CHOCHMAS NASHIM: PINCHAS: TRANSFORMATION
By: Suri Davis
There is a beautiful concept roaming around these last three torah portions that is so integral to where we are now in history.
We have the story in the portion of Chukat, where Moses is told to glorify G-d’s name by talking to the rock and he hits the rock. G-d warns him that he will be punished by his inability to enter the land of Israel. This week’s torah portion reveals the epilogue of this event, Moses’ dying. In one swift literal stroke, he was transformed to a man who sinned, and was painfully denied the ultimate prize of seeing his children enter their homeland. So very painful.
We focus our attention then to the Torah portion of Balak, where we begin the story with a non-Jewish sorcerer Bilaam, but he knows one thing: He cannot divinely speak except those words which G-d places in his mouth. At first blush, we think he is a good guy. He reiterates to Balak and his henchmen that he cannot say but the words which G-d places in his mouth. An initial sanctity of G-d’s name. Of course, the torah portion ends with Bilaam leading the Jews astray into idol worship. The gemarah Sanhedrin 90a informs us that Bilaam is one of four commoners who have no share in the world to come. He was transformed by his desire for wealth.
But there is a positive transformation we see unfolding in this week’s torah portion, Pinchas. The Lubavitcher rebbe asks what connection does this portion have in the context of the time of year in which the torah portion is read. In last week’s torah portion, when the Jews are lead astray by Bilaam, 24,000 die in a plague. Yet because of Pinchas’ act of killing Bilaam and curtailing the plague and subsequent deaths, he placated G-d’s wrath, and in this week’s torah’s portion we see the positive transformation.
This week’s torah portion discusses G-d’s love of His people by counting each Jew lovingly. He discusses His giving His homeland to the Jews, a homeland which has G-d’s eyes on it from the beginning of the year, until the end of the year. And G-d re-establishes His connection with the people by discussing the sacrifices they bring to Him, daily offerings to G-d in homage to His kingdom, omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresent. We see G-d’s extreme wrath at the end of last week’s torah portion, by this week, we see G-d’s forgiveness of the Jews and resumption of His love affair with His special nation.
This torah portion is read at the beginning of the three weeks to motivate us to transform ourselves to the good. Look into our hearts, repent, so that we may become closer to G-d, and move G-d to transform the saddest day of the year, the 9th of Av, the day of the destruction of both Jerusalem temples, from a day of extreme sadness to a day of supreme joy with the coming of the Messiah, speedily in our days.
Shabbat shalom.
Suri