Pinchus – 2015

· Last week’s Parsha ends with the dramatic scene of Zimri, one of the heads of the tribe of Shimon, committing znus with Cozbi, a Midianite  princess right in front of the Mishkan.

· At that dramatic moment, Pinchus – from the tribe of Levi, leaps up and skewers Zimri and Cozbi, killing them both.

· This stops an enormous plague that has broken out, forestalling Hashem’s anger and saving the day.

· Zimri is from the tribe of Shimon, and Pinchus is from the tribe of Levi.

· Hmmm…. Shimon and Levi – haven’t we seen these two brothers in action before in the Chumash?

· Yes, Shimon and Levi were in action together before. 

· Shimon and Levi together wiped out the city of Shechem to avenge the rape of Dina.

· Now they are appearing again. 

· However, before they were working together, and now they are battling against each other.

· In the past Shimon and Levi acted together then to avenge a terrible sexual wrong

· Now the leader from the tribe of Shimon rises up to commit a great sexual avera.

· And a leader from the tribe of Levi rises up to stop it by killing the perpetrator in the act

· As Yogi Berra said, it seems like Déjà vu all over again.

· What can we learn from this?

· There is a very important lesson here.

· This is a striking case of one of the most important principles in Jewish thought - Ze Leumat Ze.

· This means that wherever there is something that has a great power or ability, then that power or ability has an equal power to do good or bad.

· In fact the greater good something can do, it has an equal and opposite ability to do something bad.

· An example of this is a knife. 

· The sharper the knife, the more good it can do – it can slice roast beef more easily

· But on the other hand, it can also kill someone more easily.

· Shimon and Levi wiped out the city of Shechem

· They demonstrated a striking ability - to rise up and take action quickly.

· They showed they can act with initiative.

· When others are befuddled and wondering how to respond, people of action rise up and act.

· It has been said that there are two types of people in the world – thermometers and thermostats. 

· Thermometers adjust to their environment.  If it’s 80 degrees, then the thermometer itself becomes 80 degrees.

· However a thermostat changes the entire environment to what they are.

· If a thermostat is set to 70 degrees, it changes the whole environment to 70 degrees.

· George Bernard Shaw said - "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

· Most entrepreneurs and people who start political movements are thermostats, they change the world.

· Shimon and Levi had this ability to quickly take the initiative.

· While others were hesitant, wondering what to do – they rose up and acted.

· But the principle of Ze Leumat Ze states that this great ability can be used for good or for bad. 

· Zimri – from the tribe of Shimon, rose up and took the initiative to commit znus in front of the Mishkan.

· That was taking initiative, but it was to do a terrible avera, about as low as one could go.

· Pinchus from the tribe of Levi saw what was happening, and also took initiative

· He stopped the avera in its tracks – he killed Zimri and Cozbi on the spot.

· Hashem praised Pinchus greatly, and rewarded him with the Kehuna.

· Ze Leumat Ze says that every ability is a double edged sword.

· If a person has a great power, the person must be careful to use the power to do good and not for bad.

· The Germora in Yuma says that 2 of the 3 reasons the first Bais Hamikdosh was destroyed was Avodah Zara and Gilui Arayos.

· When Ezra and Nechemia built the 2^nd Bais Hamikdosh, they tried to fix these averas.

· They prayed and a lion representing Avodah Zara came out of the Haichel.

· They captured it and killed it. 

· That substantially reduced our desire for Avodah Zara.

· But also substantially reduced our ability to have Navuah.

· Because of Ze Leumat Ze, the power was reduced in both directions.

· Then they davened about Gilui Arayos. 

· A second lion came out representing Gilui Arayos. 

· They put it in a cage to figure out what to do. 

· The Germorah says that while it was locked up, chickens didn’t even feel like laying eggs. 

· So they just blinded it – and that reduced the desire of Gilui Arayos with close relatives.

· They couldn’t eliminate the power of Arayos completely, because then world would not replenish itself.

· The principle of Ze Leumat Ze tells us that something with great power has the ability to rise or to fall to the same degree.

· This also applies to something else close to our hearts: religion.

· We can personally testify how religion can make us feel closer to Hashem

· Religion can add so much Kedushah and Taharah to our lives.

· But the principle of Ze Leumat Ze says that since religion can do so much good, it can also be very destructive.

· During the Middle Ages hordes of Christians went on Crusades and killed entire Jewish communities in their path.

· On 9/11 Moslems who felt like holy warriors killed 3000 people in the name of Jihad.

· It is unfortunately common that religious fanatics do unspeakably barbarous acts to everyone who doesn’t agree with them – who they call infidels - in the name of religion.

· Religion can do tremendous good – it can show us the path to being a Tzaddik, and to follow the Ratzon of Hashem

· It can bind the Jewish people together to become a Mamlechet Kohanim and a Holy People.

· But Ze Leumat Ze tells us that religion can also do an equal amount of bad.

· May we learn the lesson of Shimon and Levi, and Zimri and Pinchus

· To appreciate the principle of Ze Leumat Ze.

· To be very careful with the powerful things in the world.

· To use them to rise and not fall, to use them for good and not bad.