Parshas Balak ends with events of the daughters of Moav. The people of Moav
saw the Jewish Nation approaching, and they were filled with dread. They had
heard of the decimation of Sichon, and recognized that they were next to
face the Klal Yisroel. Out of desperation, Balak, the king of Moav hired the
gentile prophet Bilaam to curse the Jews.
Bilaam failed and gave a brocha to the Jews against his will. His parting
advice to Balak was, “If you wish to destroy the Jews, your only hope is to
get them to sin.” Balak then sent out the daughters of Moav to entice the
young Jewish men - and they succeeded. This quickly led to idol worship, and
many Jewish men served Bal Peor.
At the height of the disaster, Zimri, one of the heads of Shevet Shimon,
took a Moabite princess and brought her into the encampment of the Jews,
making a public spectacle of the act. As a leader of the Jewish people, this
was a grave threat to the survival of the nation. A plague broke out, and
thousands of Jews died.
Pinchas runs to Moshe
Pinchas saw what was happening and ran to Moshe for advice. Moshe directed
him to take action. At the risk of his life and against all odds, Pinchas
walked into the mob and miraculously killed both Zimri and the Moabite
woman. No sooner did their dead bodies hit the floor, than the plague
stopped. It was a clear and obvious sign that Pinchas had acted correctly.
By acting with courage and alacrity, he saved the Jews from destruction.
Clearly, he was a hero.
Yet the very next Parsha, which is called Parshas Pinchas, opens up with a
posuk repeating his lineage: “Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aharon.”
Rashi explains that the Torah is delineating his ancestry because he was the
subject of derision. The other Shavatim were mocking him. “Did you see this
son of idol worshipers? His mother’s father fattened calves to serve to
idols, and he has the audacity to kill the head of a Shevet!” The Torah
therefore repeats that he was a direct descendent of Aharon to let us know
that he was justified in what he did.
This Rashi is difficult to understand because it implies that people looked
at what Pinchas did and assumed that he was wrong. Yet he had direct orders
from Moshe Rabbenu. Many miracles happened to allow him to succeed, and a
plague that killed 24,000 stopped only when he finally killed Zimri. How is
that possible that anyone could see Pinchas as anything other than a hero?
The eyes of history
The answer to this question is that there are often two distinct
perspectives of an event: the perspective from living in the moment, and the
perspective of history. While the episode is playing out, it is often
difficult to identify the real issues and motives being challenged. Changes
are happening too quickly, things are moving at too feverish a pace, and
clarity is elusive. After the fact, when the dust settles and some time has
passed, what transpired is often viewed from a different focus, and what was
then obscure is now obvious.
When we look back at events in history, all is clear and evident. The heroes
stand out wearing shiny armor, the villains appear in black garb, and
everyone fits in nicely into their camp. But to those living at the time, it
wasn’t that neat and clean. The good guys didn’t appear as all white, and
the bad guys didn’t appear as all black. It was somewhere in between.
Each generation has it tests, but one of the most difficult tasks is for the
generation to understand its own test. Often times, when we look back, we
can’t understand how the people living at a particular time could have done
what they did. We flippantly assume, “We would never have acted that way!
Had we been living in Spain in the mid-1500’s, we would have fled the
country or given up our lives - no question about it. Had we come over to
these shores in the 1920’s, of course we would have kept Kosher and Shabbos…”
In fact, we can’t understand how anyone could think otherwise.
The reason we can’t even see the temptation is that we are judging the
generation according to our social climate. We are assuming that the winds
that blew then were the same as now. But the social environment was vastly
different. The norms of society – what was accepted and expected, what was
valued and revered – were quite different. And as such, the social pressure
was very different than it is now.
Understanding the criticism of Pinchas
To the people living during Pinchas’ times, there was justification for what
Zimri did. The rationale might well have been that by bringing the Moabite
woman into the Jewish camp, she wouldn’t pull the Jewish men away to serve
idols. But whatever the logic, there were arguments for and arguments
against, and the point was that a great man – the head of a Shevet – did
this, and it wasn’t at all clear that what he did was wrong. It is only
after the fact, when we have the perspective of history, that we can see the
test and the temptation with absolute clarity.
This concept has great relevance to us. We have nisayonos today that
previous generations would laugh at. Most of us, with two-income households,
are working long hard hours and are still barely able to make ends meet. If
our great-grandparents were to look down at our generation, they would be
flabbergasted. “What in the world did you need such a fancy house for? A
separate bedroom for each child? Each family needs it own car? Each child
gets a new outfit? Different types of shoes for weekdays and for Shabbos?”
Our great grandmothers would ask us, “What in the world do you need this
lavish wedding for?” and we would sheepishly answer, “Alter Bubbie, this is
only the vort!” The reality is that we live in a lifestyle that previous
generations couldn’t envision or imagine.
But it comes at a cost. The greatest cost is time. Time to learn. Time to
daven. Time to be good parents. Time to be a supporting spouse. And more
than anything, time to think about what we are on this planet to accomplish.
While we live in the wealthiest of times, in many ways we are the poorest of
the poor. By refocusing on our priorities and understanding the pull of our
times, we can recognize the tests of our generation and fortify ourselves to
overcome them.
More on this topic please listen to Shmuz #
156 Get out of Debt
