Pinchas, Eliyahu and Zealotry
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5771
In today’s world zealotry and fanaticism are dirty words. They do not conjure up images of wonderful people who are passionately committed to a cause. Instead they bring to mind homicidal maniacs who kill in the name of God. This past Tuesday there were 3 attacks in Mumbai, perpetrated by fanatics, by zealots. There were 3 explosions and 10 dead. Unfortunately that is the image that zealotry and fanaticism brings up in every corner of our world.
Every year as we read the story of Pinchas those that same image might come to mind. Pinchas sees that a prince in Israel and a woman from Midyan are publicly fornicating and desecrating God’s name, and without due process, he picks up his spear and impales the sinners together.
Pinchas is the first in our tradition to be identified as a kanai, as a zealot. In the past 6 years that I have spoken in this shul on this parasha, two of those six sermons have been devoted to our tradition’s lack of comfort with Pinchas’s extrajudicial zealotry. The Jewish tradition both in the worlds of Jewish thought and Jewish law are extremely uncomfortable with individuals taking the law into their own hands and certainly uncomfortable with perpetrating violence without due process. This year will make 3 out of 7. I want to explore that idea through the prism of our haftarah- the story of Elijah the prophet and relate that message to Ilana and David as we celebrate their engagement this morning.
The Haftarah is a reading from the prophets that is designed as a complement to the Torah reading. We generally assume that there is a thematic or textual link which provides the rationale for why this particular reading is chosen.
That this week’s haftarah portion comes from the stories of Elijah should come as no surprise. The Talmud has already linked the two in its celebrated statement that Pinchas is Eliyahu. The kabbalist would read that to mean that they share the same soul while the rest of us simply understand that to mean that they share a similar characteristic or attribute- they are both zealots.
Eliyahu also takes a public stand against Jews who are desecrating God’s name. In the 18th chapter of the first book of kings we are told that many of the Jews had begun worshiping the foreign God Baal. Elijah proposes a public duel. He and the prophets of Baal will both stand on Mount Carmel and offer sacrifices to their respective Gods. The God which sends fire down to accept the sacrifice will be the true God. The challenge is accepted and the date set. 450 prophets of Baal show up and Eliyahu allows them to go first. They call out to their God from morning to afternoon but to no avail; there is no answer and no fire.
Eliyahu taunts them- Maybe you should speak louder he suggests, maybe your God is sleeping and can’t hear? They try again and louder but also to no avail. There is no answer from their God. Eliyahu’s turn comes and he pours water all over the animal and the wood and around the altar and calls out- God Answer me and show these people that you are the true God. His God responds and sends down the fire which consumes the sacrifice. He then has the prophets of baal killed. Eliyahu like Pinchas undertakes a risky and potentially dangerous public action to stop a chillul Hashem, to stop a public desecration of God’s name. Both involve the taking of lives in defense of God. The shared characteristic is that they are zealots for God.There is only one problem; that is not actually the section that we read for this morning’s haftarah. Rather we read the immediate aftermath of that episode.
- And he came there to a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah?
Rabbi Meir Leibush, the Malbim explains that God is asking Elijah- what are you doing here in the cave, you are my prophet and messenger and you must be with your people teaching them my word and Torah.
- And he said, I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword; and I am the only one left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
I am a zealot argues Elijah, and they want to kill me. My approach is not working.
- And he (God) said, Go out, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake;
- And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
God teaches his prophet that the way to the people is not through loud noises and combative zealotry- it is through the still small voice- a gentle prodding, with words of encouragement. That is where you will find God!
- And it was so, when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice to him, and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?
Again- the Malbim explains, God asks Elijah- why are you still here and not with your people?
- And he said, I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; because the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword; and I am the only one left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
Rabbi David Altshuler, 17th -18th century Prague, in his Metzudat David, explains that Elijah responds as follows- I was a zealot before and I will be a zealot again.
After hearing this Elijah’s tenure ends and Elisha is appointed as the next prophet. Elijah’s tenure ends because he misunderstands his role as God’s prophet and what it means to be a zealot. Eliyahu defines himself as a kanai- as a zealot, and that is not what God wants from us. It is not how we define ourselves. Yes there are times when we must fight and even kill but we can’t let that be our mission and we can’t let it define us. God wants sincerity and passion but God also wants a small still voice, not violent thunder and violence. Thus we read the aftermath of the Elijah episode because that is the corrective to zealotry. That is what we must read after the story of Pinchas, not another episode of violent zealotry. One might argue as well that the reward Pinchas receives in the beginning of our parsha makes the same point. God grants Pinchas a covenant of piece and promises that his children will be priests- servants of God and teachers of Torah in a small still voice.
Pinchas performed a necessary act of zealotry but that would not define his legacy! His legacy would be one of peace and teaching – of finding God sweetly, softly and quietly.
