When
is one permitted, even rewarded, for taking the law into one's own hands - and
act precipitously as judge, jury, executioner?
When
can an act of violence lead to peace rather than more violence?
End
of Parashah Balak and beginning of Pinchas:
Moabites invite Israelites to share food/wine of sacrifices to idols;
this enjoyment arouses sexual inclination [Theodore Reik: Sex begins at the dinner table.], that leads to idol worship by
Israelites. God brings a plague to
punish idol-worshiping Israelites. An
Israelite man and Midianite woman of high rank engage in inter-coupling before
Moses and the entire congregation, who are at a loss and weeping.
Pinchas,
grandson of Aaron the Kohen Gadol, rises up and in an early Freudian act spears
the couple through their offending innards.
The plague is lifted. God praises
Pinchas for his zealousness for My sake, and says I grant him My covenant of peace, and eternal priesthood to his
descendants.
1. Justifications:
Emergency
circumstances - people growing in sin, plague.
Pinchas
slew not mere sinners, but those leading others to sin.
Pinchas
acted for the sake of Heaven and atoned for Israel; he did not act for himself,
or out of hatred or anger.
Midrash:
Pinchas did consult with Moses before acting.
Other
justifications like blood avenger, recovering property, are laws made before
the fact.
Jerusalem
Talmud: Sages in Pinchas' day disapproved his act.
When
can we permit precipitous action today? - Iran, N. Korea.
Haftarah:
zealous Elijah, wind, earthquake, fire, still small voice.
2. The
Covenant of Peace, as a reward for the violent act, can be:
Freedom
from vengeance from the families of those slain. God's announcement is public, all hear it.
Inner
peace, no guilt or gnawing regret or moral ambivalence.
Wholeness,
Shalem. Eternal priesthood as completeness. A kohen who slays a person can no longer
bless the people (Gemara).
