A Torah ThatPinc74ar Artson 1

TORAH-FAX PINCHAS SERMONETTE

PINC74AR
A TORAH THAT MIRRORS REAL LIFE
BY RABBI BRADLEY ARTSON
After the Israelites sin at Baal-Peor, God lashes out in aner, orderin !oses to
"ta#e all the heads of the $eo$le and ha%e the& $u'licl( i&$aled)"
Before !oses can act on God*s co&&and, a leadin Israelite na&ed +i&ri and a
leadin !idianite ,o&an na&ed Co-'i enter the sacred site of the Tent of
!eetin, and there, 'efore the entire $eo$le, 'ein to co$ulate) This arroant
escalation of sin enfla&es Pinchas, the leader of the .e%itical uards, ,ho ra's a
s$ear and i&$ales the t,o sinners)
/hile &ost &odern readers are shoc#ed and a$$alled '( the 'loodshed of this
scenario, e%en &ore horrif(in is God*s res$onse0 the 'esto,al of an eternal $act of
friendshi$ 1briti shalom2 to Pinchas and his heirs)
/h( ,ould God &andate the death of all the leaders, innocent and uilt( ali#e3
And ,h( ,ould God re,ard Pinchas for a %iolent and i&$ulsi%e act of #illin3
4e,ish tradition offers s&all co&fort to those in search of s,eetness and ele%ation
fro& reliion) 5nli#e other reliious traditions that e&$hasi-e onl( the $ositi%e, or
that see# to u$lift '( focusin onl( on the su'li&e and the 'eautiful, 4udais&
al,a(s has adhered to the realit( $rinci$le0 reliion &ust illu&ine life as it
actuall( ha$$ens, not so&e saccharine edited %ersion that ,ould 'e useless in ti&es
of trou'le)
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.ife can 'e 'lood( and unfair) The truth is that ,e do li%e in a ,orld in ,hich the
innocent often $a( for the deeds of the uilt() The Torah understood that truth,
and 'ecause of that insiht, $ro%ides stories and leaders ca$a'le of $ro%idin
,isdo& and uidance in the stor&s life can 'rin) The challene of the Torah is
the challene of loo#in at life ,ithout 'linders)
The ra''is understood as ,ell) The Mekilta, 1Third Centur(, Israel2, an ancient
midrash to 78odus, co&&ents that "once $er&ission has 'een i%en to the
*destro(er* to do in9ur(, it no loner discri&inates 'et,een the innocent and the
uilt()"
:nce %iolence is unleashed, e%en if it oriinall( ,as directed aainst e%il, it can
not 'e directed ,ith an( $retense of $recision) That insiht is onl( too clear fro& a
histor( of 9ust ,ars and their innocent %icti&s)
Ra''i 7lea-ar 'en ;ha&&ua &ade a si&ilar $oint in Sifre BaMidbar0 "As it is
i&$ossi'le for a doornail to 'e ta#en out fro& the door ,ithout e8tractin so&e of
the ,ood, so it is i&$ossi'le for Israel to se$arate itself fro& Baal-Peor ,ithout
losin souls)"
Because hu&an 'eins li%in in societ( reularl( $a( for the sins and the
selfishness of the ,ic#ed)
The 'ic(clist 'reathes in the soot of the &otorc(clist, and the davener suffers the
assault of a 'larin radio)
:ur tradition records another e8$lanation for God*s conde&nation of all the leaders
of Israel at Baal-Peor0 In BaMidbar Rabbah, Ra''i 4udah insists that all of Israel*s
leaders share the res$onsi'ilit( for the sin of Baal-Peor '( %irtue of their authorit()
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If the( had 'een trul( rihteous and dilient leaders, the Israelites ,ould not ha%e
'een te&$ted to sin)
In a de&ocrac(, ,here all of us ha%e the $o,er to %ote and to lead, ,e 'eco&e
res$onsi'le for the sins of our o,n societ(0 the a$ 'et,een rich and $oor, the
staerin rate of teen $renanc( and child $o%ert(, %iolence aainst ethnic,
reliious or se8ual &inorities, 'ias aainst ,o&en, $ollution - all these are our
res$onsi'ilit(, 'ecause ,e allo, the& to continue)
The %iolence of Baal-Peor, then, is a clarion call to 'eco&e in%ol%ed) 7ither $art
of the solution or $art of the $ro'le&, ,e can turn to the Torah to re%eal a $icture
of real life, a $ortrait desined to e&$o,er us to reali-e holiness in the ,orld) :r
,e can close the scrolls and tr( to #ee$ our e(es closed, our ears $lued) In either
case, the innocent are sufferin)
/hat are (ou oin to do a'out it3
A&en)