When To Be A Zealot

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

Parashas Pinchas begins by relating that “Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aharon HaKohein” zealously killed Zimri, the head of the Tribe of Shimon, while he was committing an act of immorality with a Midyanite princess. In the Torah, a person is generally mentioned only with the name of his father. Why was Aharon, Pinchas’s grandfather, mentioned here?

Rashi explains that people began scoffing at Pinchas’s deed: “His forefather (Yisro) fattened calves to offer to avodah zarah, and now he’s a zealot for Hashem’s honor?” For this reason, the verse emphasizes that Pinchas had another grandfather as well—Aharon HaKohein.

How does his connection to Aharon answer those who had denigrated him? Moreover, why were they even criticizing him? Everyone was aware that Zimri committed a sin with the Midyanite. What was the issue?

Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz explains that had the din come before the Sanhedrin, they would not have killed Zimri (see Sanhedrin 82a). If someone had asked their permission, they would have forbidden killing him. However, there is a halachah known as “kana’im pogim bo.” This law allows a zealot witnessing such a sin to punish the perpetrator for the sake of Hashem’s honor. It is applicable only if the person is acting purely out of righteous zealotry for Hashem, with no ulterior motives.

Those who wondered aloud about Pinchas were questioning his motivation. Perhaps he had something against Zimri? Perhaps he just took murder lightly? Perhaps he simply wanted to avenge the honor of Moshe Rabbeinu, before whom this sin was being committed? Any of these motivations would have rendered his act forbidden. Kana’im pogim bo does not apply to anything short of pure zealotry.

Moreover, Pinchas was a descendant of Yisro, who had fattened calves for avodah zarah. This instance of kana’im pogim bo applies when a Jew is caught sinning with a gentile, as it brings the Jew closer to avodah zarah. Many wondered if Pinchas was really clean of avodah zarah himself.

Therefore, the verse emphasizes Pinchas’s descent from Aharon HaKohein, who pursued peace and befriended all Jews. Pinchas also had this trait. He was far removed from any sort of violence. The only reason he would do something like this was because of his zealotry for Hashem.

At times, we too face questions about committing acts of zealotry. For example, we may decide to keep a distance from someone who may pose some spiritual risk to us. We must be cautious before deciding on such a course of action. If we are to be a zealot, we must also possess the trait of Aharon HaKohein. Aharon befriended all Jews. The Rambam explains that this caused many wicked people to change, as they thought, If Aharon would know who I really am, he would never befriend me. I must improve myself to be worthy of his friendship. Aharon did know who they were, but he went out of his way to befriend them in order to have a positive influence on them. For us too, if there is any chance that we can help someone, even in the long run, we may not have the right to distance ourselves from him. (A competent rav should be consulted before making any decision with the kind of impact that this one has. If the rav does decide that distancing yourself from someone is necessary, he will give instructions for how it should be done.)

Rav Shimshon Pinkus teaches that though zealotry is hard to use regarding others, we should use it on ourselves. If we see that our behavior is leading us to err, we can take drastic measures to ensure that we change. As an example, Rav Pinkus cites a story in the Gemara (Shabbos 150b, based on the Taz in Orach Chaim 307:14): A Jew’s fence broke down on Shabbos, and he wanted to have it fixed by gentiles on Shabbos. He quickly regretted his desire, and resolved to penalize himself. He never repaired the breach, to remind himself of the severity of the laws and the sanctity of Shabbos. For this act, the Sages refer to this man as a chassid. He merited a miracle: a tree grew that provided his entire family with sustenance from that time onward.

The above is just an example of zealotry applied to oneself. We can apply the concept in other ways as well. If we find ourselves in a situation that is even close to sin, we should ask ourselves how we can penalize ourselves to prevent it from ever recurring.

A more recent case of zealotry is told about the Volozhin Yeshivah, where a group of students were eating together. A question was raised in Halachah, and one of the talmidim was unable to answer the question. His ignorance on the subject so disturbed him that he left the meal and headed straight to the study hall. He resolved never to leave until he became a Torah scholar. He remained there for seven years, learning nonstop until he was fluent in all of the Talmud.

May we be zocheh to apply zealotry correctly!

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