Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 13 Tamuz, 5783:

We have a new parsha today!  It’s Pinchas, which means “Lantern.”  The parsha this week is meant to be a guiding light for us in the darkness we are encountering in the chaos of Tamuz (and Av).  We are getting ready! And this week? We have the full moon?  So we should be paying attention to the light coming from within.  If we cannot see this light, we need to search for it, as we discussed yesterday, when looking for Messiah within.

One of the themes today is zealousness.  We tend to view others who are zealous as negative.  But Phinehas was rewarded for his.  To the point he is rewarded with Hashem’s “Covenant with Peace.”

It is interesting how zealousness seems to interrupt peace in our world today.  We seem to be critical of zealousness because of the peace we desire.  But is it true peace, or did Phinehas challenge a “negative peace” that existed?

It is not lost on me that in our country today, we have recently had our peace disrupted around the Supreme Court ruling removing affirmative action.  There are multiple ways to look at this – with the extremes being:

• The system is working, and we have gone back to ignoring the negative impact on the color of ones skin and their experiences in our country post slavery (and the transition from slavery to the prison pipeline).
  • Or, the system is working because noticing one’s skin color is the very definition of racism.
• The system was at a negative peace, and this has disrupted that peace and it is time for zealous folx to rise up and challenge the status quo.

Yes. I am getting political here.

And I want to talk about Martin Luther King, Jr for a minute.

We were taught his “I have a Dream” Speech in school.  And the takeaway that we were taught was that MLK didn’t want us looking at skin color – because that was racist!  He dreamt of a day people would be judged on “the content of the character and not by the color of their skin.”  He gave us the vision. The goal. The end zone.  This was NOT a playbook. And to alleviate our guilt, we (as white folx) decided that the best way to honor MLK was to just “live the dream” – stop noticing skin color! Start looking at character.

Problem is – if the goal of the game, the vision, is to score a touchdown, home run, soccer goal, etc?  You can’t just DECLARE yourself scoring a touchdown.  You don’t just get to run to the end zone and say “here we are!”

You need a play book. You need strategy.  And no one talked about that after MLK’s dream.

Except MLK Did. No one reads MLKs “Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community?”  If anything MLK has predicted the current chaos because no one (with power) listened to him.  They took his message and just decided “we win!”

No one spends a lot of time reading MLK’s letter from a Birmingham Jail.  Which states:

“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”

This. MLK wants more of us to Phinehas. To be a lamp in a dark world.

And. Let’s take this one step further. Let’s look within.

Where are you zealous in love for yourself? Do you prefer an internal negative peace, devoted to “order” and “security” within? Or are you working towards a positive peace? To have justice within? To live a life that takes ACTION?

MLK believed in the “mythical concept of time.”  We have talked EXTENSIVELY about time here.  Time is a human construct. All we have our moments.

If we prefer a “negative peace” within – so we are free to distract ourselves, number ourselves or even find solace in another to keep us from being put in touch with our own self-injustice and negative peace within? Pinchas is a calling for us to shine a light within us – to see what actions (radical actions?) need to be taken to promote a positive peace with us.

Then we will be truly spiritually liberated. And our healing and liberation? Will be liberating for the collective consciousness we are surrounded by.

These are my thoughts. What are yours?

My commentary from a year ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 18 Tamuz, 5782

Good morning! Time for a new Parsha!!!!

Today, as we journey in a dark time leading to Tish’a B’Av we are given the gift of this Parsha.

This week we are studying “Pinchas” the ch is not like “church” the ch is like Hanukah.

Pinchas means “Lantern.” We are literally being given a lantern as we walk through this dark time.

The introduction from the Chumash I am reading says this;

Phinehas sets an example for all of us: whenever it is possible to further the moral or spiritual standing of other people, do not stand back and ponder, “Surely there are greater people than myself for this task?”

Rise to the occasion without hesitation!

Remember, Phinehas (Pinchas) is the one yesterday we read about who stopped the plague- Moses hesitated, but Phinehas took matters into his own hands and did what God wanted. That’s where we begin our portion today.

Immediately after Phinehas ends the plague, God speaks to Moses;

Numbers 25:10-13

“Phinehas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest has turned My anger away from the children of Israel by zealously avenging Me in their presence, and I did not destroy the children of Israel because of My zealous anger.

Therefore, say to him: I am hereby giving him My covenant of peace. It will be an eternal covenant of priesthood for him, and for his descendants after him, because he was zealous for his God and atoned for the children of Israel.”

Let’s stop here. There seems to be a lot to unpack.

Being zealous seems like a negative in our society today. It’s the opposite of tempered. We tend to look down on zealous people. Like “dude, take it down a notch.”

A lot is written about this though:

One usually would associate an act of zealotry with someone who has a fiery, irritable nature. The Torah informs us that this was not the case with Phinehas- he shared the calm, peace-loving nature of his grandfather Aaron. His act of zealotry was not motivated by his natural tendencies; it was purely a matter of defending God’s honor.

It is not enough to fulfil only those commandments to which you are naturally inclined. You must be prepared to go beyond or even against your natural predisposition to do God’s will.

(Rabbi Tzevi Elimelech of Dynow, 19th century).

The tribes ridiculed him, saying, “Have you seen the descendant of Puti (Jethro-see Rashi’s commentary on Exodus 6:25), whose mother’s father fattened calves for idol worship, and yet he killed a leader of one of the tribes of Israel?” Therefore, Scripture traces his lineage to Aaron (Rashi)

From Rabbi Schneerson:

“From where does the desire come to find fault in people who are doing something good? In this case, the tribes appeared to have holy intentions: They were concerned that Phinehas had slighted the honor of Moses by taking the law into his own hands.

Often, a man will find that he has a low tolerance for other people’s bad motives. Perhaps it’s because he is humble, and he finds the pride of others distasteful?

Probably, the opposite is true -the critic himself is proud. He doesn’t like the idea that somebody else accomplished something that he didn’t.

Of course, he will not admit this, even to himself, because his pride is a “ticket” to laziness, and recognizing somebody else’s achievements makes it more uncomfortable to remain lazy. So, instead, his arrogance spurs him to put down the other person’s good deeds, so that they don’t wound his pride or inspire him to be a better person -which would, of course, require some effort.

Even if it’s true that somebody’s worship does have overtones of haughtiness, the critic’s pride is even more distasteful. For, ultimately the person who “showed off” with his worship was at least open about his pride and did not attempt to conceal it. The critic, on the other hand, cannot tolerate the truth that he is proud, and he stoops to dishonesty, veiling his pride in a “cloak” of humility and righteous indignation.

The lesson is obvious: It is much wiser to be an activist than a critic. A little pride can make criticism destructive, rather than constructive; but a good deed always remains good, regardless of the intention” (end quote)

I’m just sitting with this. It’s really hard to soak in and process.

Let’s get back to the portion. Because of what Phinehas did, he was given (by God himself) God’s covenant of peace. That is amazing. I want that. I want a covenant of peace.

Now. We get the names of the people who Phinehas killed to end the plague.

The Israelite man was named Zimri- son of Salu, the LEADER (emphasis mine) of Simeon’s paternal house. This was the son of the dude who was in charge.

The Midianite woman who’s as killed was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur, a national leader of a paternal house in Midian.

Now remember. We cut away from the story of the Israelites to the story of Balak and Balaam. And that story ended with the strategy of Balaam telling Balak “God hates immorality – make your daughters available to the Israelites for immoral purposes, you will be able to rule over them because God will be angry with them.”

But the Talmud tells us more of the story. It’s a little more insidious – Balak asked Balaam “will our daughters listen to us?” And Balaam suggests to go to the tribal leaders first. He tells balak the other daughters will follow.

To deal with this anger from God, Phinehas struck the son of a leader of Israel and a daughter of a leader in Midian. That is what alleviated God’s anger.

Back to the portion;

God spoke to Moses “be hostile to the Midianites and strike them down! Because they were hostile to you with their schemes which they plotted against you with the Peor affair of Cozbi their sister, daughter of the Midianite leader, who was killed on the day of the plague which came because of the Peor affair.”

The end of today’s portion had God telling Moses to take a census. Interesting – it’s almost like God is getting them ready for something. To take stock of themselves.

What are your thoughts?