Parashat Pinhas 5784

How can an Israeli soldier go back to sleep after battling in Gaza?

I have been struggling with this question. It comes from the feeling that on top of the pain, sorrow, astonishment, and anger, we are now dealing with the fact that our people are forced to do something we didn’t want. How do we achieve peace with the enemy? It is upon us and the enemy, hopefully soon; but how can our soldiers achieve peace with themselves?

That is a different story.

In today’s parashah, we read that Pinhas Ben Eleazar was granted a covenant of peace, Brit Shalom (Numbers 25:12). Mei Hashiloah on Parashat Vaeirah mentions this Brit Shalom. It discusses a dialogue between God and Moshe in which God explains to Moshe that Israel’s redemption cannot happen immediately because the process of spiritual clarification (birrur) for the people of Israel is still incomplete. The lineage of Israel’s leaders is then outlined, highlighting that there were forty-five leaders who each needed further purification. Even Pinhas, considered the purest and given the covenant of peace (Brit Shalom), required additional birrur, symbolized by the broken letter vav in the word shalom.

In this Parashah, the nation’s leaders’ lineage is outlined again; perhaps to stress that after Pinhas’s actions, they are arriving at the state of required purification. Even the sons of Korah, who we are told in this parashah for the first time that didn’t die, are to inherit the land. And when the text refers to them, there is another vav. It says קרואי. The Masoretic tradition considers this a misspelling and corrects it, suggesting that we read קריאי in alignment with the previous use of the same word when referring to Korah and his followers (Numbers 16:2).

The letter vav represents the number six and symbolizes connection and physical completion, as in the story of creation. The vertical line denotes a bridge between the mundane and the divine. On a deeper level, it links every Jew in their will to serve God, reflecting a common link among Jewish people through their love of and dedication to God.

Considering this, what if the Torah intends us to read קרואי? It could mean that in some way, Korah’s sons also performed that birrur that the Mei Hashiloah is talking about. They can redeem themselves. And if the vav represents that completion and divine connection, why is there a broken vav in Pinhas’ Brit Shalom? Perhaps, because his peace came from brokenness and trauma. Pinhas was assured he would not become an agitated or angry person despite the profound impact of his violent act of killing someone. He was blessed with perpetual peace and serenity because he enacted God’s will (Haamek Davar on Numbers 25:12). Engaging in violent actions negatively impacts our character, fostering a tendency towards anger and making future violence easier. However, violence can sometimes be necessary to address existential threats, then and now. Nevertheless, violence and anger breaks the divine connection, it interrupts the flow between the divine and mundane. Pinhas, who did not desire violence, was blessed by God to remain at peace and be protected from any adverse changes to his personality resulting from his actions. His blessing was the ability to restore balance and connection with the divine. The Torah tells us that he was later challenged by Reuven, Gad, and half of the Menasheh tribes when they built an altar “opposite to the land of Canaan” (Joshua Ch. 22), and his attitude this time, was reconciling, proving the fulfilment of the blessing. His broken vav became a permanent reminder to us that the connection with the divine can be restored, and we can re-enter the covenant with God and our fellow Jews. Korah’s sons full vav a reminder that there is room for redemption, that inner peace is possible even after extreme experiences. We can be complete even when broken.

I pray that Shalom-peace- is also bestowed to all our Israeli fighters, even with a broken VAV.                          

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Rabbi Ḥazzan Luis Cattan (AJR ’20) is currently serving at Sutton Place Synagogue in New York City. He is the Immediate Past President of the Cantors Assembly. As a native Uruguayan, he attended the Catholic University of Montevideo receiving his BA in Social Communication Sciences with a major in Advertising. He sought private instruction under the tutelage of renowned local teachers. Upon returning from Israel, where he spent a year studying, he started his Ḥazzanut training with different mentors in Uruguay and Argentina as well. He became the Head Ḥazzan at the NCI (the largest Conservative Synagogue in Uruguay). He also served as International Vice President of Mercaz Olami (Zionist Conservative Movement) as one of the founders of the Uruguayan Branch.