Pinchas: literature and fate

This week's chapter (re)unifies the book of Bamidbar ( Numbers)  and evokes the beginning and the end of the story: from Exodus to Deuteronomy. Pinchas was (re)introduced in the last chapter, when his lethal, redeeming action - killing the transgressive couple (identified in this week's chapter) - saves the Israelites from the wrath of Gd. Now, that action is identified as redemptive and Pinchas is given the heritable reward of  (High) Priesthood. 

Bamidbar begins with a census, which is repeated in this week's chapter, followed by a division of the Levites into subtribes with specific tasks. The election of Pinchas as the forefather of future (high) priests complements and completes that picture. Pinchas is elevated from his former status as a Levite. 

The repeat census that follows the elevation of Pinchas ties the beginning of Bamidbar to this section more securely.  The second census, after the 40 year travail, reveals the intention of the first. The distribution of the population is fluid; tribes rise and fall. Along the way heroes (e.g. the daughters of Zelophchod)  and villians  (e.g. Dathan and Aviram) emerge.  

Depravity (unlike glory?) is not inherited ( 26;11: 

בְנֵי־קֹ֖רַח לֹא־מֵֽתוּ׃ {ס}         

The sons of Korah, however, did not die.

In fact, the prophet Samuel is a descendant of Korach. 

The first mention of Pinchas is actually  in Exodus. Exodus 6:14-28  gives a broad outline of the characters that are key to most of the subsequent story. It is a list that makes no sense... until we arrive here,  toward the end of Bamidbar. This list of the dramatis personae, the characters that will play put the action, ends with: 

וּבְנֵ֣י קֹ֔רַח אַסִּ֥יר וְאֶלְקָנָ֖ה וַאֲבִיאָסָ֑ף אֵ֖לֶּה מִשְׁפְּחֹ֥ת הַקׇּרְחִֽי׃ 

The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. Those are the families of the Korahites. 

וְאֶלְעָזָ֨ר בֶּֽן־אַהֲרֹ֜ן לָקַֽח־ל֨וֹ מִבְּנ֤וֹת פּֽוּטִיאֵל֙ ל֣וֹ לְאִשָּׁ֔ה וַתֵּ֥לֶד ל֖וֹ אֶת־פִּֽינְחָ֑ס אֵ֗לֶּה רָאשֵׁ֛י אֲב֥וֹת הַלְוִיִּ֖ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָֽם׃ 

And Aaron’s son Eleazar took into his [household] as wife one of Putiel’s daughters, and she bore him Phinehas. Those are the heads of the ancestral houses of the Levites by their families.

Korach and Pinchas are anticipated from the very beginning of the story. 

I am interested in this literary structure for two reasons. The incontrovertible point is: this is a demonstration of how literature works. Each artform appeals to a sense: music - hearing, painting - vision, dance - position.  Literature appeals to memory. Delight comes from the recollection of a character and the realization of that character's significance. The delight is one aspect that preserves the text. 

The metaphysical implication of an earlier allusion to the characters is that the story has an element of inevitability/fate. From the time that Moses confronted Pharaoh, 40 years ago in the storyline, the conflict with Korach and the zealotry of Pinchas was pre-ordained. Although the rational explanation  of the text is that the story, told after the facts had occurred, was edited in that manner; the reader can see the text unfolding as a sequence, making the actions predicted. 

The parsha, however, is filled with surprises. The unexpected happens. Joshua will lead the people into the land, even though Caleb, Moshe's nephew, was the first to advocate adherence to Gd's command - enter the land despite the obstacles - (Joshua joined that small contingent). Moshe's offspring would not be the leaders, even though the honor bestowed upon Pinchas  had removed the possible disqualification  of a Midianite mother. 

Most dramatically, the daughters of Zelophehad, WOMEN, are heard and, because of their assertiveness, the laws of inheritance will not exclude women (completely). These daughters of Zelophehad present such a compelling case that Moses must consult Gd! And Gd comes through for them.

Fate is a component of  history; most of the future unfolds beyond human control. But surprises occur  and maybe fate can be adjusted. 

Balak: persecution Judaism

I am currently in Tel Aviv, Israel. My daughter, Shoshana, had a baby. The baby's name is Alma (in Aramaic, not Hebrew), meaning universal. The name has many additional meanings in other languages (soul, caring, etc). She will need to find a place in the world. The state of Israel is a confrontation of that problem. She is born a Jew and that has so many meanings

Judaism  has many axes. The religion axis has preserved important elements of identity through millennia of diaspora. There is a wide spectrum  of belief and practices  within the religious dimension that can vary from a worldview  that denies human reason in favor of a strict  adherence to a particular  interpretation  of the Holy texts - to a perspective  that the religion is a set of cruel, sexist, manipulative and misguided customs. 

The historical dimension is colored  by the religious.  Stories of the Exodus  and Jewish kings are treated as fact by the believer

The doubter has a range of views.  More recent history is somewhat less subject to interpretation  although miracles attributed to Israeli military  actions are the subject  of debate  among the poorly informed. 

Jewish views of the cultural dimension vary with the individual definition of that culture and its importance

The Judaism of association is dominated by great world achievers: Einstein, Salk, Krebs, etc,etc. There is something of a hope for shared genes.

The Judaism that no one can escape from is persecution Judaism. The common bond that follows from shared threat.  Opinions about how to deal with this  issue range from Zionism - to trust in assimilation - to isolation in the hope that Gd will deal with the problem. 

This weeks' parsha explores antisemitism. Balak ( the title character) is the king of Moab " at that time" Rashi quotes the Midrash: 

 at that time: he was not really entitled to the kingdom; he was actually one of the Midianite princes, but when Sihon died they (the Moabites) appointed him as king over them to meet the needs of the time (Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 4).

The Israelites had recently conquered the realm of Sichon. The Haftara to last week's parsha explains that  Sichon's previous conquest of this Ammonite land was  the justification for the subsequent Israelite conquest. The lands of Ammon were not part of the Promised Land, they were off limits, but the change of hands, the replacement by the people of Sichon, made it fair game.

 

When we visited  the homes of my parents in Poland I heard a variation of this argument. The current occupants of my father's ancestral land justified their possession by invoking the Communists nationalizing the land, making it fair game for new owners. 

Balak seems to have been invited to rule, but he was not a Moabite. Thus, conquest might have been defended by the argument that a pretender was on the throne.  The situation if not entirely clear; but there was a lot of fear. The best way to handle it was to weaken the enemy... or the perception of the potential enemy . The Moabite army behind Balak would melt if they saw the Israelites as invincible. Balak needed a propagandist to show their weakness and vulnerability. 

Does this make Balak an antisemite? The Torah presents his concerns as justified. But every antisemite feels that fear of the Jews is justified. I don not know if Balak had a better alternative, but his solution was to deprecate the Israelites.  

Gd tells Bilham not to go. When he is approached again, he asks again. He tries to get permission a second time from Gd, an entity that generally does not reconsider a decision. Gd will carry out Gd's plan, but Bilham, through his insistence, will be part of it. 

Bilham is a very determined person. When his world becomes strange, his most trusted, simple animal turns against him, he does not recognize the error of this mission. The obstructing angel implies that these acts will kill him. Bilham proceeds. 

Bilham fails in his mission. He praises the Israelites on Gd's instructions. He then volunteers prophecies for the distant future. Prophecies of an ascendant Israel and the destruction of Israel's enemies. Prophecies that will perpetuate the fear that excuses antisemitism... forever. 

 Chukath: Edicts

This year, I have a  different, perhaps improved understanding of  Chukath, the title word of the parsha.  Chok, the root of the title word of this week’s means parsha, means an edict, and executive order. It is arbitrary and it  is not to be questioned.  This sense of the word is derived from chokek, inscribe. A chok is validated because it is written. It has not been discussed in a legislative body and is not subject to judicial review. The chok in this week’s parsha is Divine in origin. I am becoming increasingly familiar with human edicts.

Chok also means an allotment, a fixed amount designated by the government to a specified set of people.  It was the chok that Pharaoh distributed to the priests of Egypt that allowed them to keep their land and independence while everyone else became a serf. (Every edict has winners and losers.) An allotment is always finite, taxes must be limited

Our parsha deals with both aspects of the chok: the arbitrary and the measured.

The limit of a person’s lifespan is a chok in both senses. It is a defined allocation. An obituary usually starts with age; a person lives for a set number of years. Lifespan also has an arbitrary and indisputable quality. It is almost always too short. Appeals and attempts to lengthen it meets with very limited success.

It is weird to talk about the limited life span today, the day after the birth of our newest  granddaughter. The cultural norm is to avoid the topic of death until there is no choice but confront it, when a relative dies. My parents avoided the subject even then. The disappeared were reported to have moved to California ( a place they imagined close to heaven).

However, by virtue of my age, and the chok established in Eden, I am in the pool of candidates that will generate the first conversation about death (or a move to a faraway nice place). From that position, the birth, and the continuity it entails, is far more than a comfort.  It is the epitome of joy.  It comes with a hope that some part of whatever is good in me can survive, thrive and grow in her (and in all our children and grandchildren) .

Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, dies immediately after the details of purification from corpse tumah ( impurity)  are stated .Clearly, the text was arranged to juxtapose a death to the means of purification from the tumah that death brings.

Focusing on the ritual impurity of death deflects some of the pain from the loss. It takes seven days to get over contact with the dead; and a thorough, effective purification requires arrangements to be sprinkled with the precious ash water described in this parsha. That water is no longer available. No one can ever attain enough purity to enter the Temple – with all the implications that entails.

Declaring death as the epitome of impurity emphasizes the value of life.   War devalues life. The lives of the enemy, those threatening the clan, are disposable because of their threat. The lives of soldiers can be the price of peace. It all worked better when the battles involved personal survival. It evolved into protecting ideas... much more difficult.

 

In the parsha, the story that follows, which involves the fatal error of Moses and Aaron – striking the rock- presages the fact that Moses and Aaron will die before the nation  enters the Promised land. Moses and Aaron losing their leadership  can be seen as the fulfillment of Korach's demand, minus the glorification of Korach and his rebels.  Leading the Israelites out of Egypt was Moshe's chok, his portion.  Bringing them into the land was not part of the deal. It could never be. Every gift has its limits.

 

To have allowed the water to flow from the rock, without the physical intervention, would have left the people led by Gd alone (cf. Samuel’s response to the people’s demand for a king). Striking the rock asserted Moshe's leadership. Moshe felt the people needed a leader.  Even as he approached the age at which he would die, the age proscribed in Genesis, he held onto that leadership. The apportionment cannot be violated: chok velo yaavor. This is the divine right of the Divine.

 

Psalm 148 has the line:

 

חׇק־נָ֝תַ֗ן וְלֹ֣א יַעֲבֽוֹר׃

establishing an order (chok) that shall never change.

Most of the events, including the most important, are out of human control. They are subject to rules that cannot be violated. We live inside those limits.  Make sure those limits are real.