The tale of Pinechas isn’t one to read if you’re not in the mood for graphic, sexualised violence. This week, Pinechas will receive a brit shalom – a covenant of peace – and a promise of eternal priesthood. Why? Because during a plague the Torah blames on the Israelites engaging in non-Israelite practices and sexual intercourse with Moabite women, Pinechas impales Zimri (an Israelite prince) and Cozbi (a Midianite woman) through the belly in the midst of their coition. (Some say “belly” is a euphemism. I’m sure you can connect the dots.)
I once studied this story with an educator who contrasted the actions of Pinechas and Moses. Pinechas, she said, represented acting decisively, with conviction. Moses, on the other hand, represented hesitation. (She may have been referring to the fact that Moses awaits God’s instructions before acting, which are to publicly impale all the ringleaders of the non-Israelite worship and sex. Still, Moses does not appear to have any qualms fulfilling God’s command.) She asked us to move to one side of the room if we identified with Pinechas, and to the other side of the room if we identified more with Moses. At first, the room fell so silent, it was like the air had turned to glass that would shatter at any moment. For many participants, this was the first time that they had heard the story of Zimri and Cozbi. A note to any educators: if you’re about to teach a traumatic story, please do give people a warning, so that they can opt in or out (see my first sentence). And please anticipate that people will need some time to process their reactions to the story before proceeding to analyse it more deeply. In fact, if you do need a moment now, please take one. In fact, I’ll leave you some space now for that, and start a new paragraph.
Needless to say, nobody moved. Most people were too shocked to do anything other than freeze. I had heard the story before, but I still found the question ridiculous. Were those seriously the only two options? Immediately grabbing a spear to skewer lovers or hesitating before ordering multiple executions? I picked myself up off my tuchus and sat in the middle of the room.
Today, I still ask: are those the only two options? Violence that we don’t take the time to think about, or violence that we do take the time to think about? No matter how much calculation, no matter how much strategic-thinking, violence is destructive. Isn’t there anything else?
Later in Parashat Pinechas, we meet the five daughters of Zelophechad – Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah – all named women, a rare honour for women of the Hebrew Bible. They approach Moses with their case. Their father has died without sons leaving sons. According to Israelite law, as women, they are not allowed to inherit property, so their father’s property will leave his direct line. For the daughters of Zelophechad, this is not only a matter of keeping their father’s name alive, but also a matter of financial independence. Without their father’s property, they will rely on their father’s nearest relatives or on their future husbands (the midrash confirms they are not married at this time). The women assemble and approach Moses and the other community leaders in order to plead their case. They use rhetoric – words. They understand what will move those with power over them and use that to structure their argument. They appeal to the establishment by reminding them that their father was not a rebel, that he had never tried to upend the status quo – he did not follow the agitator Korach when so many others had. Though the daughters themselves might not think it so tragic for their father not to have had sons, they know that the men whom they address will think this, so they appeal to their emotions by reminding them twice of this fact. Ultimately, the daughters are able to convince every authority, including God, of the correctness of their plea. No skewering necessary. If anyone deserves a covenant of peace and/or eternal priestesshood, it’s probably Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
We live in an era in which violence stalks our news headlines, especially in a land that many of us feel connected to, whatever our feelings about it may be. The message of Parashat Pinechas is that when we appear to be confronted only with violent options, always to ask: Isn’t there anything else? If we follow the example of Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, there certainly is.
Kohenet Yael Tischler, LBC rabbinical student
The views expressed in this D’var Torah do not necessarily reflect the position of Leo Baeck College.