Parshat Pinchas
So basically this weeks parasha deals with more than one issue, but the two important ones are:
1 – Pinchas (the guy who got the parasha named after him) murdering a high window official
2 – the daughters of Zlofachad fighting one of the first feministic law battles – which we are not going to explain about here, lucky you!
If you recall, the Israelites are still walking in the desert (very long walk, so many parashot now) in their journey to the Land of Israel. On the mean time they go thorough different types of experience. This time (Pinchas) they come across few other tribes, especially from Midian and Moab. Now those tribes decides to take an advantage of the fact a whole bunch of single Jewish men are about to enter Israel and get rich and famous. There fore many of those foreign tribes girls are making friends with the Israeli men and soon there is a huge bombamela type festival in the desert. Non-Jewish girls? Well this is why G-d is getting upset and of course when he is upset – we suffer, so thousands are killed thanks to a epidemic spreading rapidly in the Israelites camp site (did they use porta’loos?). Moses and the lay leaders can’t stop the killing, but one guy. His name is Pinchas, the grandchild of Aaron the priest, and Moses bro. This guy decided to stop both the inter-relations and the epidemic. So he is acting as he is G-d shlaich and he kills one of the lay-leaders of the Israelites, and his new girlfriend, who was from Midian. Doing so Pinchas is granted the priesthood for him and his sons forever. Just one thing we need to remember: Moses himself had a Midianic wife – Zipora, whom he married years a go. Is that ok?
Any way Pinchas is said to be forgiven because thanks to him the Israelites stopped going out with the non-Jewish girls and he by killing one person stopped the epidemic.
Later scholars have spoke about Pinchas being so fanatic and follower of good so that was the reason he didn’t get punished. But this case arises so many questions:
How come Pinchas murdered two and got a price for that – the priesthood?
How come no trial was going on – with the right of the defendant to speak his word?
How come it was wrong to the simple Israelites to have foreign woman while Moses and others later on (king David, king Solomon) had non-Jewish wives?
How come G-d is happy with Pinchas murdering two, in the name of god, without him being punished? Is he really G-d Shalich?
Or is maybe double standard, and a story made by the Tanach writer to justify the fact that Pinchas was given the priesthood?
Trying to relate this story to today’s world, it looks like fanatics, from all religious, are acting in the name of god, and thus creating distraction and killings. We all have to remember that above any religious law we need to respect all humaneness and obey the very basic moral laws: you shall not murder. Even if you think a person deserves to die, this person has the right to defend him or herself in a just way. |
