Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

197
Pinchas
Zealotry for All
Rav Michael Siev
P arshat Pinchas opens with Hashem rewarding Pinchas for his famously zealous
act of killing Zimri and Kosbi, which stopped a deadly plague that had struck B’nei
Yisrael. The reward has two components: Pinchas joins the ranks of the kohanim and
he receives b’riti shalom, “My covenant of peace” (25:12). What exactly is a covenant
of peace and why was it an appropriate reward for Pinchas?
The Netziv here explains that when one performs a violent act, the very act itself
makes an impact on one’s personality. It is natural that a person who stabs two people
to death would become somewhat desensitized to violence and a bit more aggressive.
Hashem therefore promises Pinchas a b’rit shalom; because Pinchas’s act was so crucial
and was done with the right intentions, he was guaranteed that it would not have a
corrosive impact upon his personality. 1
The idea that one’s actions impact one’s essential character finds expression in
numerous places in the Sefer Ha-Chinuch (for example, mitzva 16) and other sefarim.
It has ramifications regarding actions and environments that one must stay away from
and it can also be harnessed to inculcate desirable character traits. But it is generally
assumed that real change of one’s character requires consistent involvement in a
particular activity. Could Pinchas’s one act really have made that much of a difference?
I think that the answer to this question is clear: there are different types of experiences.
1 See the Or Ha-Chaim and Netziv to Devarim 13:18 for a similar reading of the pesukim regarding ir ha-nidachat.