Dear Friends,
Sometimes our history – and our lives – are filled with difficult moments: moments that make us cringe or shake with embarrassment, regret or even shame; moments which we wish we could take back.
These moments may be private interactions, conversations or experiences which we hold forever in our most inner places. Yet, even there, they periodically shake us.
Or, these moments could be large public experiences which rattle us as communities and as individuals. Most recently, we could claim January 6 and October 7 as such moments; they are so viscerally powerful that they don’t even need a name or a year. They stand as monuments to dismay.
And, one such moment occurs in the opening of this week’s Torah portion, though it arises from the close of last week’s portion. Last week, amid a disastrous plague which killed thousands, a zealous priest named Pinchas compulsively slew an Israelite man and a Midianite woman while they were amid intimate relations. And, the plague abated, signaling God’s approbation of Pinchas’ murderous act. This week, the portion opens with just that affirmation: the names of the victims are recorded, and then God offers a “Covenant of Peace” to Pinchas.
I find this offering to be deeply troubling. Yes, I can understand the justifications for Pinchas’ actions, and, yes, I can accept the moral righteousness which commentators ascribed to Pinchas. But, I cannot accept the propriety of murdering a couple in their chambers, even though they reportedly had just flaunted their relationship before the people.
For Torah to condemn salacious behavior, but to sanction the summary murder/execution, without the benefit of trials or hearings, seems to me imbalanced at best. Yes, the couple were publicly prancing, but they were privately coupling.
Execution, however, is public. It warrants discourse, measured moral debate, and careful review, even as it commonly faces in America, whether one agrees with its practice, or not (like me). I nevertheless recognize and appreciate the dialogue and careful consideration which commonly accompanies such consequences.
Pinchas murdering the couple – named Zimri and Cozbi – makes me shutter. I race past this Torah portion as swiftly as I can as I find it to be Jewishly humiliating. It violates the values which I expect from Judaism and Torah. It shames me to see it justified.
Sometimes, there are such moments in our lives. We just have to shutter and shake.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
Sometimes our history – and our lives – are filled with difficult moments: moments that make us cringe or shake with embarrassment, regret or even shame; moments which we wish we could take back.
These moments may be private interactions, conversations or experiences which we hold forever in our most inner places. Yet, even there, they periodically shake us.
Or, these moments could be large public experiences which rattle us as communities and as individuals. Most recently, we could claim January 6 and October 7 as such moments; they are so viscerally powerful that they don’t even need a name or a year. They stand as monuments to dismay.
And, one such moment occurs in the opening of this week’s Torah portion, though it arises from the close of last week’s portion. Last week, amid a disastrous plague which killed thousands, a zealous priest named Pinchas compulsively slew an Israelite man and a Midianite woman while they were amid intimate relations. And, the plague abated, signaling God’s approbation of Pinchas’ murderous act. This week, the portion opens with just that affirmation: the names of the victims are recorded, and then God offers a “Covenant of Peace” to Pinchas.
I find this offering to be deeply troubling. Yes, I can understand the justifications for Pinchas’ actions, and, yes, I can accept the moral righteousness which commentators ascribed to Pinchas. But, I cannot accept the propriety of murdering a couple in their chambers, even though they reportedly had just flaunted their relationship before the people.
For Torah to condemn salacious behavior, but to sanction the summary murder/execution, without the benefit of trials or hearings, seems to me imbalanced at best. Yes, the couple were publicly prancing, but they were privately coupling.
Execution, however, is public. It warrants discourse, measured moral debate, and careful review, even as it commonly faces in America, whether one agrees with its practice, or not (like me). I nevertheless recognize and appreciate the dialogue and careful consideration which commonly accompanies such consequences.
Pinchas murdering the couple – named Zimri and Cozbi – makes me shutter. I race past this Torah portion as swiftly as I can as I find it to be Jewishly humiliating. It violates the values which I expect from Judaism and Torah. It shames me to see it justified.
Sometimes, there are such moments in our lives. We just have to shutter and shake.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
