He Is My God July 8, 2014 “He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.” — Numbers 25:13 The Torah portion for this week is Pinchas, which means “Phinehas,” from Numbers 25:10–30:1, and the Haftorah is from 1 Kings 18:46–19:21. We often talk about how, to God, we are like His only child. That’s how much he loves us. However, it’s also true that sometimes we need to see God as though He is ours alone. That’s how much we have to love Him! In this week’s reading, the situation was grave. Many Israelite men had succumbed to the seduction of the Midianite women. Even worse, these women were tricking the Israelites into committing idolatry. So God began a plague that threatened to wipe out the entire camp. In the midst of this, Zimri, a prince from the tribe of Simeon, announced his immoral intentions with Kozbi, a Midianite princess. He publicly brought her into a brothel tent in plain sight of the people in a brazen rebellion against God. The tent was surrounded by “bodyguards,” members of the tribe of Simeon, determined to protect their leader. Moses was there, Aaron was there, as well as 70 elders of Israel. However, no one did anything – not because they condoned the act, but because they simply did not know what to do. Phinehas was comparatively young and unknown, a grandson of Aaron. He saw what was going on and decided to act. Separating the blade from the shaft of his spear, he hid the blade and pretended that the shaft was a walking stick. He entered the brothel tent by telling the guards that he wanted his turn with the princess as well. Once he got through, Phinehas reassembled the spear and killed Zimri and Kozbi, thus ending the immorality and the plague that had already claimed 24,000 lives. The Sages teach that it would have been natural for Phinehas to have done nothing at all. It would have been easy for him to look around at the great people around him and say, “If they aren’t doing anything, then why should I be more zealous than they?” However, Scripture teaches that Phinehas “was zealous for the honor of his God.” His God! Phinehas saw God as though He was his and his alone. He didn’t wait for anyone else to defend God’s honor. His God, his job. Phinehas took responsibility and did what needed to be done. Friends, just as wrong is still wrong when everyone is doing it, so, too, right is still right when no one else is doing it. Even when no one else takes a stand against what is wrong, we need to take a stand. Even if no one speaks out against injustice, we must speak out. It doesn’t matter if all the well-educated people don’t do anything. It doesn’t matter if we are young or old, powerful or weak, rich or poor. God is our God, and defending His honor is our personal responsibility. With prayers for shalom, peace, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein Founder and President
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 09:24:44 +0000
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