PARSHAS PINCHAS 5776

The Jewish Nation had been lured into sin with the daughters of Midian, and a plague ensued that threatened to annihilate them. Zimri, head of the tribe of Shimon, began committing a base act with a Midianite princess in the presence of Moshe and the other leaders of Yisrael. All were shocked, including Moshe, and they began crying. No one knew what to do.

Pinchas, a grandson of Aharon, beheld this and recalled what he had learned: “If a Jew consorts with a gentile, a zealot kills him” (Rashi 25:7). The situation required immediate action, but action was fraught with danger. If Zimri would desist for but a moment, he would have the halachic right to kill Pinchas in self-defense. The entire tribe of Shimon would surely seek revenge as well. Nevertheless, Pinchas cast all other thoughts aside and did what he knew was right. He took hold of a spear and killed the two sinners.

Hashem praises Pinchas and promises him eternal reward. As a grandson of Aharon born before Aharon received the kehuna, Pinchas had been excluded from the ranks of the kohanim (Rashi 23:13), until he performed this act of zealotry. For all generations, Pinchas’ descendants would be part of Hashem’s elite group of holy servants, and would be entitled to the privileges enjoyed only by kohanim.

The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabba 21:1) relates that Pinchas “deserved” this reward. This is confusing. Isn’t one of the tenets of Judaism that Hashem “recompenses man according to his deed, and assigns to the wicked one according to his wickedness?” Isn’t the reward of all mitzvos “deserved?”

Of course, not all mitzvos are rewarded equally. Some mitzvos have more reward than others, and Pinchas’ act of self-sacrifice surely deserved great reward. Still, why does the Midrash single it out, saying that in this case, Pinchas “deserved” his reward?  Hashem promises reward for every mitzvah!

Rav Menachem Freiman, mashgiach of Yeshivas Eitz Chaim explains (based on the Sefas Emess), that while every good deed has reward, we don’t necessarily deserve it in the way Pinchas did. The Midrash (Vayikra Rabba 27:2) states that Hashem asks: “Who can claim reward? Let him come forward and claim and I will pay. You put a mezuzah on your house, but could you have put up that mezuzah if I hadn’t given you a house? You circumcised your son? Could you have done that if I hadn’t given you a son? You offered pe’ah from your field, but you could only do that because I gave you the field. You attached tzitzis to your tallis, but you could only do that because I gave you the tallis, etc.”

Meaning, we have already received so much from Hashem. Even our means for doing mitzvos are part of His great gifts to us. How can we be so bold as to claim that we deserve still more from Him? Even though Hashem promises us reward, it is not something we truly deserve.

This applies to most of humanity, but not to Pinchas. Pinchas was able to claim his reward, because he relinquished all of Hashem’s gifts. He was willing to forego even his life for the sake of Hashem. He might have been killed by Zimri or his tribe, yet he put such concerns aside and set out to do Hashem’s will no matter what. Therefore, his reward is his by right.

Although Pinchas’ situation demanded the most extreme form of self-sacrifice, his response can serve for us as a model. In avodas Hashem, we should try to keep ourselves out of the picture as much as possible. Mesilas Yesharim (chapter 16) states that when doing a mitzvah, our thoughts should be not on ourselves but rather on Hashem alone. Even when our main focus is on Hashem, if as we do the mitzvah we have in mind to get recognition or profit, the mitzvah is flawed.

The Mesilas Yesharim notes that the Sages criticize the daughter of Rav Chananya ben Tradion for allowing praise she received from a Roman to influence her behavior as she was doing a mitzvah. Her thoughts should have been on Hashem alone, and not the praises being said about her.

Rav Wolbe notes that even though doing mitzvos with no selfish intentions at all is unnatural, one should try to achieve this little by little. Try not to be self-centered. Try not to do mitzvos in a public manner or as a way of gaining attention. The Sages say in the name of Eliyahu Hanavi: “The more you go with Hashem secretly, the more Hashem is with you secretly.” Meaning, the more efforts one makes to conceal his good deeds, the closer he is to Hashem (Tanna d’bei Eliyahu 28).

R’ Gershon Burd was a prime example in our yeshiva of acting secretly, only for Hashem’s sake. R’ Gershon never thought about himself. He did many acts of chessed that no one even knew he had done. A bachur’s tuition was mysteriously “taken care of,” money was sent to poor families, and bachurim or avreichim whom he saw needed chizuk were approached by staff members, never realizing that R’ Gershon was behind this.

R’ Gershon learned full-time in the yeshiva, and had to put in long hours seeing to the yeshiva’s upkeep. This meant working late into the night. On occasion, he worked the entire night, yet he never told anyone about this.

He once confided to a friend: “I think it’s a big thing to help others in ways that no one knows about. Keep it all a secret between you and Hashem. This is a very big thing.”

May our deeds be purely l’shem Shamayim!

Exciting news! Rabbi Krieger will soon be publishing a sefer featuring the “best” of the weekly Parsha sheet. If you would like to share in this celebration, please go to www.bircas.org for further details.