Pinchas: Revolution

Pinchas:  Revolution

My mother used to tell me: es drait zach und es drait zach biz es drait zich arois, It turns and it turns until it (all) turns out.  The turning flavor of the word "revolution" emphasizes the recursive , equidistant from the center, periodic nature of changes in the structure of society.  The parsha  emphasizes the individuals that turned the wheel. 

Pinchas, the extremist who killed his cousins, Zimri and Cosbie for violating the Gd's sensibilities, established a new role in the people: zealot.    Moshe would not make this decision נתעלמה ממנו הלכה ( Sanhedrin 82a).  Rather, Pinchas tells Moshe of  the rule of the zealot   קנאין פוגעין בו , the zealot (may/should) attack him [the transgressor], which  was taught to Pinchas during the descent from Sinai.  The assertiveness of this (inter)action, and the fact that it is rewarded,  is emblematic of much of the parsha. 

The allusions to self confidence in the parsha are both positive and negative.  The most positive  forceful argument comes from the daughters of Zelophchod.  In a society that sells daughters into servitude until puberty and grants women no commercial legal status, they ask for the right to inherit  ( a large) portion of the promised land ( in preference to their uncles).  I am always moved when I see the long, feminizing  nuen  on mishpatan  ( אֶת-מִשְׁפָּטָן)in the description of Moshe's bringing their case before the Lrd. Their female voices were heard...and accepted. Their courage still calls out to us .

Korach's  co-conspirators, Dathan and Aviram get mentioned. They challenged the status quo and  their attempted  coup was quashed with a vengance,

 Nadav and Avihu are briefly noted.  They tried to modify  the temple service and  die for their  daring. The death of Moshe is attributed for his self-assertive  deviation from the instructions.

Moshe asks for a  replacement leader.  His request is made to the Lrd of the winds ( haruchoth), the master of the invisible forces of constant change.  Joshua, who had the courage to rebel against  his fellow scouts of the Holy Land , and had the audacity to speak and unpopular opinion, is chosen.

Acting for change can yield great rewards.  Just don't be wrong. 

Balak2: for hire

Balak: for hire

The major action in this weeks parsha  revolves around hiring Bilam to denounce the Israelites. 

The tradition is shivim panim laTorah,  the Torah has seventy faces.  presumably there are 70 valid interpretations.  In yeshiva elemenrary school, I was taught that  the curse  Bilam is hired to proclaim is some sort of invocation of the Divine, a entreaty to intervene on the side of Balak and his kingdom of Moab.  It all takes place in a supernal space.  It is beyond understanding.  This explanation assumes a world that is guided by invisible forces that follow rules, but not necessarily what we call logic. It is a religious explanation. I respect it; I call it correct. 

There are also more comprehensible ways to interpret this story. 
In our world we have  industries that praises and execrates for hire: public relations, marketing, journalism, politics, legal litigation...
I can also understand this story in this modern context. 

When Heaven asks Bilam in a dream, "who are these people", as if it were  not known, Bilam answers: “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message:

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הִנֵּ֤ה הָעָם֙ הַיֹּצֵ֣א מִמִּצְרַ֔יִם וַיְכַ֖ס אֶת־עֵ֣ין הָאָ֑רֶץ עַתָּ֗ה לְכָ֤ה קָֽבָה־לִּי֙ אֹת֔וֹ אוּלַ֥י אוּכַ֛ל לְהִלָּ֥חֶם בּ֖וֹ וְגֵרַשְׁתִּֽיו׃

Here is a people that came out from Egypt and hides the earth from view. Come now and curse them for me; perhaps I can engage them in battle and drive them off.”

These are invaders from Egypt, hordes that blot out the earth.  Bilam's job is to recast this people as both evil and  vincible.  His words must motivate the armies of Moab to fight ( rather than flee) and entice allies to join in the righteous protection of a land that has already been settled.  The Israelites themselves should be shamed  and discouraged from the unjust war of chauvinistic conquest so that they are dispirited and fight poorly.  This is the temporal power of words.  


The  persistence of both the recruiter and the candidate are impressive.  Balak  sends two, successive, delegations to recruit Bilam.  When the first offer is rejected, the offer is repeated by higher ranking officers.  Bilam, who recognizes the reality  that  his powers devolve from revelation, evokes a second epiphany, after the first  tells him not to go.  Bilam,who will not be delayed by the malfunctions of his most trusted mode of transportation, defies the dissuasion  of the angel brandishing the sword to arrive for his mission of evil. A mission that he is unable to carry out.

There is a lesson in this persistence. Success can require trying again and again.  The enemy wants to succeed as well.  Do no count on them stopping their efforts. 

What is all this for?  Bilam  tells us that gold and silver  are important to him when he says that a palace-full could not alter his Divinely inspired statements  Balak tells us the value of  honor when he says that he would have  rewarded Bilam  with enough honor to satisfy him.  The presentation of these two rewards: money and honor, assume their motivating nature. These are the theoretical drivers  of theoretical people, econs.  In the Torah , these mundane considerations are attributed to foreigners.  Money and honor are what drives our enemies.These are not the motives of the heroic figures. Moshe and Aaron are faithful servants with no mention of compensation.

The vast majority of people work for monetary compensation.  Some are privileged enough to work for honors.Whenever a person works for money ( or fame) there is a question about the consequences of the work itself.  The product is, temporarily,  under the control of the employer, for good or ill.  To what degree should a person care about the repercussions? Even when the work is done for the purest of motives, the aftereffects may be an unpleasant surprise.

Progress is a blessing.  Progress is a curse.  People need to work.

Chukath: Limits

The name of the parsha, Chukath, conveys the idea of chok, an edict that is not meant to be  understood. It is futile to try to comprehend the reasons for the decree. It is a rule, and that contrasts with a mishpat: law that is part of  an understandable system  of fairness, rational justice. 

The tension  between the chok and mishpat  motivates a great deal of human activity.  Political systems try to balance these ideas. Democracies emphasize the common, mortal understanding of fairness.  Other systems may benefit from the efficiency of the decree.   

Much of science is  occupied with the translation of seemingly arbitrary phenomena into  a consistent set of rules. It is a process of discovering the chukim, the inviolable laws,  that govern the quantum and the cosmos, and conceptualizing a pattern.  Science is very much about reducing the chukim to a minimum. 


The scope of the  statement ,  זֹ֚את חֻקַּ֣ת הַתּוֹרָ֔, this is the chok of the Torah,   is not clear.  It certainly  extends to the preparation of the ashes red heifer, and logically ( although logic is not necessarily applicable here)  could extend to the laws of corpse tumah ( ritual impurity) that follow. The  connection with mortality and transition stands out. The seven day ritual of purification, for which the red heifer ashes were prepared, is a method of recovery from the spiritual ( emotional?) effect of contact with death.  It is a road back to the world of the living. 

This is the chok of the Torah.  The Ohr HaChaim says that the performance of this ritual is equal to keeping all of the Torah because it constitutes an act of pure obedience . This is a ritual of obedience, devoid of logic. 

I think that it deals with an issue that defies logic: death.  The quarantine that follows exposure to a lethal process is, and probably always was, easy to understand.  But the water with the ashes of the red heifer have no logical function.  When the transition from the experience of death involves passing  through  irrational deference, it can become a renewal


The red heifer was given over to Aaron's son, Elazar, not Aaron.  This ritual that purifies the survivors, cleanses those exposed to death, is given  to the son, not the venerable father, the aged High Priest, who will  soon die (after passing the priestly robes onto his son, in the presence of Moshe and Elazar). The delegation of the duty to the next generation is a reminder of another fundamental meaning of  the word chok: a limit.  It reminds us that the chok of the Torah is an echo of the laws of nature.  Entropy always increases, all living individuals will eventually die,  Death is a chok and is usually perceived as a violation of mishpat, an injustice.

Chukath reminds us that the only constant is change; this is the inviolable law. All things have a limit, a chok, a portion set aside.  The limited portion, chok,  assigned to each of us by edict (chok) should be guided by our sense of mishpat, rational justice

Korach: politics

Korach puts me in a religious bind. The establishment has admitted  that the core of their plan, the Promised Land of Milk and Honey will not come to pass in the lifetimes of the people who have left the life they knew.  The life (albeit of slavery and degradation ) that they had come to regard as comfortable.  Despite this radical change in plan, perhaps as part of the new order, an aristocracy will be established.  These newly appointed priests will be the stewards of the Temple service and the favored Levite tribe will be their assistants. 

For an American on the Fourth of July, on the holiday that  purports to celebrate the  democratic will of the people over royal fiat ,and  merit over privilege -  Moshe and Aaron's battle with  the upstarts is uncomfortable.  Americans, like the Chinese and the Soviet communists,  are taught that they have no aristocracy . The playing field is level, anyone can become president.The parsha says that those that serve are chosen by Gd.  Any commoner who attempts the service will die. 

Korach has applied for the position of High Priest.  This is not a position open to election.  It is a career.  It requires a qualification beyond citizenship; attributes (not specified) that only Gd knows.  Gd does the picking.  Questioning that choice is a fatal error.

The performance of the service is radioactive.  Errors are fatal and only the most qualified can approach the reactor. It is also a source of great energy, the power of unity.  The unity is threatened by  public support of Korach's assertion of competence .   The validity of Aaron's assignment, and the correctness of Korach's punishment is resolved with a combination of innocuous demonstration ( the sprouting staff) and a show of potency ( the stemming of the plague with Aaron's censor).

Democracy can give ( the illusion of) justice. Competence is a requirement for progress.