God gave the priesthood to Aharon and his progeny as a gift,
not as an earned reward as the pasuk states, “עֲבֹודַת מַתָּנָה אֶתֵּן אֶת כְּהוּנַתְכֶם/The
service is a gift that I have given with your priesthood.” (Bamidbar 18:7) Yet the first Midrash[1] on the parsha says that Pinchas earned the
priesthood. How can he have earned it if the Torah says explicitly that it was
a gift? The Sfas Emes says that there is
no contradiction. The Midrash is
teaching us that it is possible to earn a gift.
Where do we find the concept of earning a gift?
First we need to understand that a gift represents love and
kindness. Rav Shneur Zalman of Liadi
writes in his seminal work Tanya[2] that there is a level of love
for God which cannot be reached directly.
Rather by working on developing awe of God, achieving the highest level
we possibly can, each of us according to our individual potential, we are
granted a commensurate level of love for God.
This level of love is a gift that is granted involving no prior direct
effort or preparation. The terms awe and
love as used by the author of Tanya and by the Sfas Emes imply serving God and
coming close to Him respectively. We
cannot work to experience God directly.
However, we can strive to serve Him.
As a reward, He allows us to experience closeness to Him. Rav Shneur Zalman is teaching us that God’s
love – the experience of closeness – is a gift that can be earned.
The priesthood as well, represents love and kindness. Indeed, the Zohar[3] explains that the priesthood is a channel for
drawing God’s lovingkindness into the world.
God granted the priesthood as a gift.
This represents God’s love. The
priests, too, whose work in the Beis HaMikdash brings us closer to God and is
done on our behalf, represent love and kindness.
In this sense, Pinchas, too, was granted the priesthood, an
aspect of love and kindness, of closeness to God, as a gift for acting
zealously on behalf of the nation, essentially for striving to serve God to the
utmost of his ability. He earned the
gift.
The reason Pinchas merited the priesthood is thus clear, but
why did his progeny merit it through his act?
The Sfas Emes explains Pinchas merited for his progeny as well because
he acted on behalf of and from within the nation. His act atoned for the nation and saved their
progeny. As a reward he merited the
priesthood for his progeny.
The Sfas Emes expounds on this concept. The key to Pinchas’s act of vengeance was not
the act itself. Rather, the key was that
Pinchas acted solely on behalf and for the benefit of the nation. He had no personal motives. He was not hero-motivated. For this reason the pasuk describes his act
as, “... בְּקַנְאוֹ אֶת-קִנְאָתִי בְּתוֹכָם .../… by acting zealously among them …” (Bamidbar
25:11) “Among them” seems an
unnecessary addition to this description.
The Sfas Emes explains that this teaches us two things. Firstly, Pinchas acted on behalf of the
nation. Secondly, the act of zealousness
needed to be done by an ordinary member of the nation, someone with no rank,
someone who rose up from amongst the nation[4]. Pinchas acted on behalf of and as a
representative of the nation. This is
why Pinchas was not granted priesthood earlier.
Only one of the rank and file of the nation with no special status could
have acted as he acted. This is also why
Moshe Rabbeinu could not have done what Pinchas did. To atone for the nation’s sin, a member of
the nation had to act.
For this reason as well, Pinchas is related back to his
grandfather Aharon in the beginning of the parsha. Usually the first time a person is mentioned
in the Torah, he is related back one generation. Pinchas is related back two generations and
this is not even the first mention of him.
Pinchas was already mentioned in parshas Balak. Why then, does the Torah relate him back two
generations to Aharon HaCohen? Chazal
tell us that Aharon loved peace.[5] Everything he did was in the name of the
entire nation of Israel. The Torah
relates Pinchas back to Aharon to teach us that Pinchas acted in the name of
the entire nation as well.
The concept of earning a gift was introduced by Avraham Avinu. The Midrash tells us that Shem the son of
Noach received the priesthood.[6] The Midrash makes it clear that he was not
chosen to receive the priesthood as a reward.
When Shem died, Avraham Avinu received the priesthood. The Midrash states clearly that he was chosen
because of his righteousness. In another
Midrash we find that Shem called Yerushalayim, Shalem/Complete whereas
Avraham Avinu called it Yir’a/Awe.[7] What is the significance of these different
names and what is their connection with Shem and Avraham Avinu?
Shalem – Shem’s name for Yerushalayim – means
complete. It is also related to the
Hebrew word for peace – shalom.
The Sfas Emes explains that receiving an undeserved gift is an aspect of
peace. God, for example, gives life to
everything as an act of unearned kindness.
The Zohar calls this aspect of God, peace.[8] We find this concept relating to the
Creation. Chazal teach us that Shabbos
is an unearned gift that God bestowed on the Creation.[9] Shabbos as the culmination of the Creation
was the point at which the Creation was complete. A system which is complete is at peace with
itself. Each part of the system is doing
its unique job but striving towards the common goal of the entire system. Each part of the Creation, by doing its
unique job, is bringing the entire Creation closer to God. This is why on Shabbos we say that God
spreads His canopy of peace upon us.[10] Peace and Shabbos are very closely
connected. We see clearly, that God
bestowed the unearned gift of Shabbos upon the Creation and the Zohar calls
Shabbos, peace.[11] Shem called Yerushalayim Shalem
because he himself was granted the priesthood unearned through God’s kindness.
Avraham Avinu, on the other hand, developed, cultivated
and perfected his strength to achieve anything God asked of him. He passed the ultimate test when he went to
sacrifice his son Yitzchak. As a result he was granted the highest level
of love of God.
First, with Shem, God granted closeness to Himself through
pure lovingkindness. This is why Shem
called the city Shalem. Avraham
Avinu taught us that we can achieve closeness to God through service to God; we
are able to merit the gift. This is the
reason Avraham Avinu called the city Yir’a. By striving to be in awe of God we can merit
the gift of closeness to Him. God
connected the two and called the city Yerushalayim. Yerushalayim represents each person’s ability
to reach a high level of love and completeness, a closeness to God, by serving
Him to deserve the gift.
We find this concept in the relationship between Shabbos and
the days of the week. The Tikunei HaZohar states that during the six days of
the week we serve God with awe. On
Shabbos we serve God with love.[12] The Sfas Emes teaches us that one follows the
other. The way we serve God on Shabbos
depends on how we serve God during the six days of the preceding week. If we serve God with awe during the week, we
are granted the gift of love – closeness – on Shabbos.
The concept of completeness coinciding with closeness to God
is brought out by a Gemara in Maseches Kidushin.[13] The Gemara states that a
priest who is physically disfigured may not serve as a priest. The Gemara
learns this from the pasuk describing Pinchas’s reward as the covenant of
peace. As we’ve said, shalom/peace
has the same root as shalem/complete.
Therefore, a priest who is disfigured is physically incomplete and may
not serve. A pasuk in Yeshaya, though,
implies that God dwells specifically with “broken vessels”, “אֶשְׁכּוֹן וְאֶת־דַּכָּא וּשְׁפַל־רוּח/I
will dwell with the despondent and lowly of spirit.” (Yeshaya 57:15) How does this pasuk reconcile with the law
prohibiting a physically disfigured priest from serving in the Temple? The Zohar answers that physical disfigurement
disqualifies a priest because it infers a spiritual blemish.[14] A righteous person, however, whose heart is
broken in his service to God is not a disfigurement. The Zohar says that he is God’s pride.
We cultivate a sense of awe, then, by contemplating God’s
completeness and our own lowliness. This
is what the Zohar refers to as “broken vessels.” When we do this to the best of our ability,
God grants us a degree of closeness to Him which is impossible to reach
directly and can only be described as a gift.
It is what we’ve described earlier as the highest level of love for
God.
[1]Bamidbar
R. 21:1
[2]Tanya,
Igeres HaKodesh 6, 18
[3] Zohar
3:48b
[4] Also,
see last week’s parsha, “ויקם
מתוך העדה/[Pinchas] arose from
the midst of the congregation.”
[5]Avos
1:12
[6]Breishis
R. 4:8
[7]Breishis
R. 56:10
[8]Zohar
Chadash Shir HaShirim in Midrash haNe’elam 72c
[9]Shabbos
10b
[10]Birchos
Kri’as Shema Arvis; Zohar 1:48a, also see Bamidbar R. 21:1
[11]Zohar
3:176b
[12]Tikunei
Zohar 36:78a
[13]Kidushin
66b
[14]Zohar
3:90b
