeh es zeh. Because there was misbehavior left and right and nobody said anything. Nobody said that's not acceptable. We're not okay with that. That's not right. We have to stand up for what's right. In so many ways, between us and God, between us and others. The behavior of so-called Orthodox Jews recently at the Southern Wall where a group of conservative were celebrating a שמחה simcha, and to tear סידורים siddurim and to spit and to throw things, it's unacceptable, intolerable, horrific, they should be held accountable in the highest way. We have to speak up, we have to stand out, בקנאו את קנאתי b'kano es kinasi means to defend Hashem's honor is not about who is at the כותל Kotel and what kind of service they're leading in that moment, it's about the misbehavior of these thugs and hooligans who have a higher responsibility because of the יארמולקע yarmulke on their head and because of whom they associate with and the way they behaved. So it's true in every direction. There are people who are who are misrepresenting Hashem in some directions who are blurring lines and ruining definitions and misrepresenting Hashem's blueprint for how we're meant to function interpersonally in this world. And there are hooligans and thugs who are misrepresenting Hashem in another direction, who think what they're doing is zealotry of פנחס Pinchas, but it's not. And we can't afford to be silent bystanders and spectators. בקנאו את קנאתי B'kano es kinasi. I'm elaborating too long on this opening comment, we have to move on, but you talk about a פרשה parsha perspective for today. It's not the particular act that פנחס Pinchas stopped, it's the phenomenon. Will we watch from the sidelines or do we get in the game of defending Hashem's honor? When we see injustice and we see a lack of righteousness. לא חרבה ירושלים אלא מפני שלא הוכיחו זה את זה Lo charva Yerushalayim ela mipnei she'lo hochichu zeh es zeh. We need to learn, we desperately need to learn from it.How could it be the שבטים shvatim, opening רש\"י Rashi. רש\"י Rashi says, פנחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aaron HaKohen. שהיו השבטים מבזין אותו She'hayu ha'shvatim mevazin oso. The other tribes used to denigrate, they would insult פנחס Pinchas. How would they insult פנחס Pinchas? הראיתם בן פוטי זה שפטם אבי אמו עגלים לעבודה זרה Hare'isem ben Puti zeh she'pitem avi imo agalim l'avodah zarah? You know who his זדה zeideh is? You know who his זדה zeideh is? His זדה zeideh was an idolater. בן פוטי זה ben Puti zeh, פיטם אבי אמו pitem avi imo, his mother's father used to fatten the calves to serve idols. Do you know from whom he descends? So they used to make fun of him. They used to make fun of him. So therefore, the Torah associates not only with יתרו Yisro, his mother's father, says, והרי חג נשיא שבט משראל v'harei chog nasi shevet mi'Yisrael, ופיחך בבת קודש ויחסהו אחר אהרן v'fiyechach b'vas kodesh v'yachseihu achar Aaron. Of course, פנחס Pinchas acted inappropriately, incorrectly. He's violent. He has an anger problem. And where did he get that from? His זדה zeideh, יתרו Yisro. יתרו Yisro, the idolater, יתרו Yisro, the pagan. That's from whom he descends, and that's why he misbehaved in that way. So the Torah says, well, not so quick. You know who his זדה zeideh is on the other side? אהרן הכהן Aaron HaKohen. His other זדה zeideh is אהרן Aaron. And what's אהרן's Aaron's defining characteristic? אוהב שלום ורודף שלום ohev shalom v'rodef shalom. אהרן Aaron is all about peace. Pursues peace, he loves peace, he practices peace. He reinforces and promotes peace. He also has that DNA of אהרן Aaron. So lest you think he acted out of violence and anger, he acted in the pursuit of peace. That is Hashem, that is the Torah's response. Now, it's kind of peculiar. What led רש\"י Rashi to this discussion? What led the מדרש Midrash to this conclusion? Normally the Torah identifies someone exclusively by their father. This is unusual, that the Torah here identifies not only by the father, but also by the grandfather, the two זדהס zeidehs. So why by the two זדהס zeidehs? This is what the מדרש רש\"י Midrash Rashi comes to clarify. It's somewhat peculiar because the truth is, shouldn't we analyze and seek to understand פנחס's Pinchas's behavior on its own merit? If what he did is wrong, then what do we care if אהרן Aaron is his grandfather? If what he did is right, who cares that יתרו Yisro was his other grandfather? What does it matter from whom he descends? What does it matter who his grandfathers are? Shouldn't we analyze and understand his behavior on its own merit? Was his zealotry righteous or not? Was it right or correct or not? What does it make a difference who his grandfathers are, what spiritual DNA he carries? It's an interesting question that's asked of Rav Dov Soloveitchik. We'll leave it for you to think about. But I want to ask a different question. How could it be that the שבטים shvatim are making fun of פנחס Pinchas? Think about the events. We sometimes, you know, we get so caught up in the, the רש\"י Rashi, we don't zoom out the lens and think, does that make sense? We don't see the whole picture. Last שבת Shabbos we spoke about an incredible חתם סופר Chasam Sofer, who reminded us that we had eyewitnesses to every event in the Torah except בלק ובלעם Balak u'Bilam. The Jewish people had no idea they were in danger. They had no idea they were saved. They would never have had any idea that the episode ever happened had the Torah not recorded it. We spoke about then why did it record it? A beautiful חתם סופר Chasam Sofer. So similarly here, zoom out the lens and ask an obvious question. When פנחס Pinchas acted the way he did, he received the Nobel Peace Prize. He got the God Peace Prize, much greater than the Nobel Peace Prize. Considering some of the recipients in the past, the Nobel Peace Prize, doesn't carry much weight at all. So, he got the God Peace Prize, much, much greater. What did the people get? Did the people as a whole benefit from פנחס's Pinchas's behavior, his actions? The plague was stopped. Yeah. There were 24,000 people who died. 24,000 טהרות taharos, 24,000 funerals, 24,000 אספדים hespeidim, 24,000 שבעה מניינים shiva minyanim, 24,000 שבעה shiva homes, 24,000 widows and orphans. And what happened when פנחס Pinchas acted? It stopped. And what was the result? They started to make fun of him? They challenged him, they doubted him? They denigrated him? How does that make any sense? How does that make any sense? Shouldn't they be grateful to him? Who would have any question about his lineage or about his history? Who cares about his יחוס yichus? They were suffering a horrific, terrible plague. Do we care? Okay, I'm dangerous to even say this, but, do we care how the vaccine came to be? Do we look into the lineage or who was involved and bringing it in record speed? There's a vaccine. There was a plague, a pandemic, there was a vaccine. Who cares the lineage? Bottom line is if it worked, if effective or not? הקדוש ברוך הוא, משה השיב את חמתי, ושהיה זה שהציל את המגפה, וקיבל בשכרו ברית שלום HaKadosh Baruch Hu, Moshe heishiv es chamasi, v'she'hayah zeh she'hitzil es ha'mageifah, v'kibel b's'charo bris shalom. הרי אין בזה ראיה מספקת שהיה מעשהו לשם שמים Ha'ein b'zeh re'aya maspekes she'hayah ma'asehu l'shem Shamayim? Who can doubt פנחס's Pinchas's motive? Who cares where he comes from? Who endorsed פנחס's Pinchas's behavior? None other, the רבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam. Not Nobel, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu who gave him the peace prize. So if Hashem says his behavior is righteous, if Hashem says his behavior was purely motivated, so much so that he earned the peace prize, the Torah peace prize, the God peace prize, isn't that enough? Why do we need this רש\"י Rashi? Why did they denigrate? Why do I need to invoke, oh no, no, no, his other זדה zeideh is אהרן Aaron? You have to check out the מחותן mechutan. The מחותן mechutan, that answers it all. Who doubted him? What do you see from here? נוראות כחו של הנפש Noros kocho shel ha'nefesh, שאדם מסוגל לקבל טובה כל כך גדולה ממישהו ובמקום להכיר טובה she'adam mesugal lekabel tova kol kach gedola m'mishehu u'v'makom le'hakir tova, יצליח למצוא דברים צדדיים במעשיו ולבזותו על כך yatzliach limtzo devarim tzedadiyim b'ma'asav u'l'vazoso al kach. What an powerful insight into the human psyche. We so badly don't want to be beholden to others. We so badly don't want to have to be grateful, to be מכיר טובה makir tova, to have to carry what we call a debt of gratitude, that what do we do? The most cynical part of us kicks in and it makes us see the worst in someone. To challenge their motive, to undermine why they did it, to question who they are, their sincerity. What a horrific insight, but an authentic and true insight into the human psyche, that we have that capacity. This is what we spoke about at the end of שיעור וסעודה בתענית Shiur u'Seudah b'Taanis, about דן לכף זכות dan l'kaf zechus. We all judge, we're naturally designed to judge. The Torah says, our default, our instinct should be to judge favorably. Instead, so many judge unfavorably. That's the default. We find the negative. We find, instead of giving the other the benefit of the doubt, the way we give ourselves, instead of defending the way we defend ourselves, excusing the way we excuse ourselves, rationalizing the way we rationalize ourselves, this is the attribution error. When it comes to us, no, no, it's the circumstance, it's external factors, we're excused. When it comes to others, it's an internal failure, internal flaw. It's because they're always late, it's because they don't care, it's because they're not God-fearing, it's because they're not punctual, it's because they're not reliable, dependable, righteous. It's a terrible mistake, the fundamental attribution error that we make. And this is the three weeks we're supposed to overcome that. And you see that in our פרשה parsha. You see that in our פרשה parsha. פנחס Pinchas could save your life and you still say, ah, he didn't really do it for me. He's violent. I was the beneficiary. I happen to be his violence stopped כזבי Kozbi and זמרי Zimri, it stopped the plague, but he didn't do it for righteous reasons. I'm not putting him up on a pedestal. I'm not going to admire him, I'm not even going to thank him. You know why he did it? He's got an anger problem. He's got rage. He's got. So I'm not going to thank the volunteer security committee. Ah, they sit in the sweltering heat, and they defend and they protect our shul and our community, and they do so without getting paid just to be generous and kind. What, you literally hear, what people say this. Nah, they like to have a badge, they like to carry a thing, they like to feel important, they like the power trip, they like to, ah, I don't have to thank them. They do it for themselves. They this is their excuse, they don't have to sit through shul, they don't have to go to davening. They feel good about themselves. They're standing at the gate. Are you out of your mind? Do you know how hot it is out there? Are you crazy? No matter how much you dislike davening, you'd rather be in the AC in Florida in July than standing in the parking lot out in the gate, standing on the front line if God forbid something were to happen. But that's human nature. And you see that. You see that here in this story.By the way, they did it about Moshe Rabbeinu. They were slaves, they were dying, their children were being murdered, and they were liberated, liberated from essentially the concentration camp of Egypt. And what did they say about Moshe? He was on the take with the Mishkan, he took a little money for himself. Ah, you know, he's sleeping with people's wives. Ah, you know, he doesn't get along with his wife, that's why he's never home. Are you crazy? This man has been moser nefesh, he gave everything. He gave everything. Mordechai saves the Jews of Shushan. He orchestrates the whole scheme that saves the people from extermination. And there's a reelection, there's a vote for his next contract as the chief rabbi of Shushan. And what does the Megillah say? ורצוי לרוב אחיו V'ratzui l'rov echav. He got a majority. A majority? I want to meet the person who didn't vote for Mordechai. Which resident of Shushan said, 'We could do better. He once walked by me at the kiddush and he didn't say good Shabbos. I vote no.' Out of their mind? But that's human nature. That's human nature. And that's the human nature we have to overcome. To not be cynical and sarcastic and to not look for flaws and faults and to not question motive and intent, but to just say thank you. Thank you. You sacrificed, you were moser nefesh. You acted when others were passive. You stood up and you risked everything, which Pinchas did. Turned out, he made the right move. But he didn't know that until it was over. He didn't know that until God put the medal, he put it on properly in the front. But until God put on the medal, he didn't know that he did the right thing, that Hashem was approving with the peace prize. What could have happened instead? First of all, he could have been killed. What if he was trying to drive this spear, but they were quicker than he? God could have struck him down. He could have received the death penalty for what he did. He was moser nefesh. Just say thank you. Don't doubt him. Don't vote him down. Don't question his motive. Don't gossip about him. Don't judge unfavorably. Just say thank you. Just say thank you. What a powerful, powerful insight to the beginning of our parsha.Rav Nachman also has a comment. Rav Nachman says, why does he get the peace prize? This we've spoken about a lot in the past as well. Very peculiar. First of all, he gets the Bris Kehuna. That's like, you know, the story about the person who comes to the rabbi and wants to buy the right to the Cohen aliyah and to duchan. It's the oldest Jewish joke in the world. It's the worst, like most of the oldest Jewish jokes in the world. And he says, I want to buy the right to the first aliyah, to duchan. The rabbi, it's a whole back and forth, but I'll spare you the terrible joke. But the rabbi, the punchline says, why do you want to be a cohen? He says, what do you mean? My father was a cohen, my grandfather's a cohen, my great-grandfather's a cohen. So Pinchas needs to be awarded with being the cohen. Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aaron HaKohen. Wasn't he automatically a cohen? I'd love to find that one. I'll go over to a cohen in shul and say, 'You know, the shul is so grateful to you, and we so appreciate everything you do...' thing that you do. We're not honoring you at the dinner, we're not giving you מפטיר יונה Maftir Yonah. We're gonna treat you like a כהן kohen. We're going to give you the award, the כהן kohen award. I don't need your כהן kohen award, I was born a כהן kohen. Been getting the כהן kohen עלייה aliyah since I was born. What does it mean that פנחס Pinchas got the כהן kohen, the ברית כהונה Bris Kahuna, he was already a כהן kohen, wasn't he? It's my second question for today, I'm not going to answer. I'll leave you to think about why that why that really is. But what was he awarded with? Peace. The ברית שלום Bris Shalom, peace. That's a kind of peculiar, ironic reward. It's a funny award for someone who violently and viciously and graphically just drove a spear through two people. He put them on the spit to roast them together. That's pretty ironic, the ברית שלום Bris Shalom. Where does that come from? What's going on? So רב נחמן Rav Nachman says the following.פנחס Pinchas killed the שבט shevet, the נשיא nasi of שבט שמעון Shevet Shimon, זמרי בן סלוא Zimri ben Salu, and this Midianite woman, כזבי בת צור Kozbi bas Tzur. We saw כזבי Kozbi, it's a rough name for these types of behavior. שזנו זה וזו, ושבגללם פרצה מגיפה בעם ישראל She'zono zeh v'zo, u'she'biglalam poretzes magefah b'am Yisrael. Because of their behavior, a pandemic and a plague spread among the Jewish people. When השם Hashem gave you get the ברית bris of שלום shalom. So one wonders, מה קשר בין הדברים ma kesher bein ha'dvarim? This is not a direct teaching of רב נחמן Rav Nachman. It's a beautiful ספר sefer, שולחן שבת Shulchan Shabbos with רב נחמן Rav Nachman. It's extracting from רב נחמן Rav Nachman's teaching applied to the פרשה parsha. So in order to answer this, you have to see רב נחמן Rav Nachman. רב נחמן Rav Nachman, ליקוטי מוהר\"ן Likutei Moharan, חלק א chelek aleph, סימן פ siman pey. שלמות השלום היא כאשר שני הפכים מתאחדים יחד Shleimus ha'shalom hikacher shnei hafachim misachd'tim yachad. Very interesting insight. Says רב נחמן Rav Nachman, you know what the definition of peace is? I love this insight. שלום Shalom, peace, is not when everyone conforms. It's not when everyone is uniform. It's not when everyone's exactly the same. That's not peace. You may say peace is, dress the same, act the same, vote the same, be the same, think the same. That's not peace. Peace is when you have opposites that are uniting, opposites that are integrating, opposites that feel unified. כגון אש ומים K'gon eish u'mayim, חסד וגבורה chesed u'gevurah, fire and water, loving kindness and strict justice. אם שני דברים שווים מתחברים זה אל זה, אש ואש או מים ומים, אין זה מקרה שלום Im shnei dvarim shavim mischat'rim zeh el zeh, eish v'eish o mayim v'mayim, ein zeh mikreh shalom. Fire and fire or water with water, or kindness with kindness or justice with justice, that's not called שלום shalom. What is שלום shalom? שלום Shalom is not when you have many of the same, שלום shalom is when you have a connection between that which is different. How does רב נחמן Rav Nachman know that? What is the root of the word שלום shalom, peace? שלם Shaleim, whole. When everything's the same, it's not whole. When is something whole? When it's made up of different pieces. When do you finish with the puzzle? When is the puzzle whole? When all of the pieces fit and are put together. ומשיגים מעלת השלום האמיתי שכלול בתוכו את כל ההפכים ומאחדים ביניהם U'maseges ma'alas ha'shalom ha'amitis she'kalul b'socho es kol ha'hafachim u'me'achadim beineihem. So, peace, שלום shalom, when are you שלם shaleim, is not when you're uniform and not when you conform, and not when you're a carbon copy of the other. When do you really have שלום shalom? When you have disparate, sometimes opposite parts that nevertheless piece together. They come together. And now based on this insight of רב נחמן Rav Nachman, what real peace is, now we can understand why פנחס Pinchas was awarded peace. פנחס Pinchas עשה מעשה של קנאה asa ma'aseh shel kina. פנחס Pinchas did his act that was zealous. It was zealotry. It was violent, של אלימות והרג shel alimus v'harag. He showed strength, brutal force, and he killed. ובאמת עשה זאת כדי לכפר על בני ישראל U'v'amnam oseh zos k'dei l'chaper al bnei Yisrael. Why did he do it? To bring atonement to the Jewish people. ואלמלא כן Vilmalei kein, היה השם hayah Hashem היה ממיט רבים בישראל hayah meimes rabim b'Yisrael במגפה b'mageifah בשל חטאם b'sh'al chato'am. The many, the masses were dying, he did something violent in order to end a mass violence of illness. כמה שאמרו חז\"ל, שבכל מקום שיש זנות באה, אנדרלמוסיה באה לעולם והורגת טובים ורעים K'mah she'amru Chazal, she'b'kol makom she'yeish z'nus ba, Androlemuisa ba'ah la'olam v'horeges tovim v'ra'im. חז\"ל Chazal had an insight. They said whenever you have promiscuity in the world, whenever the boundaries are blurred and there's promiscuity in the world, there's destruction.We're living through that. We're living through a period of that, of moral decay. As much progress as we've made, we are regressing morally in terms of these values and ideals. There's promiscuity and licentiousness, there's blurring of boundaries, there's blurring of modesty, there's blurring of public behavior, there's blurring of appropriate speech, there's blurring of protecting even the privacy and modesty of our emotions and feelings. The way it's splattered all over the world today, every thought, every feeling, every emotion, every experience is shared with the whole world. And the more people see it and like it and repost it, oh, the more that we think we have. And what's the consequence? An enormous spike of mental illness. But more than that, there's moral decay. פנחס Pinchas היה מוכן למסור את נפשו hayah muchan limsor es nafsho להסתכן בחייו l'histaken b'chayav שיהרגו גם אותו she'yargu gam oiso. פנחס Pinchas was ready to give his life, he was ready to die to save the Jewish people. כלפי חוץ Klapei chutz, המעשה שלו נראה ha'ma'aseh shelo nir'eh כמו מעשה של שנאה k'mo ma'aseh shel sin'ah. If you look superficially, externally, פנחס Pinchas's act looks like a act of jealousy, zealousness, anger, violence. ואפשר היה לחשוב שהוא נובע חלילה מיצר הרע ולא מקנא קנאת השם V'efshar hayah lachshov she'hu nove'ah chalilah mei'yeitzer harah v'lo mikaneh kinas Hashem. Maybe it was the act, the will of the יצר הרע yeitzer hara. So that's why the Torah testifies, no, this came from a pure place and therefore the ברית bris was שלום shalom. He was uniting sometimes when Israel has to take act in order to eliminate danger and threat and terrorists. Is that the pursuit of peace or is it violent? It's a violent act towards the goal of peace, towards the goal of peace. Our rabbis very, very astutely noted, those who are kind to the cruel ultimately show cruelty to the kind. If you are kind to the cruel, if you're a pacifist and you show peace, turning the other cheek is not part of our tradition. We are peace lovers. That's so there's nobody who wants peace more than the people of the state of Israel, the Israeli army. There's no more moral place than the state of Israel and the Israeli army. And yet, in order to defend themselves and achieve that peace, sometimes it takes acts that look like they're violent. If you turn the other cheek and you allow everything, then you are showing kindness to the cruel, you will be cruel to those who are kind. And that's why, while it seems paradoxical or ironic or inappropriate, it's actually the most appropriate award for פנחס Pinchas, which is the ברית שלום bris of shalom, of peace, because that is his motive and that is his goal.לכן אני נותן לו Lachen ani nosen lo. פסוק י\"ב Pasuk yud beis. לכן אמור הנני נותן לו את בריתי שלום Lachen emor hineni nosen lo es brisi shalom. I give him the peace prize. The סטייפלר גאון Steipler Gaon writes in a letter, קריינא דאיגרתא Kraina d'Igger'sa, second volume. קריינא דאיגרתא Kraina d'Igger'sa are a collection of the letters of the סטייפלר Steipler, רב חיים Rav Chaim's father, and in חלק ב chelek beis, ש\"יב shin yud beis, he writes the following: מי שנוקט בפעולה של קנאות, לכאורה פוגם במידת השלום. האמת היא שכאשר יש צורך לבצע פעולה זו, מי שאכן מצבו מדוקדק ומכוון על פי התורה וחכמיה וכונתו לשמים, אינו צריך לחשוש בחוסר השלום שנוצר Mi'she'noket b'pe'ula shel kin'us, lichorah pogem b'midas ha'shalom. Ha'emes hi she'k'asher yeish tzorech l'vatzei'a pe'ula zo, mi'she'achain matzavo medukdak u'mechuban al pi ha'Torah v'chachmeha v'kavanoso l'shamayim, eino tzarich l'chashash b'choser ha'shalom she'notzar. You know, sometimes to bring peace, there has to be some conflict. Now again, I don't want to speak lightly about this, because the danger is that every person takes the matter into their own hands and decides they're the zealot in the name of God. So this has to be weighed very, very carefully. And this requires expertise and greatness and גדולי ישראל gedolei Yisrael and דעת תורה daas Torah. This is not to be taken lightly. But we're living in a time that believes, you know, let everything go and let everyone be happy and don't confront and don't ever push back and don't ever challenge and don't ever. But sometimes for the pursuit of a greater goal, like peace, it requires tension or discomfort. And that's what you see from this story. That's why he נותן לו את בריתי שלום nosen lo es brisi shalom. In other words, שלום shalom is not an absolute value. It's hard to sometimes understand how you achieve it. I'll give you a quick example. The גמרא Gemara says, sometimes, משנה מפני השלום meshaneh mipnei ha'shalom. אמת Emet is an absolute value. אמת Emet is a supreme value. God's signature is אמת emes, is truth. God's signature is truth. We have a tremendous fidelity, a loyalty to truth. And yet, the גמרא Gemara already records, משנה מפני השלום meshaneh mipnei ha'shalom. That when your wife says, \"How do I look in this outfit?\" At that moment, everyone looks beautiful, amazing, perfect, but if one had to consider what's more important in that moment, אמת emes or שלום shalom? The גמרא Gemara already says the answer is שלום shalom. The גמרא Gemara says it exactly. כיצד מרקדין לפני הכלה Keitzad merakdin lifnei ha'kallah? כלה נאה וחסודה Kallah na'ah v'chasudah. It's a מחלוקת machlokes, בית הלל Beis Hillel, בית שמאי Beis Shammai, and we פוסקן pasken, no matter what the כלה kallah looks like, when the חתן chasan says, \"Isn't my כלה kallah radiant? Isn't she beautiful?\" You don't say, \"Look, I'm I'm an איש אמת ish emes, I'm a קוצקר Kotsker. I'm sorry, but your כלה kallah is, is homely, somewhat grotesque, difficult to look at, uncoordinated. I'm an איש אמת ish emes. I'm godly, I'm godlike. I'm telling you the truth.\" No, we say sometimes there's a greater value of truth than what seems to be that truth. AJ Jacobs, a fantastic author, Jewish, not observant. We had him on Behind the Bima. I don't know what we're up to, episode 95, so somewhere before that. He wrote a few great books. He wrote a book, \"A Year of Living Biblically.\" He actually just came out with a book, I don't get a, I don't get any kickback. He came out with a book about puzzles, solving puzzles recently. He's a great author, fun author. Anyway, so he wrote an article years ago called \"Radical Honesty.\" Right, his whole life is living a certain way and then writing about it. \"A Year of Living Biblically,\" and then writing about it. He told the story actually in our in our podcast in that \"Year of Living Biblically\" when he got locked in a bathroom on an electric toilet with a sensor, and he wouldn't get up because it was a year of living biblically, and he spent the rest of that Saturday. It was a year of living biblically. What was it like a year of living biblically? Fine. So he wrote an article called \"Radical Honesty.\" What would life be like if you practice radical honesty? With the examples I just gave. Someone says, \"What do you think of my, of my כלה kallah?\" And you're radically honest with everyone about everything you think. It's a great article, you can Google, AJ Jacobs, Radical Honesty. The Torah does not endorse radical honesty. The Torah endorses relative honesty. Again, you have to be incredibly judicious and careful in how you apply that. Because everybody will always lie for that greater good, and then you'll become a pathological liar who forgets how to tell the truth. We know people like that, when you lie for no reason, you're not serving any other greater good. But in Judaism, these aren't absolute values to the exclusion of others. And similarly here, perhaps the way to achieve, says the סטייפלר Steipler, the greater שלום shalom, is achieved not by being the pacifist in that moment, but actually by confronting. That is how you achieve the greater value, the greater good of שלום shalom.The מגיד יוסף Meigid Yosef, רב יוסף סולובייצ'יק Rav Yosef Soloveitchik, has an insight here, and he says the following. פנחס Pinchas, לכן אמר הנני נותן לו את בריתי שלום lachen amar hineni nosen lo es brisi shalom. כידוע שהקדוש ברוך הוא פורע מידה כנגד מידה Ki yedu'ah she'HaKadosh Baruch Hu porei'a midah k'neged midah. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu always interacts with us, measure for measure. But here פנחס Pinchas does something violent and השם Hashem rewards him with peace. תמיהני T'me'ahani, how could it be? It's wondrous. He says, שמעתי בשם הגאון רב חיים מבריסק she'ma'ati b'shem ha'Gaon Rav Chaim mi'Brisk. So רב חיים Rav Chaim, the בריסקר Brisker says the following, בדרך משל b'derech mashal. With a mouse, everybody okay? A mouse in your house. נראה מהעקרת בית והחתול דומים Nir'eh mei'ha'akeres bayis v'ha'chatul domeem. So what happens? The woman of the home, it could be the man of the home, but רב חיים בריסקר Rav Chaim Brisker said the woman of the home and the cat in the house share a goal, which is to catch the mouse. שניהם חפצים לתפוס העכבר ולהורגו Shneihem chafetzim litfos ha'achbar v'lahorgo. Both want to catch the mouse and kill it. However, באבר המעמיק נפקין שאינם דומים כלל b'ever ha'ma'amik nafhkin she'einam domeem klal. So if you just look externally, the wife of the house and the cat of the house are perfectly aligned in their interest. They share the same goal: catch the mouse and kill it. But they have very, very, very different motivations in why. The cat loves the presence of the mouse and wants to catch it and kill it because he wants it for breakfast. העקרת הבית מעדיפה שלא יבוא העכבר Ha'akeres ha'bayis ma'adifa she'lo yavo ha'achbar. She wishes the mouse never came to begin with. She's chasing after it with pain and anguish and fear, what if another one comes? And despair and misery. More likely she's standing on top of the table or a chair, yelling for her husband to come. But it depends, different houses, different people have that responsibility, we don't want to generalize even though generally it is true. So she's chasing the mouse wishing it never came and hoping desperately no other come. And the cat says, \"I hope that there's another mouse closely behind because I keep loving to catch them and eat them for dinner.\" So said רב חיים Rav Chaim, פנחס היה מזרעו של אהרן אוהב שלום ורודף שלום Pinchas hayah mi'zar'o shel Aharon, ohev shalom v'rodef shalom, וקנא קנאת השם בעל כרחו v'kanah kin'as Hashem b'korcho. פנחס Pinchas is really a grandson of אהרן Aharon. פנחס Pinchas has the peace sign, he loves peace, פנחס Pinchas is pursuing peace, he talks about peace, he promotes peace. He doesn't want this problem to have ever come into his doorstep. He doesn't want this mouse of כזבי Kozbi and זמרי Zimri. He was thrust into this situation against his will. מתוך רצון להשיב חרון אף השם מעל כלל ישראל, ואכן לא נאה ולא יאה הר של ברית שלום Mi'toch ratzon l'hashiv charon af Hashem m'al Klal Yisrael. V'achen lo na'eh v'lo ya'eh har shel bris shalom. פנחס Pinchas is on top of the table screaming, \"השם Hashem, get rid of them! I don't want to have to take action against them. I wish they didn't come and I want anyone to follow. I'm peace, peace man. I'm a grandson of אהרן Aharon. I don't want to do this.\" So while it looks like what he did was a violent act, it looks like he acted like the like the mouse, he was acting like the עקרת הבית akeres ha'bayis. And what is the confirmation of that? What is השם's Hashem's endorsement of what his motive was? That the real driver of him was the אהרן הכהן Aharon HaKohen, that he did so so reluctantly, is that he received the ברית שלום Bris Shalom.Another way to understand is based on the אור החיים Or HaChaim. עיר הנידחת Ir HaNidachas. Later in ספר דברים Sefer Devarim we'll learn about the עיר הנידחת Ir HaNidachas, a idolatrous city. ונתתי לך רחמים ורחמך V'nasati l'cha rachamim v'richamcha. The Torah says that when we properly dispose of the idolatrous city by leveling it, we receive a ברכה bracha of greater compassion. Why isn't again that ironic? And the אור החיים Or HaChaim there says, sometimes when we do something demanded of us by השם Hashem, that asks us to invoke within us a behavior which can be cruel, we need to offset it with a greater commitment towards and a ברכה bracha of רחמים rachamim, compassion. As a parent, we want to shower our children with love, we want it to be all kumbaya and fun and games and love and affection. Sometimes for the child's own good, we need to take a strong stance. You need to do something which is punitive. You need to take something away. We need to act with a certain level of of intensity. And we are invoking from within ourselves something that we don't want to be cultivating or growing. So in that moment, we have to do something. Sit down and learn a מוסר ספר musar sefer. Go practice loving kindness in another way. Don't get used to מידת אכזריות midas achzarius. Don't get used to practicing that that cruelty. A surgeon professionally cuts people open. They've become accustomed and comfortable with putting a knife and cutting someone open. They're doing it for a greater good, they're doing it in a noble reason, there's nothing wrong at all with what they're doing. But imagine you've now become a person who's comfortable with cutting open a human being, with driving a knife into another person. So you need to do something to cultivate the רחמים rachamim, to create that balance. So it's true for the עיר הנידחת Ir HaNidachas, suggests based on this אור החיים Or HaChaim of the עיר הנידחת Ir HaNidachas, suggests the מגיד יוסף Meigid Yosef, may also be true here. Because the moment demanded פנחס Pinchas to behave in that way, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn't want him to become a cruel person, he balances it out with an influx and injection of שלום shalom, of peace.פרק כ\"ה Perek chaf hei, פסוק י\"ד pasuk yud daled. ושם איש ישראל המכה אשר הכה את המדינית, זמרי בן סלוא נשיא בית אב לשמעוני V'shem ish Yisrael ha'muke she'hukah es ha'Midyanis, Zimri ben Salu, nasi beis av l'Shimoni. רש\"י Rashi tells us, במקום שיחס את הצדיק לשבח, יחס הרשע לגנאי B'makom she'yicheis es ha'tzadik l'shevach, yacheis ha'rasha l'gnai. We gave the name of פנחס Pinchas, his full lineage, his whole resume, פנחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon. So since we did that for the רשע rasha, we have to do it for, we did it for the צדיק tzadik, sorry, we also do it and identify fully the רשע rasha. So who is the רשע rasha? זמרי בן סלוא Zimri ben Salu, נשיא בית אב לשמעוני nasi beis av l'Shimoni. Why? Why do we have to know the family of the רשע rasha? So רש\"י Rashi tells us, במקום שיחס הצדיק, גם את הרשע לגנאי B'makom she'yicheis ha'tzadik, gam es ha'rasha l'gnai. If we're going to go all the way back and invoke the descendants of the צדיק tzadik for the good, that he's a grandson of אהרן Aharon, then we have to invoke the descendants, antecedents of the רשע rasha for the bad. But why? רב יחזקאל לווינשטיין Rav Yechezkel Levenstein, the משגיח של פוניבז' mashgiach of Ponevezh says, Torah is teaching us, שלא נבוש עם פרט קטן ממעשה הרע she'lo nevosh im prat katan mi'ma'aseh ha'ra. אפילו כשאותו מעשה גדול יש בו חלק ומעשה גנאי גדול, עדיין תובעים ממנו גם את כבוד משפחתו Afilu k'she'oso ma'aseh gadol yeish bo cheilek u'meisa gnay gadol, adayin tov'im mimenu gam es kvod mishpachto. You need to know that when you do something bad, big or small, in addition to whatever consequence you will suffer, there's also the impact that we brought on our family name. We have a responsibility to our family name. We have a responsibility to the people who come before us. And there's a consequence. Whatever consequence we suffer. Here, זמרי Zimri suffered the greatest consequence. He was killed. Capital punishment, he was killed. So on top of that, we say, \"זמרי Zimri, listen, you're going to get killed for your actions, they were so egregious. And also, by the way, you're responsible, we're going to mention your family name because you've brought them shame.\" Does he care? Once he's given the electric chair, he's got a spear going through him, does he really care? And the answer is yes. רב יחזקאל לווינשטיין Rav Yechezkel Levenstein sees, says, \"You see from here, from this רש\"י Rashi, the tremendous responsibility we have in our behavior for those who come before us and for the name that we carry.\"פסוק Pasuk, פרק כ\"ו Perek chaf vav, פסוק י\"א pasuk yud aleph. Moving right along. There's a new census which is taken of the Jewish people after this plague, a new census. Where are we at? How many are they? And בני שמעון למשפחותם Bnei Shimon l'mishpichosam, לנמואל משפחת הנמואלי l'Nemuel mishpachas ha'Nemueli, לימין משפחת הימיני l'Yamin mishpachas ha'Yamini, יכין משפחת היכיני Yachin mishpachas ha'Yachini, לזרח זרחי l'Zerach zerchi. Sorry, go back a פסוק pasuk. פרק Perek, פסוק י pasuk yud. ותפתח הארץ את פיה V'tiftach ha'aretz es piha. In the middle of giving the census, in case you forgot from just a few פרשיות parshios ago, we remind you of the story. The ground opened up and swallowed קרח Korach. ותאכל אותם ואת חמישים ומאתים איש ויהיו לנס V'achal oisam v'es chameishim u'matayim ish v'yihyu l'neis. ובני קרח לא מתו U'vnei Korach lo meisu. קרח's Korach's children, they survived. קרח's Korach's own children didn't die. And we know that. When do we remember them? תהלים Tehillim, every Monday, the שיר של יום shir shel yom. למנצח לבני קרח Lamnatzeiach livnei Korach. We try to inspire ourselves by quoting, by referencing the text, the liturgy that was composed and authored by these בני קרח bnei Korach, by the children of קרח Korach. קרח Korach is one of the greatest villains in the Torah, and yet his children are authors of our תפילות tfilos. רש\"י Rashi says, הם היו בעצת הקלקול בשעת המחלוקת, הרהרו בתשובה heim hayu b'eitzas ha'kilkul, b'shaas ha'machlokes, hirheru b'teshuvah. They weren't just passive bystanders to innocent children of the villain of history. They were part of the catalyst. They prodded their father. Daddy, טאטי Tati, אבא Abba, I don't know what they called קרח Korach. But whatever they called him, \"You know, why משה Moshe? It should be you. Why aren't you sitting on the במה bima? Why aren't you on the מזרח mizrach? Why don't you get to give the דרשה drasha? Why do you still have all your hair and have...\" No, sorry, they never said that. \"Why do you still have calm in your health and you don't have all the agony and distress...\" No, they didn't say that. \"But why don't you have the fame and fortune? Why don't you have the spotlight?\" They were the ones who pushed קרח Korach in this rebellion. So how are they spared? How are they saved? Because in the moment of the rebellion, they had second thoughts. And what did they do? Did they stand up and declare תשובה teshuvah? Did they radically transform their lives? No. Says רש\"י Rashi, what did they do? הרהרו בתשובה Hirheru b'teshuvah. All they did is decide, \"Ah, you know, that wasn't right.\" הרהרו Hirheru, they contemplated, they dreamt, they had an ambition, an aspiration for תשובה teshuvah, בליבם b'libam, in their hearts. It wasn't even manifest. You couldn't even measure it. You didn't see it externally. לפיכך נתפסלה להם מקום גבוה בגיהנום וישבו בה L'fichach nispasla lahem makom gavoha b'gehinom, v'yashvu bah. There was a high place in גיהנום gehenom that they sat, and ultimately that they climbed out of, and they climbed out of it so successfully that ultimately we quote them, and we invoke them, and בני קרח Bnei Korach, בני קרח לא מתו Bnei Korach lo meisu. It's an amazing thing. The children of other tribes died. And דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram went down. But בני קרח Bnei Korach held on. Why? Because הרהרו בתשובה hirheru b'teshuvah. And the אלתר מסלבודקה Alter of Slabodka says that sometimes in our lives we're confronted with a moment of truth. And in that moment of truth, are we going to identify with the breakaway, with the insurrection, with the rebels? Are we going to stand up for what's right, what's true? Are we going to? And in that moment, הרהרו בתשובה hirheru b'teshuvah. It doesn't even take the action. What precedes the action, the prerequisite to the action, the הרהרו בתשובה hirheru b'teshuvah, just contemplating, just thinking, just considering, just becoming determined to do תשובה teshuvah, in its own right can get us survival like it did, like it did בני קרח Bnei Korach.פרק כ\"ז Perek chaf zayin, פסוק ה Pasuk hei. Try to get in a few more. פרק כ\"ז Perek chaf zayin. Now we have the grievance of צלפחד Slafchad. ותקרבנה בנות צלפחד בן חפר בן גלעד בן מכיר בן מנשה למשפחות מנשה בן יוסף Vatikravna bnos Slafchad ben Chefer ben Gilad ben Machir ben Menashe l'mishpachos Menashe ben Yosef. ואלה שמות בנותיו מחלה נעה וחגלה ומלכה ותרצה V'eleh shmos bnoseha, Machlah, Noah, Chaglah, Milkah v'Tirzah. Some of these names we use, it's interesting that we don't find people naming after all of בנות צלפחד bnos Slafchad. We know some נועה's Noah's, I don't know any חגלה Chaglah. We know מלכה's Milkah's, I don't know any תרצה Tirzah. But anyway, these are the daughters of five daughters of צלפחד Slafchad. And they stand up to משה Moshe and they say, \"It's not fair to us. אבינו מת במדבר Avinu meis ba'midbar. Our father, אבא Abba, טאטי Tati, I don't know what they called him, died in the desert. והוא לא היה בתוך העדה הנועדים על השם בעדת קרח V'hu lo hayah b'soch ha'eidah ha'noadim al Hashem b'adas Korach. And why did he go down? He wasn't part of קרח Korach. כי בחטאו מת Ki b'cheto meis. He died because of his חטא chet. Oh. We have a tradition, what was his חטא chet? Who was צלפחד Slafchad? The Torah doesn't tell us, but we read the story of the מקושש עצים Mekosheish Eitzim. The one who gathered the wood, violated שבת Shabbos and was put to death for violating שבת Shabbos. So the tradition, the גמרא Gemara says חז\"ל Chazal say, that was צלפחד Slafchad. He was the מקושש עצים Mekosheish Eitzim. He gathered the wood. He didn't go down with קרח Korach, he died for his own reasons. So why are we being deprived? What words do they use? למה יגרע Lama yigara. למה יגרע Lama yigara. Should sound familiar. Who else said those words? Where did we see them? פרשת בהעלותך Parshas Baloscha? פסח שני Pesach Sheini. Those who were impure came to משה Moshe and said, למה נגרע Lama nigara? And פסח שני Pesach Sheini is the holiday of למה נגרע lama nigara. And here בנות צלפחד bnos Slafchad say, למה יגרע lama yigara. Same language. What does it mean? Why should I lose out? Why should I lose out? Wow. Judaism can either be \"why do I have to?\" or Judaism could be, \"when we can't, why do I lose out?\" What are we projecting? How do we live? What do our children see? What type of a יידישקייט וידות Yiddishkeit v'Yahadus? Is it a, is it a \"why do I have to?\" or \"when I can't, why do I lose out?\" During Corona, was it, \"This is fantastic. I don't have to go to shul. I could wake up whenever I want, daven whatever I want, go whatever speed I want. This is fantastic. I wish it would go on forever.\" Or למה יגרע lama yigara? I miss shul, I miss leining, I miss תפילה בציבור tfilah b'tzibur. Which do we, which attitude do we show? So פסח שני Pesach Sheini and בנות צלפחד bnos Slafchad is the same למה יגרע lama yigara. And they approach משה Moshe, ויקרב משה את משפטן לפני השם v'yakrev Moshe es mishpatam lifnei Hashem. משה Moshe doesn't know the הלכה halacha, and he brings the question to השם Hashem. רש\"י Rashi says, נתעלמה ממנו הלכה nisalma mimenu halacha. He forgot. רב קופרמן Rav Kuperman, זצ\"ל zatzal, the founder of מכללה Michlalah in ירושלים Yerushalayim has a whole ספר sefer on the times that נתעלמה ממנו הלכה nisalma mimenu halacha. The times that משה Moshe forgot the הלכה halacha, and an analysis of each of those times. Why here does he forget the הלכה halacha? So the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim. חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim says the following. They went out of their way, the בנות צלפחד bnos Slafchad to say that their father did not participate or go down with the rebellion of קרח Korach. So משה Moshe saw himself as now being bribed. He couldn't פסק'ן pasken this for himself. Why? Because if he didn't participate with קרח Korach, he would want to rule favorably. He would be predisposed to rule favorably, knowing that they, the father צלפחד Slafchad was not part of קרח Korach. Therefore, he brought this before השם Hashem. Therefore, he brought this before השם Hashem. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu did not, he understood that he was פסול pasul to decide it for himself. He was biased because he would show favor to somebody who was not part of קרח Korach, and that's why he brought it, and that's why he brought it to השם Hashem. I saw the קוצקר Kotsker has a different interpretation. The הייליגע קוצקר Heilige Kotsker says, יש להקשות, השכל מחייב שאם אין בן, הבת יורשת Yesh l'hakshos, ha'seichel mechayev she'im ein ben, ha'bas yoreshes. So the גמרא Gemara in שבת Shabbos tells us, ג' דברים עשה משה מדעתו gimmel dvarim asa Moshe mi'daato. משה Moshe wasn't afraid to take the courage, boldly sometimes when he didn't know the דין din, משה Moshe just used his logic. He decided it on his own, three times he did it, and God endorsed it. So why wasn't this a fourth time? Is it a tremendous leap to know that if there's no son, the daughter inherits? Why did משה Moshe have to bring it to השם Hashem? ונראה ליישב V'nir'eh l'yashav. So says the קוצקר Kotsker, it's a wild קוצקר Kotsker. די נחלת ארץ ישראל תלויה בשמירת שבת, שהיא נחלה בלי מצרים Di nachalas Eretz Yisrael tluyah b'shmiras Shabbos, she'hi nachalah bli metzarim. In order to inherit a portion in ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, you have to be committed to שבת Shabbos. שבת Shabbos demands the worthiness to have Israel, ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, is the observance of שבת Shabbos. Who was the מקושש Mekosheish? צלפחד Slafchad. He was מחלל שבת mechallel Shabbos. לכאורה, אין לו חלק בארץ ישראל Lichora, ein lo cheilek b'Eretz Yisrael. So משה Moshe said to himself, maybe דוקא davka they don't deserve a portion in Israel because their father was the first to break שבת Shabbos. Now it's a whole other story, and we definitely don't have time, but it happens to be, oy, we don't have time. But it happens to be that צלפחד Slafchad was an עבירה לשמה aveira lishmah. He violated שבת Shabbos intentionally, why? So that the world, the Jewish people would see he would be put to death. And they would understand that when משה Moshe told them, \"We have this thing called שבת Shabbos. Don't mess with it. Don't play with it. It's a capital crime with a capital punishment called סקילה skilah.\" And people would say, \"Ah, you don't mean that. Ah, it's not true. Ah, you'd never do that. Ah, you're just trying to make it sound like it's important, but...\" So צלפחד Slafchad said, \"I am going to demonstrate what happens so that the rest of our time in the מדבר midbar and going into ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, nobody will ever violate שבת Shabbos.\" He did what's called an עבירה לשמה aveira lishmah. What is, what is the הלכה halacha about עבירה לשמה aveira lishmah? Are you allowed to do that? There's a whole discussion. יעל Yael did an עבירה לשמה aveira lishmah. אסתר Esther did an עבירה לשמה aveira lishmah. We sometimes see that someone does something, takes it in their own hands. The second volume of רב שכטר על הפרשה Rav Shechter on the Parsha has a whole essay in this week's פרשה Parsha about this question from this case. But says the קוצקר Kotsker, משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu looks and he says to himself, \"That in order to earn living in ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, you have to value and cherish שבת Shabbos.\" Their father צלפחד Slafchad is מקושש עצים Mekosheish eitzim. He's the one who gathered wood. What מלאכה malacha did he violate? מעמר Me'amer? What's the מלאכה malacha? Also a discussion. What מלאכה malacha exactly did he violate? Did he gather the wood to burn it? Is it מבעיר mavier? מעמר Me'amer? What was the מלאכה malacha? But he violated שבת Shabbos and he was put to death and maybe therefore his daughters don't deserve a portion. And that's why though it would have seemed logical and obvious to to jump and to know, he didn't. He hesitated and he waited and only turned to to השם Hashem.We have time for one more. Which one should we do? Right after בנות צלפחד bnos Slafchad, משה Moshe then thinks of his own succession. He knows it won't be his own sons. He asks השם Hashem for insight who to get. And השם Hashem points him to יהושע בן נון Yehoshua bin Nun. And he does סמיכה smicha on יהושע בן נון Yehoshua bin Nun. What quality does he need? יפקוד השם Yifkod Hashem. פרק כ\"ז Perek chaf zayin, פסוק ז pasuk zayin. 27:7. יפקוד השם אלהי הרוחות לכל בשר איש על העדה Yifkod Hashem Elohei ha'ruchos l'chol basar ish al ha'eidah. אשר יצא לפניהם ואשר יבוא לפניהם ואשר יוציאם ואשר יביאם Asher yeitzei lifneihem v'asher yavo lifneihem v'asher yotziem v'asher yeviem. ולא תהיה עדת השם כצאן אשר אין להם רועה V'lo siye adas Hashem k'tzon asher ein lahem ro'eh. משה Moshe realizes his not going to live forever. What reminds him of that? צלפחד Slafchad. צלפחד Slafchad dies, the daughters are talking about inheriting. משה Moshe says, oh boy, I don't have immortality, nobody does. What will my succession look like? This is a top five leader. Jim Collins, Good to Great, he'd say the top five leader cares about succession. It's not about their name, it's about the brand, it's about the, it's about the, the mission. So משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu is, I once gave a דרשה drasha about this, the qualities of the top five leader in Jim Collins' Good to Great, משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu checks them all off. Here he's a top five leader. He wants, he cares about succession. יפקוד השם אלקי הרוחות Yifkod Hashem Elokei haruchos. And what is he looking for? Appoint a person who will go out before them and come in before them, who will take them out and bring them in, who will treat them not like sheep that have no shepherd.Interesting, interesting description. So רב וואלבע Rav Volbe says about this, רב וואלבע Rav Volbe writes, he says, what do you see from here? משה Moshe's concerned not find them the smartest, find them the best orator, find them the פרומ'סט frummest, find them the one with the longest שמונה עשרה Shmoneh Esrei, find them the one with the most חומרות chumros. None of those are on the list that משה Moshe asks השם Hashem for his successor. What matters to his successor? Someone who will be their shepherd, who goes out with them and comes in with them, who sits with them, who cares about them. That's the most important. That's the most important. רב קלמר Rav Kelmer from Musshemsted, זכר צדיק לברכה zecher tzadik livracha, who was an icon of this, who was brilliant, brilliant, and answered תשובות tshuvos, he was absolutely brilliant. But his compassion, his showing up, the lengths that he went to be there for people, to go in with them, to come out with them, to sit there with them. רב וואלבע Rav Volbe says, you see, the most important criteria of the leader is not their head, but their heart. Of course, you have to have a good head. The leader can't be a fool or ignorant, but that's not the criteria, the qualifications which משה Moshe asks for for his succession. What he looks for is somebody who will go out and who will come in, somebody who has that. רש\"י Rashi says what is this? who is לכל בשר איש על העדה l'chol basar ish al ha'eidah. רש\"י Rashi says, somebody, גלוי לפניך דעתו של כל אחד ואחד, ואין דעתן דומה זה לזה. מנה עליהם מנהיג שיהא סובל כל אחד ואחד לפי דעתו Goli l'fanecha da'ato shel echad v'echad, v'ein da'atan doma zeh l'zeh. Maneh aleihem manhig sheyehe sovel kol echad v'echad l'fi da'ato. What is the qualification, says רש\"י Rashi? You need to find a מנהיג manhig, a leader who will be סובל sovel. What does the word סובל sovel mean? Suffer. כל אחד ואחד לפי דעתו Kol echad v'echad l'fi da'ato. תחת סבלות מצרים Tachas sivlos Mitzrayim, under the sufferance of Egypt, we were tortured. Take us out from the סבלות מצרים sivlos Mitzrayim. To be סובל sovel. But what's the root of the word סובל sovel? סבלנות Savlanut. Patience. Patience is sufferance. Patience is the ability to sit with suffering. So there's a miserable, incorrigible who judge unfairly and don't give the benefit of the doubt and complain, I still love them. I suffer through them. That's parenting I just summarized, by the way, but also the rabbinate and also leadership. But I still love them. So I suffer through them. I'm סובל sovel. I'm willing to be סובל sovel because the love I have for each one, אחד ואחד לפי דעתו echad v'echad l'fi da'ato. אלתר מקלם Alter of Kelm spoke about and wrote about from here, you see the most important quality of a leader is patience. Patience, the capacity for a so-called sufferance, the ability to live with patience is the most important quality.Right, there were so many other things I wanted to share, so many other beautiful ideas, we leave them for next time. If you want to get the write-up of פרשה Parsha Perspectives, you could sign up to get the newsletter each week, the new article, the write-up, and so much more. By the way, it's easy. 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