by Rav Netanel Yosifun, Rosh Yeshivat Orot Netanya, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.
It is told of one of the great Torah scholars of Israel that in his childhood, he would study Gemara (Talmud) with his father. Before every holiday, they would study the tractate that had to do with that holiday: P'sachim before Pesach, Sukkah before Sukkot, and the like. One year, around the beginning of the Counting of the Omer, his father asked him: "OK, which tractate shall we study now?" The boy answered: "Let's study Tractate Sh'vuot, in preparation for the festival of Shavuot."
His father responded that the boy seemed to be confusing sh'vuot, which means "oaths," and Shavuot, which refers to the Shavuot holiday: "Tractate Sh'vuot does not deal with the holiday," he told his son, "but with the prohibition of swearing in vain and lying and the like."
The boy replied, "Yes, I know that. However, when we stood at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, we swore to fulfill all the mitzvot. As the Talmud teaches, we may not make a vow to fulfill a mitzvah - because we are already bound by the oath that we took at Sinai; we "stand bound by our oath from Sinai." As such, so that we may internalize the greatness of the obligation we accepted upon ourselves at Mount Sinai on the day of the Shavuot holiday when we received the Torah, we must prepare for that holiday now by studying the Sh'vuot tractate…"
Every year we read Parashat Pinchas at the beginning of the Three Weeks, which is the mourning period for the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (the Holy Temple) and the exile of Israel. Just as we saw that Shavuot and sh'vuot share in the same important message, it seems that this is also true for Parashat Pinchas and the Three Weeks: they share the message of the centrality of the Beit HaMikdash – as we will explain.
It would seem that in order for us to be able to mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple, we must first learn how important it is. But even before that, we must learn something even more basic: how to get out of our own four cubits, and become people who "really care."
Our goal must be to be people who care about the Nation of Israel, about the desecration of G-d's name in the world, and about the Exile of the Divine Presence.
This means that learning about the importance of the Temple alone is not enough. For one could say to himself: "The Temple is fascinating, but what does it really have to do with me? How does it concern me?" Or he might even go one step further and say, "Sure, it's important for me to serve G-d – but that's my personal service, and it's for me to concentrate on. But what connection is there between me and the Holy Temple and the revelation of G-d's name in the world??"
In order to answer, or obviate, these questions, what we must do first is develop a sense of really caring about the revelation of G-d's name in the world.
The Ramchal (R. Moshe Chaim Luzatto, 18th century, Italy) wrote about this in his classic work "The Path of the Just," chapter 19, as follows:
"He whose motivation in his service of G-d is to purify his soul so that he will be worthy of sitting among the Just and the Pious… and receive the reward of the World to Come – we certainly cannot say that his motive is evil. But we also cannot say that this is the best of motives, because when a person is thinking about his own benefit, his service is ultimately for his own self-interest.
"Rather, the true intention found among the pious who have labored and strived to achieve it, is that the honor of G-d should increase and multiply..."
That is, the highest level in the service of G-d is to desire that His name should be revealed in the world. Such intention will lead and enable one to mourn over the destruction of the Temple, which represents this Divine honor. As the Ramchal wrote in the above work in the name of Tanna Dvei Eliyahu:
"Every sage of Israel who has attained true Torah knowledge, and grieves over G-d's honor, the honor of Israel, and the honor of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple, and longs for Israel's redemption and the ingathering of the exiles – he will merit to have G-d's spirit of holiness upon his words."
The Ramchal adds there that we should not say: "How can I expect to accomplish anything in this area? Will my prayer make a difference? Can it actually bring about an ingathering of the exiles and redemption?" The answer is - yes! It was precisely about this that the Sages taught (Tr. Sanhedrin p. 68): "Why was Man created alone? So that everyone could say, 'for me the world was created'."
And this is exactly the background from which Pinchas arose. Pinchas was the man who stopped a plague in Israel by killing Zimri ben Salu who sinned publicly with a daughter of Moav. He could have said, as many have said after him, "Who am I? I'm not in charge here. I am not the Sanhedrin and not the king, and it's not my job to solve the problem of Zimri ben Salu." But he was a man who cared, and therefore he was the only one who could resolve it!
Pinchas was a kanai, one who was willing to go "all the way" for his beliefs and desire to ensure the preservation of G-d's honor. He saw the desecration of G-d's name caused by Zimri's sin, and he arose and did something about it. Ordinary people are not allowed to do such an act as he did, killing Zimri. But one who cares, and is jealous for G-d, is he who is able to solve the problem.
And by virtue of that caring, Pinchas received from G-d the blessings of peace and the everlasting covenant, and merited to become a High Priest and a leader of Israel. And as the Ramchal wrote, G-d ultimately gives the leadership of Israel to those caring people who give their lives for Israel:
"These are the true shepherds of Israel whom G-d desires greatly, who devote themselves to His sheep, and strive and work for Israel's peace and well-being in all ways... This can be compared to a father who loves no one more than those who love his sons with faithful love..."
May we be privileged to experience this.
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