In the previous parashat, we learn that the Jews are in conflict with their neighbors, the Midianites. The Midianites are trying to lure Jewish men into having illicit relations with their women as part of an attempt to make the Jews worship their idol, Ba’al Peor. Pinchas, son of Eleazar, and descendant of Aaron the Priest, sees a Jewish man named Zimri, son of Salu, going into a tent with Cozbi, daughter of Zur, a Midianite. Correctly assuming that Cozbi intended to seduce Zimri and have sexual relations with him, Pinchas charged into the tent, drew his sword, and killed them both at once.

      At the beginning of this parashah, God is congratulating Pinchas for having punished Zimri and Cozbi: he acted with zeal towards the law. God gives Pinchas a “Covenant of Peace” whereby Pinchas and all of his descendants receive priesthood immediately. However, because Zimri and others had been unwittingly worshipping the Midianite idol, a plague loomed over all of the Israelites. God declares that Moses must bring his people into battle with the Midianites to ward off this plague.

      After the battle, God asks Moses to take a census of the remaining tribes, counting the men above the age of twenty-seven who are able to wield weapons. He counts 601,730. Moses then re-distributes the land evenly among the tribes. In the process, he is approached by Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milca, and Tizra, the five daughters of Zelophehad. Because Zelophehad had no sons, they asked if they could be allowed to inherit the land when their father died, instead of it being transferred to the closest male relative. In response to their request, Moses rewrites the law to say that daughters may inherit land if they have no brother. It is also mentioned here that the tribe of 23000 Levites received money instead of land when it was shared among the tribes.

      Finally, Moses is told to appoint Joshua son of Nun as the next leader of the Israelites. The rest of the parashah details everyday offerings, as well as ones for Sabbath, new moons, Shavuot, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Sukot.

Taking the law into your own hands

      The story of Pinchas raises many questions and many eyebrows. The most interesting question is why he was congratulated for assailing Zimri and Cozbi without talking it over with anyone else. There are many things to consider and many different commentaries about this controversial story. For example, just about all of the commentaries say that Moses and others were present to see Zimri and Cozbi go into the tent. Talmudic writers Rav and Samuel say that Pinchas pointed it out to Moses, and that Moses told him that he should kill them. It would be one thing if Pinchas had talked it over with someone, let alone the messenger of God. Most other commentators disagree with this hypothesis, however, keeping true to the idea that Pinchas came up with the idea himself. This doesn’t mean that they are against his judgment though. Although Pinchas acted as a zealot, many consider his action justified. Maimonides goes by the code of the Jewish value Kanaim pogeim bo, which says that zealots are allowed to execute a vicious criminal on the spot, as long as it is on the spot and not afterward. Rabbi Alshekh counters this explanation by delving deep into the story around Pinchas. He says that Pinchas killed Zimri and Cozbi because he knew that he would have been rewarded for it. Theoretically, that makes him no longer a zealot. Unfortunately, we will never know what Pinchas’ motivations were, and could just as easily take the side of Rabbi Hirsch. He thinks that Pinchas took action after a great deal of reflection upon the law and showed good decision-making. The context could also have been important. Pinchas might not have acted as extremely if the Midianites weren’t conspiring against the Israelites. Inversely, Pinchas might have wanted to kill Cozbi out of hate for the Midianites and their plot, only killing Zimri to make it look like an act of zealotry. If that is the case, then Pinchas would have been just as guilty as Zimri. Whether or not Pinchas was in line, his actions may have been beneficial at the time, leading to the climax and ending of the Midianite conspiracy.

Death Penalty

      In biblical times, the death penalty was a much less delicate issue than it is today. Moses himself fatally punished his people at times, sometimes taking innocent lives to be sure that the criminals were gone. Ideas of individualism didn’t give people the hope for improvement that exists today, and when a criminal broke the law to extremes, his punishment would be merciless. It is true that in early Jewish antiquity, when prisons were certainly much less reliable, some people must have been put to death to protect the general public. However, a life is still a precious thing. That is why, later on in the Jewish timeline, laws made it very difficult to kill a perpetrator. The criminal had to have been warned by a bystander of the consequences before the crime was committed, there needed to be at least two witnesses, and more specific conditions had to have been adhered to before the killing.

      This is why Pinchas’ action makes us suspicious of him. There would be a very different analysis to be made if Pinchas had gone into the tent and given Zimri and Cozbi a fine. Again, the death penalty was an acceptable punishment, so perhaps this was what God wanted and what Moses might have ended up doing anyway. This is a legal case if there ever was one, and not having been there means that there are significant details that might clear or tarnish Pinchas’ name. Maybe he warned Zimri of the crime before striking the blow. We know essentially nothing about Zimri other than that he was the son of Salu. In the end, it comes down to the same thing; Pinchas’ actions probably weren’t sound ones, but due to the situation, might have been justifiable.

Women’s Rights

      While women often play an important role in the Torah, it is less common to see women being involved in legal affairs. The predominant biblical female characters are for the most part the wives of important men. They are generally acting to save or help another. In this portion, we see five sisters go to Moses without any men to back them up and ask for their own rights. It is a bold move, and bears great significance to the future and to the Jewish religion. Firstly, it clarifies the intent of the laws that favored men over women. Fathers would always want their son to inherit their land because the son would continue the family name. If a daughter was given her family’s land, her family would, in a sense, lose it when she married because it would be under her husband’s name. These popular tendencies brought a patriarchal fervor to the world that gave men privileges and seemed to discriminate against women. However, Moses confers with God the case of Zelophehad’s daughters. God has absolutely no problem entitling daughters to their father’s land. This is one of the first big steps taken by Moses and the biblical characters to give women the equality that is denied to them by tradition.

Drash

      The story of Pinchas calls for aggressively subjective judgment when it comes to exegesis. Especially in the modern day, we tend to find Pinchas’ act of zealotry a bit rash and needlessly violent. We ask ourselves: “Was it okay for Pinchas to murder Zimri and Cozbi for sexual misconduct?” And yet, God extends great thanks to Pinchas for this. So the question becomes different: “What are we missing about Pinchas’ story?” I am in a dilemma. As a commentator, my job isn’t to argue with God, it’s to find an argument that puts this story into a meaningful contemporary perspective. Pinchas’ action and God’s approbation of it are equally problematic.

      As I got deeper and deeper into this riddle, it became clear to me that I needed to speak my mind even if it meant questioning God’s judgment. I don’t think God is against free thinking. In the Torah, we see God creating the first people and holding mankind’s hand through its various difficulties. Since then, the population of the world has grown in number and independent capacity. We no longer have the word of God coming to us physically. We only have the influence of God. From a young age, we are taught to express our feelings and opinions. Democratic societies have made people to be protestors and activists on all fronts. Blind opinion does nothing to fight for any cause, but opinion based on research and reflection is imperative to survive on a planet where the balance of power is constantly shifting. Just recently, President Bush wanted to pass a bill that would have put the detainees at Guantanamo Bay on trial in military courts, where they would not have a jury and could be found guilty without a comprehensive look at the evidence. When the Supreme Court was handed this document, they could have simply given the okay for it because the President is the one in charge. They did not, however. They did the right thing and exposed it for the obstruction of justice that it was. It is true that hopefully, we can trust our leaders, but good leaders should not expect to be right on every subject and should have no problem with individual reactions. In fact, the feeling of the public should be one of the greatest decision-making factors for a figure of power. In this case, it’s very possible that God wanted this part of the Torah to be talked about and criticized. It might have been a test to see if we were going to do well in the future, without divine words of advice daily. There is still any number of reasons why all of the surprising events in the story of Pinchas happened the way they did, and as much as I hope that there was something intermediary that wasn’t written in the story, it’s safe to say that we can disagree. Religion shouldn’t be our reason to live, but a code to live by, a beacon of hope to light our darker hours, and a way to learn about ourselves and about those who surround us.

      Now, as much of this treacherous mountain path of a story we’ve solved, it still remains a delicate subject because it deals with murder. I repeat a very important detail. In ancient times, death was a more common part of life than it is today. People died earlier in life, infant mortality was common as was dying in childbirth, and men were expected to protect the honor of their family at any cost. Education and technology have improved hygiene, allowing people to live to their body’s limits. Codes of honor dictating life and death became obsolete in the modern world. Death was disintegrated from life and murder became more of a transgression against humanity than an act of obedience to a higher power.

      We still have religious zealots today: people who take the law into their own hands in the belief that they are following a higher will. What better example of a zealot than one of today’s suicide bombers or terrorists? When I gave this an initial thought, it seemed like Pinchas’ circumstances were different because the Israelites were being targeted by the Midianites. I couldn’t keep that around too long when I remembered the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Both sides of that argument have guys going and shooting the other guys because of religious beliefs. And then it hit me! This story was accomplishing the exact goal of the Torah: to show us metaphorically how to solve the overbearing problems of humanity.

      In the story of Pinchas, there is a prophet. Yes, Pinchas may not have shown the best judgment, but once he committed murder, God told Moses to go into battle with the Midianites. There was a battle, and more people died, but then, at least, everything was resolved. The violence ceased. Unfortunately, solving any dispute requires blood to be shed, whether it is proverbial blood or the real thing, but only Zimri, Cozbi, and some soldiers lost their lives. In the Middle East today, we have death after death after death. Innocent people on busses, in coffee shops, and who knows where else, have been getting blown to smithereens for many years. We know what needs to happen. We need to be prophets. God may be talking to us and we may not even know it. Think of the portion of the mishna we recite in the morning prayer: Make peace where there is strife. Every problem has its solution, and if we prove that we are capable, God will help us find it.