As Torah-observant Jews, do we just do different things? How personally transformative is our faith and practice? Judaism rises and falls on this question.
Klal Yisrael was consistently exhorted by our prophets and leaders to be mindful of ritual actions and words empty of feeling (Yeshayahu 29:13), and of the utter inconsistency, meaninglessness and even repulsiveness of the religious observances of those who are harmful and apathetic to others (Yeshayahu 1:10-17). Acting the part is insufficient. We need to strive to make Torah a part of ourselves and make our lives reflect the Torah.
My rebbe, Harav Yaakov Weinberg zt”l, whose yahrzeit was marked on the 17th of Tammuz, would note that the first Mishna in Pirkei Avos teaches “ha’amidu talmidim harbeh,” that we must raise up—or more literally stand up—many students. Teachers who tell their students to be seated and listen will often raise students who are obedient and cooperative but not necessarily transformed. We need to empower the students to integrate the Torah into themselves, making the lessons their own so that they can then stand up and act upon those lessons.
That was Pinchas. When Moshe himself was unable to respond to the crisis, it was Pinchas who stood up and acted upon the lessons that Moshe had once taught him (Rashi Bamidbar 25:6-7). Hashem offers the ultimate description and accolade of Pinchas’ integration of his religious values when He praises Pinchas for being passionate on His behalf, “b’kano es kinasi” (Bamidbar 25:11). Pinchas did not just do Torah, he became Torah, as his own feelings and visceral reactions reflected the values of Hashem and His Torah.
This perspective may add a layer of meaning to the known tradition that identifies Pinchas with another great person known for his passion on God’s behalf, Eliyahu Hanavi (Pirkei d’Rabi Eliezer 16). Amongst other things, Eliyahu had the unusual experience of leaving this world by ascending in a chariot of fire—body and soul—to the heavens (Melachim II 2:11). Eliyahu was thus the very opposite of Korach who had descended—body and soul, still breathing—into the depths of the earth. Typically, death testifies to the failed integration of body and soul, as “the dust returns to the earth where it began, and the spirit returns to God Who gave it” (Koheles 12:7). In the case of Korach, his denial of the divine communication and connection experienced by Moshe testified to the utter grounding of his own spirit, its complete absorption by his physicality, to the point where it joined the body in being swallowed up by the earth.
Eliyahu/Pinchas was the opposite. His passions and feelings were completely aligned with God and with Moshe. He wasn’t just doing Jewish; he was personally transformed by the Torah that Moshe had taught him to the extent that his body joined his soul in its ascent to the heavens.
We have just begun The Three Weeks, the period of mourning over the destruction of Yerushalayim and the Mikdash. As the Talmud records, the attacking Babylonian generals—or for that matter their Persian, Greek, Roman, German, Russian, Palestinian or Iranian successors—were powerless to destroy a city or a temple occupied by God. They could only destroy an empty shell. “A Divine Voice emerged and said to (Nevuzaradon): You killed a nation that was already dead, you burned a Sanctuary that was already burned, and you ground flour that was already ground (Sanhedrin 96b).” Our task during this time, and at all times, is to ensure that our Jewish communities, our shuls and our selves are not shells but living, breathing entities, transformed and infused through and through by our vibrant connection to Hashem and His Torah.
Rabbi Moshe Hauer is executive vice president of the Orthodox Union (OU), the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization
