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Let me say right off the bat that I'm not a big fan of Pinchas. The Torah portion disturbs me: the zealot Pinchas disturbs me and the covenant of peace bestowed on Pinchas by God disturbs me.
What redeems the text for me is not what it says but how it is rendered. The slightest defect in a Torah scroll can render it unusable, but here - in referring to the brit shalom - we find shalom written ...
... with a broken vav, as if the spear used to kill was broken by God as as sign for all of us. There are other interpretations ... conflicting interpretations. Nu? Still, I look forward to an Israel where the brit shalom is whole ...
I guess it won't surprise you when I tell you I'm named after Pinchas.
I think he was a hero. 24,000 Jewish men died due to the sexual immorality displayed by Zimri and his fellow sinners. The very existential existence of k'lal yisroel was in peril when Pinchas put an immediate stop to the plague by his actions. He saved countless Jewish souls. And the only "opportunity cost' was the life of this dangerous provocoteur (here we go again), Zimri.
Since the broken vav is inside the word Shalom, perhaps Hashem was trying to tell us that it was the spear (and Pinchas' actions) that caused Shalom with K'lal Yisroel? The spear (and his actions) seem to be embedded in shalom, telling us that sometimes violence is the only path to peace.
My kids and I had a long discussion at Shabbos lunch this last Shabbos about Zimri and Cozbi (although I admittedly told my kids Zimri and Cosbi were kissing in front of Moshe Rabbeinu's tent. They eventually be old enough to understand the true sin). My kids simply could not believe that a Jew - a prince at that - would be so disrespectful to their Rav, or to any Rav. We discussed the fact that k'lal yisroel stood by and failed to take action against Zimri for his actions, and that it was the heroism of Pinchas that saved the nation.
Jayhawker, I had a good talk with a close friend of mine today who is one of America's most respected sofer's (not to mention being a gadol), and I asked him about this vav. He said there are no less than 20 major explanations for this "broken" vav, but here's the pshat (the surface explanation):
The meforshim tell us that Pinchas acted exactly as he was supposed to when he speared Zimri and Cozbi, and in doing so, he did indeed save all of k'lal yisroel. However, the broken vav in the word shalom comes to tell us that there is something unusual (as do all of the "abberations" in the ksav of the written Torah). In this case, it comes to tell us that although Pinchas acted properly in Hashem's eyes, that the action he took was only right for him and at that time, and that going forward, nobody else has a psak (rabbinic permission) to act similarly. For one, Pinchas took action directly in front of his Rav (Moshe Rabbeinu) without first asking a shaila (a halachic question of his Rav). And second, for the beinoni (the average Jew), violence is rarely if ever the route to reaching shalom.
Pinchas earned the bris shalom, and there's no machloches (dispute) among the poskim (the major halachic deciders) that what he did was correct. Furthermore, there are halachic concepts that the zealous are permitted to act zealously, but nobody else is. Chas v 'shalom that people should think they have this heter (permission) in today's times without first asking a shaila.
My sofer friend told me there's a book that came out recently that details every single "change" in the written ksav of the Torah, and it provides the mesorah on each, consulting many different midrashim and shailas. I'm going to track that book down. Should be fascinating.
Jayhawker, I had a good talk with a close friend of mine ... He said there are no less than 20 major explanations for this "broken" vav, ...
I am not at all surprised.
Quote:
Originally Posted by theflipflop
..., but here's the pshat (the surface explanation): ...
... acoording to your friend.
Quote:
Originally Posted by theflipflop
My sofer friend told me there's a book that came out recently that details every single "change" in the written ksav of the Torah, and it provides the mesorah on each, consulting many different midrashim and shailas. I'm going to track that book down. Should be fascinating.
It certainly could be. Or it could be yet another example of inkblot theology. Let me know when it comes out.
In the text of the Torah scroll, the letter yod in Phinehas's name in the second verse (v.11) is written smaller than the other letters. When we commit violence, even if justifiable, the yod in us (standing for the name of God and for y'hudi, "Jew") is diminished thereby. In verse 12, the letter vav in shalom in the Torah scroll is written with a break in its stem. This is interpreted homiletically to suggest that the sort of peace one achieves by destroying one's opponent will inevitably be a flawed, incomplete peace.
And all of this goes to show something rather unique about the Jewish "good book." We should be commended for our ability to take even among the most revered Jewish leaders in all of history, and rebuke them for what they need rebuke.
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