Finding Peace in Chaos
“And the earth was completely void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved over the face of the waters.”
Parashat Pinchas contains a series of themes. It relates that his act of zeal was for the Honor of Heaven. This caused the wrath of God to be diverted, stopping a plague that had already caused twenty-four thousand deaths. It continues, that by order of the Eternal, Israel waged war against Midian; a second census is taken; a discussion takes place on how to administer justice to the daughters of Zelophechad so that they could inherit and receive their father’s portion in the land; Joshua is authorized as Moshe’s successor; sacrificial rituals for festive occasions are prescribed, with the portion ending with a detailed list of daily, weekly, and festive offerings.
It has been difficult for me to write this message because I have been going through some turbulent times on many fronts, and in Pinchas, I can see much of what happened is related to a central theme: Shalom – Peace.
Our portion begins with the chaos caused by sexual debauchery. Bilaam advised Balak that the only way to destroy Israel was not by physical attack or to curse them, but that Israel could be defeated by attacking its stronghold – their spirituality. At the end of Parashat Balak, we had read: “And the people began to commit fornication with the daughters of Moab. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and prostrated themselves before their gods. And Israel gave herself over to Baal Peor, and the wrath GOD was kindled against Israel.”
On careful reading, we can see a degradation at a moral and physical level, where the act of fornication is committed, breaking the commandment given at Mt. Sinai not to commit adultery. Then, Midian enticed Israel. This speaks of a corruption of the mind through internal dialogue, so much so that Israel accepted their invitation. This act was with intent, not involuntary or ignorant; it was an act that required full mental awareness. It ended with what and how the people ate, i.e., corruption entered within. This is at a deeper level; what they ingested entered their inner beings, their essence, at their soul level.
What causes corruption of the soul? Prostrating before other gods, thus breaking the First Commandment: “I am the Eternal your God, have no other gods.” Not only did they bow down to Baal Peor, but Israel “surrendered” their will to it. Baal Peor was not just any god; this god was a Moabite deity. The literal meaning of Moab is “of my father”. Being named at his birth made it public that the father of this city was his grandfather. His mother shamelessly approved of the incest, by giving him the name MO-AV, “my father’s”. Can you imagine that every time you call your son you are reminding him: “From my father, wash the dishes”, “from my father, make your bed”, “from my father, do your homework”, “from my father, take a bath”. ” etc.? She constantly imbued in him the emotional bond that “father-son” was connected with a sexual bond. That means that this child grew up seeing incest as something natural.
Then, this Moab had children and these children, in turn, became a people of sexual debauchery, approving and normalizing incestuous relationships. The people took the Canaanite deity, Baal, but added their own “mark”, creating a Baal-Peor. This false god had the uniqueness of being venerated through human defecation, as explained in the Talmud in Sanhedrin 60b. Here is Rabbi Shraga Simmons’ explanation: “The Talmud says that humans share three primary functions with animals: feeding, procreation, and waste disposal. The Jewish approach to life is to elevate the physical by connecting with the spiritual…. Secular society does the opposite, degrading the physical by disconnecting from the spiritual.”
For example, for us, eating sanctifies the Divine name, by turning what we eat into an act for the preservation of life which allows us to live the commandments. In the secular world, however, eating disorders are elevated in contests such as “who can eat the most.” The sexual act is the same. Those who elevate the sexual act within marriage for procreation (a Divine mandate) and in which the marriage instils continued devotion, elevate the Divine Name. On the other hand, the secular world promotes it as a selfish, pleasurable act and degrades it in so much garbage published on social networks, movies or the internet. Following this thought, Rabbi Simmons says “With this basic ideology, the fact that Moab glorified the physical act of defecating is not a great surprise.” According to Avodah Zarah, it is said that this god was venerated in the form of a latrine, opening its “mouth” to receive human excrement, and according to some scholars the relationship between it and the “deflowering” of maidens.
The Talmud tells us that the elimination of waste has a primary function in the cycle of life – the regeneration of the body, the mind, and our chemistry. And just as our body needs to eliminate its toxins in the form of waste, so do our soul and mind. On the physical level, failure to fulfill this function causes cirrhosis, the accumulation of fluid in the abdomen, internal bleeding, deterioration of brain function and internal poisoning.
Now, when modern society worships Baal Peor, there is an understanding that it is receiving and elevating the moral and spiritual “toxins” of society; then without realizing it, society becomes poisoned; it begins to have brain malfunctions. Now perhaps we can understand how they can call evil good and good evil as Rav Shaul said. The problem is that this social chaos is an abyss, hence the word פער “paar”, coming from the root Peor, means gap or abyss.
What is the solution to this “mouth” that is an abyss and that receives the toxins of society? Well, it lies in another mouth, since Pinchas means “mouth of the snake.” The debauchery of the people had even corrupted leaders. Zimri was a leader of the tribe of Shimon, and his morality had become amorality as he flaunted sexual relations in broad daylight in front of the whole congregation. Everyone was amazed and shocked (they cried) according to Bamidbar 25:6. Then it continues in 25:7-8: “And when Pinchas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the cohen, saw it, he arose from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand. He went after the man of Israel into the tent and pierced them both, the man of Israel and the woman through the belly. Thus, the plague was stopped from the children of Israel.”
Anyone might think that this act was simply an outburst of anger. Even our sages discussed that it was not really a “murder” or that what occurred was “zeal for God”. What I see is that Pinchas acted with the right intention, not out of revenge or the desire to murder, but rather to stop the plague. In my view, this act of Pinchas is like touching a cactus, where the many thorns cause us pain. We don’t stop to think that what we need is to feel a sense of “shalom” to return to a moment of well-being in our body. What do we do? We take a tweezer and “remove or eliminate” what is doing us harm, and even if it generates temporary pain, we know that in the end, it’s for our good.
We can often find temporary shalom during pain or when having to make difficult decisions or by doing things “not approved” by society or appearing to be anti-woke or anti-progressive or that our standard of living is apparently “radical”. In a world of chaos which constantly receives toxins and does not eliminate them, but rather elevates them, thus degrading the soul and mind, we must act as Pinchas.
God will not be more God or less God because of actions like those of Pinchas. That is possibly why in the text the letter vav in Shalom is broken, because as the Rebbe of Kotz says: “The letter vav is like a person. It is a straight vertical line. Like someone standing tall. The numerical equivalent of vav is six, the number of man who was created on the sixth day. The letter vav is “broken.” This points out that, to be truly shalem, (whole), we must be “broken,” have a contrite and humble spirit.”
But also, as Rabbi Uriel Romano says about the broken vav: “Pinchas uses physical violence to end a transgression amidst the people of Israel… The vav is broken, why? To teach us that peace that comes through violence is never a complete or lasting peace. It may be effective at the moment, but in the long run, it will be weak and break like the vav of Shalom. Any peace imposed by violence is fragile. The only sustainable peace is the peace that comes through agreement and mutual understanding of the parties.” And he adds, in the name of Pinchas פִּינְחָס, the yud is written with a smaller yud than it would normally be written, why? “Our sages teach us that our Judaism is “shrunk” by using violence. When we think that violence is the only alternative, this diminishes us as human beings.”
Returning to the verse in Bereshit, amid the chaos of Tohu Vavohu, the Ruach Elohim moved on the surface of the water. According to scholars, the surface of the water refers to the Torah. In the Torah, we will find shalom in the midst of chaos, desolation, the toxins of this world, and the filthy rags that bombard our senses.
My prayer is that we act in the same spirit of Pinchas, that we be brave, but that we find shalom (well-being, peace, wholeness, security, salvation, forgiveness) in the midst of chaos and that we be granted His brit shalom olam, His covenant of peace forever.
Shabbat Shalom
Mauricio Quintero