A decree from Heaven can hurt us but not totally destroy us, but one person can totally destroy another!
Likutei Moharan Lesson 241
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Let’s try to understand what happened at the end of last week’s parshah, Parshas Balak. Something strange occurred. Bilam wound up giving us a brachah, ‘Mah tovu oholecha Yaakov.” After that, Balak and Bilam went home. They retreated.
Then we see that some women came and seduced the Jewish people. In the aftermath, we lost 24,000 people. Twenty-four thousand people died in this terrible plague. Then Pinchas comes along, who took on the vengeance of Hashem and killed Zimri and Cozbi, the principal sinners. Because of his actions, the plague stopped.
Let’s understand this. What did killing those two do to cause the mageifah to cease?
Another question we can discuss is, we know that “Pinchas is Eliyahu haNavi,” and we know that Eliyahu lives forever. Now why would Pinchas gain such a reward, to become the prophet and live forever? What did he do to deserve that?
Pinchas risked his life. We know that in a situation like this one, when such immoral behavior is being practiced, and one person tries to stop it, there are so many against him. Pinchas was doing this for the sake of heaven and he knew that he might be killed, but he had to do what he had to do. He didn’t care what would happen to him because of that. Pinchas was entirely selfless, willing to give up his life for klal Yisrael, with no thought of personal gain.
That is one of the reasons for his reward.
There’s a beautiful Torah lesson in Likutei Moharan Reish-Mem-Alef (241). The Rebbe explains the tremendous idea of what was behind the mechanics of Pinchas killing the nasi of shevet Shimon and the foreign woman and the stopping of the plague.
כְּשֶׁיֵּשׁ דִּינִים, חַס וְשָׁלוֹם, אֲזַי הַמִּידַּת הַדִּין הָיָה מְכַלֶּה אֶת הָאָדָם, חַס וְשָׁלוֹם. אֲבָל הַמִידַּת הַדִּין אֵין לָהּ כֹּחַ לְכַלּוֹת לְגַמְרֵי, כְּמוֹ שֶׁאָמְרוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה (סוטה ט): חִצַּי כָּלִים וְהֵם אֵינָם כָּלִים.
Whenever there are judgments, chas veshalom–there’s a problem going on in someone’s life, there’s a terrible situation, a painful situation, financial trouble–the attribute of judgment can destroy the person, G-d forbid.
However, the middah of din does not have the ability to destroy the person totally. This attribute that is meted out from Heaven does not have the ability to kill him totally. As Chazal teach us, “The arrows will be absorbed but we will not be destroyed.”
That is, when there is judgement coming from Heaven, it can create a problem for us but it can’t destroy us.
We are in the Three Weeks, right now, and all the problems we read about in the Kinos are the problems klal Yisroel is dealing with today. But we see that we always continue. Hashem keeps us going.
אֲבָל הָאָדָם יֵשׁ לוֹ כֹּחַ לְכַלּוֹת לְגַמְרֵי אֶת חֲבֵרוֹ, חַס וְשָׁלוֹם, וְעַל כֵּן כְּשֶׁיֵּשׁ דִּינִים עַל אָדָם אֶחָד, חַס וְשָׁלוֹם, וּבָא אָדָם אַחֵר וְעוֹמֵד וְחוֹלֵק עָלָיו, אֲזַי מִדַּת הַדִּין מִסְתַּלֵּק מִמֶּנּוּ, כִּי הֵם רוֹצִים יוֹתֵר שֶׁיִּנְקֹם בּוֹ הָאָדָם, כִּי יֵשׁ לוֹ כֹּחַ כַּנַּ”ל.
But a person can totally destroy his friend. A decree from Heaven can hurt us but not totally destroy us, but one person can totally destroy another.
Therefore if we see that a friend, Reuven, is going through a difficult situation, and another person, Shimon, comes and argues and starts a fight with Reuven, adding insult to injury, then, says the Rebbe, the difficult situation is lifted from Reuven.
We are in the Three Weeks, right now, and all the problems we read about in the Kinos are the problems klal Yisroel is dealing with today.
The satan is in charge of causing a Jew to sin. The Jew sins, and then the satan goes to Hashem and reports on that person’s transgressions. Wait. It (the sitra achra, the yetzer hara) caused this person to sin and now it’s bringing him up on charges? Yes, that’s what it does.
The satan knows it can’t totally destroy us, but it knows when the second person is coming along. So when Shimon picks a fight with Reuven, he causes the heavenly decree to be lifted from him, because the satan is more interested in Shimon destroying Reuven totally. The satan will give up its own challenge in order for us to be destroyed.
That is the introduction to the lesson, to understand what it has to do with Pinchas.
עַל־כֵּן מִי שֶׁהוּא צַדִּיק גָּדוֹל וּמַשְׁגִּיחַ בְּתִקּוּן הָעוֹלָם, הוּא חוֹלֵק לִפְעָמִים בְּכַוָּנָה עַל צַדִּיק אֶחָד כְּדֵי לְסַלֵּק מֵעָלָיו מִדַּת הַדִּין כַּנַּ”ל, כִּי יִסְמְכוּ עָלָיו שֶׁהוּא יִנְקֹם יוֹתֵר, אֲבָל אַחַר כָּךְ הוּא עוֹשֶׂה בְּרַחֲמִים וְאֵינוֹ עוֹשֶׂה יִסּוּרִים לְאוֹתוֹ הַצַּדִּיק:
Therefore, a great tzaddik, a righteous, pious person who is working on tikun olam (repairing the world) tirelessly–there have always been tzaddikim, and within recent times there was a great tzaddik in Yerushalayim, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak haKohen Kook, the Rav of Yerushalayim. Rav Kook was always involved in tikkun olam, and he understood that there is something greater than the actual mundane things we deal with on a regular day.
At times, one tzaddik might pick a fight with another tzaddik. When outsiders look at it, we might wonder why he did that. We don’t understand that there might be an ulterior motive. Tzaddik number 2 realized that Tzaddik number 1 is going through a din. The satan does not like tzadikim, who are involved in tikun olam; the satan doesn’t want them to succeed. So Shimon is picking a fight, in order to remove the din from his friend, Reuven.
But afterwards, once the din has been removed from his friend, Shimon treats Reuven with compassion. He is not trying to cause him pain. That was never his intention.
Now how does this tie into the episode of Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon haKohen?
וְזֶה פֵּרוּשׁ: פִּינְחָס בֶּן אֶלְעָזָר וְכוּ’ הֵשִׁיב אֶת חֲמָתִי וְכוּ’ בְּקַנְּאוֹ אֶת קִנְאָתִי בְּתוֹכָם וְלֹא כִלִּיתִי וְכוּ’ (במדבר כ״ה:י״א). הַיְנוּ שֶׁפִּינְחָס הֵשִׁיב אֶת חֲמַת ה’ וְסִלֵּק מִדַּת הַדִּין מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל, עַל־יְדֵי שֶׁהוּא לָבַשׁ נְקָמָה לִנְקֹם בָּהֶם, עַל־כֵּן נִסְתַּלְּקוּ הַדִּינִים כַּנַּ”ל, וְזֶה מֵחֲמַת כִּי הַדִּינִים אֵינָם יְכוֹלִים לְכַלּוֹת וְכוּ’, עַל־כֵּן הֵם רוֹצִים יוֹתֵר כְּשֶׁאָדָם רוֹצֶה לִנְקֹם כַּנַּ”ל.
The satan caused this person to sin and now it’s bringing him up on charges? Yes!…
Hashem says that Pinchas lifted up His anger. The Torah testifies that Pinchas came and took on the vengeance for Hashem, so that He did not end up destroying klal Yisroel. There was a judgment upon klal Yisroel, because they were involved with something not so nice. We’re not the judges of whether this was appropriate behavior, but we see that a judgment had been decreed on them. Pinchas understood the idea that a heavenly decree will not destroy a person, but that if he were to act, Zimri would be totally destroyed, and the din would be removed from the rest of klal Yisroel. After that, Pinchas thought, he would be able to act with compassion toward them.
Pinchas cloaked himself in vengeance, to take vengeance on them. Pinchas had the ability to totally destroy, and once he did, the din was lifted. The punishment Pinchas meted out was worse than that which the satan would have done. That is why the mageifah stopped.
וְזֶה: וְלֹא כִלִּיתִי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּקִנְאָתִי; הַיְנוּ שֶׁבָּזֶה מוֹדִיעַ לָנוּ הַתּוֹרָה גֹּדֶל הַטּוֹבָה שֶׁעָשָׂה פִּינְחָס לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, בְּקַנְּאוֹ אֶת קִנְאָתוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ. וְלָבַשׁ נְקָמָה לִנְקֹם בָּהֶם, שֶׁבָּזֶה עָשָׂה לָהֶם טוֹבָה גְּדוֹלָה, וְהַטַּעַם הוּא, כִּי וְלֹא כִלִּיתִי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּקִנְאָתִי, הַיְנוּ שֶׁבְּקִנְאָתִי, בְּמִדַּת הַדִּין שֶׁלִּי, אֵינִי מְכַלֶּה אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, כִּי מִדַּת הַדִּין אֵין בָּהּ כֹּחַ לְכַלּוֹת כַּנַּ”ל.
That is why Hashem says, “I did not destroy Bnei Yisroel because of My vengeance.” The Torah is informing us of the great favor that Pinchas did for the Jews by taking revenge for the Holy One and enclothing himself with the mantle of vengeance to take on the ability to take revenge against them. With that, he did them a great favor. The reason [it was such a great favor] was “so that I did not destroy the Jews with My vengeance.” Hashem is saying that midas hadin “with My vengeance,” with My Attribute of Judgment, I did not destroy the Jews because the Attribute of Judgment does not have the ability to destroy, as explained above. Hashem doesn’t destroy; Hashem only does good. Hashem has His messengers to cause problems. He has the sitra achra, the yetzer hara, all the angels. It’s not that Hashem can’t destroy–it’s that He does not give those messengers the ability to totally destroy people.
אֲבָל הָאָדָם כְּשֶׁנּוֹקֵם יֵשׁ לוֹ כֹּחַ לְכַלּוֹת לְגַמְרֵי, חַס וְשָׁלוֹם. עַל־כֵּן עָשָׂה פִּינְחָס טוֹבָה נִפְלָאָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, בַּמֶּה שֶׁלָּבַשׁ קִנְאָה לִנְקֹם בָּהֶם, כִּי עַל־יְדֵי־זֶה רָפְתָה מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל כֹּחַ הַדִּינִים. בְּחֹשְׁבָם שֶׁפִּינְחָס יִנְקֹם בָּהֶם בְּיוֹתֵר, כִּי פִּינְחָס הוּא אָדָם, שֶׁיֵּשׁ לוֹ כֹּחַ לִנְקֹם יוֹתֵר לְכַלּוֹת לְגַמְרֵי, חַס וְשָׁלוֹם, וְכַנַּ”ל,
But people–they have the ability to totally destroy each other. Therefore, Pinchas did klal Yisroel a great favor: he weakened the strength of the decree against them. The attribute of justice, the satan and all its angels, called an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the ongoing situation and how Pinchas donned the cloak of vengeance. They decided to abort their own mission and let Pinchas go ahead and destroy them totally, something they couldn’t do anyway.
וְעַל־כֵּן עַל־יְדֵי־זֶה הֵשִׁיב פִּינְחָס אֶת חֲמָתִי וְסִלֵּק מִדַּת הַדִּין כַּנַּ”ל. אֲבָל בֶּאֱמֶת פִּינְחָס בְּוַדַּאי הָיָה רַחֲמָן, וּבְוַדַּאי אַחַר־כָּךְ הֵקֵל הַדִּינִים מֵעֲלֵיהֶם:
Therefore, it was through this that “Pinchas turned away My anger” and removed the Attribute of Judgment, as explained above. However, Pinchas was in fact a most compassionate person; he did this because he couldn’t stand to see all of his brothers and sisters falling like flies. He decided he had to do something, and he did it. Afterwards he certainly lightened the load on klal Yisroel.
Here we see such a beautiful understanding that Rabbi Nachman taught us, based on the Gemara in Sotah as his foundation to understand what caused the din to leave klal Yisroel. The midas hadin said, “I’m very happy if klal Yisroel is being attacked by Pinchas, because we don’t have the wherewithal within us to destroy them, but a person does.”
Via Pinchas’s action, Hashem gave him two great gifts. He gave him the “treaty of peace” and Pinchas became the Kohen. Why? Because he was selfless. That is, Hashem always wants us to act in a way of mesiras nefesh, to be selfless, to do for others and not worry constantly what will happen to me. That is how Pinchas was able to accomplish his great feat.