Outer peace, inner peace: Pinchas 5784

The Lord promises Pinchas that most valuable and yet constantly elusive gift—the blessings of the covenant of peace. Over the millennia, the world has known very little peace. Strife and conflict, war and violence, these have been the staples of human existence since time immemorial. Many historians and social scientists maintain that war and violence are the natural and constant state of human affairs. If so, the promise of peace to Pinchas seems to be a little extravagant, especially since it appears that Pinchas earned this reward by committing an act of violence. Shall we say that a time of peace is merely the absence of war, a negative state of being that only marks the interval between episodes of war and violence?

We are well aware how difficult it is to achieve peace and how fragile is its existence when it is somehow achieved. The Torah attests to its fragility, by breaking the vav in the word ‘shalom.’  So we may ask: what in actual fact was God’s promise to Pinchas—and and how is it ever to be fulfilled? This perplexing issue is especially pertinent regarding Pinchas himself, since he participated in the wars that Israel conducted against Midian and later against the Canaanite tribes in the Land of Israel during the era of Yehoshua and the Judges. Where is the promised peace in the life of Pinchas, or indeed in the lives of the future generations of his descendants and the Jewish people as a whole?

Many Torah commentators defined God’s promise of peace to Pinchas and his descendants as a personal and individual state of inner being, of what we colloquially call “being at peace with oneself.” Pinchas is undoubtedly disturbed by the act of violence that he committed and by the widespread criticism of his actions by many of the Jewish people at that time. Nevertheless, the Lord tells him that he did the right thing and that history will later thank him for his boldness and alacrity in stemming the tide of immorality that threatened to overwhelm the Jewish people. So Pinchas acquires, through God’s blessing, peace of mind and the necessary inner confidence and conviction that the act he committed was deemed by Heaven to be justifiable, however unpopular it might be in the eyes of society.

President Harry Truman is reported to have said that he lost little sleep over the atomic bombing of Japan which concluded World War II because he believed that he saved millions of American and Japanese lives by his awesome decision. He never again agonized over that decision since he had achieved an inner peace regarding the matter. Our conscience always disturbs us when we make wrong decisions and pursue policies that fail, but it never rises to plague us when we have behaved correctly and select a course of action in a manner that is both wise and moral. It is this blessing and reward that the Lord bestowed upon Pinchas and his descendants—the blessing of inner peace and moral contentment.