Parshas Pinchas

The affair of Cosbi and Zimri in Parshat Pinchas as explained by the Mei Hashiloach may be quite difficult for many to accept. What is on the table? The removal of the last vestige of free choice. What are the stakes? The breakdown of the Torah's authority and the free reign of religious anarchy. And yet, in trying to honestly grapple with the Mei HaShiloach's message in parshat Pinchas, one thing must be clear: is not so simple.

The Mei Hashiloach says, "far be it to judge Zimri of being guilty of niuf, or adultery, for the Torah would not include a parsha devoted to niuf. There are ten levels of znut (licentiousness). The first level is where one intentionally commits the sin, deliberately inviting the evil inclination upon himself. After that there are nine other levels, where with each progressive level man's power of free choice is taken from him a little more. Then on the tenth level we find a man whose level of morality is of the highest order, where he does all that is within his power to refrain from znut. And yet he still succumbs. On the tenth level, when his evil inclination overpowers him, his action is unquestionably the will of God. Such was the case with Yehuda and Tamar, for she was his true soulmate (as Rashi alludes to on the verse, "she is more righteous than I." Where God announced that He had determined the affair in order to bring the Davidic line through their offspring Peretz). This is also the case here, for Zimri was on the very highest level of guarding himself from giving in to his evil desires. Since it was impossible for him to remove himself from the action, he concluded that she was his true soulmate. Pinchas believed that the opposite was true, that Zimri still had the power of free choice and could have refrained from the sin."

There is some discussion of people in positions of religious authority, rabbis and such, who may point to the Mei Hashiloach as a license to feed their desires. Not everyone is Zimri. I am no one to judge, and the Mei Hashiloach in parshat Emor on the near impossibility of rebuking someone who I think is sinning well advises me to shy away from judging. But perhaps the Mei Hashiloach style "Zimri wanna bee's" out there would do well to carve onto their hearts the words of the same author on the verse on the Psalms, "I have placed God before me always", where he says, "in a place where a man greatly desires something he should make great efforts to be positive that it is truly the will of God, but must not assume that because he desires it so much that it is in fact is the will of God. In other words, it is much more likely that one is deluding one's self, that actually being like Zimri.

It is important to stress in trying to understand this teaching of the Mei HaShiloach that he is not only talking about whether one has the choice to refrain from promiscuity or not. He is looking deeper into what is behind any transgression, and compelling us to know that the motivation is never so simple or transparent.

As said, clearly an individual cannot assume that he is on the level of Zimri. It must be known that Zimri was on a very high level, spiritually, morally, and yet he convinced himself that he had no choice, that he was fufilling what God wanted him to do. In truth, he was not. On the other hand, who can say that he is on the level of Pinchas and take the liberty to go and horse whip (or execute) the would be Zimri? There are, also, natural limits of morality. It is easy to boil over with anger upon flagrant immorality even for secular people. A friend of mine once told me of a story from the time before he had became Torah observant. He was playing bass guitar in a band for a crowded dancing audience in the Lampoon building of Harvard university. During the concert an amorous young couple on the dance floor decided that the time was ripe to fornicate. My friend playing the bass told me that upon seeing this, he had to do everything in his power to keep himself from removing his bass and using it to bash in their skulls. "Haboel aramite, Kanaim pogim bo." Torah Law teaches that the zealot, witnessing a Jew fornicating with a Gentile, may attack them in the heat of his zealotry, and need not consult the court.

In the Kitvei HaAri, after explaining the sources of the roots of the souls of Cosbi and Zimri, Rabbi Chaim Vital writes the following. "She was his soulmate, yet he, 'ate an unripe fruit,' meaning that the time had not yet come for them to be together; All the actions of our biblical forebears, and all that is mentioned in the Torah, is not to be understood according to a simplistic meaning and is not governed by chance, God forbid. So do not think that Shlumiel (Zimri), who was the second greatest prince, the chosen of the generation of the desert in the days of Moses, was rushing out to commit forbidden sexual acts, as is understood by the small minded and foolish. I have not come to explain all the necessary verses and homilies, for time would end and not the verses, for the Torah is not, "old wives tales," or the chatter of birds, God forbid. This will suffice for those who understand. And if this will fall into the hands of one with no brain in his cranium to understand, he will just speak insolently, for fools do not desire wisdom. Though these matters appear strange they stand in the furnace that fuels the universe (civshano shel olam)."

There are two levels operating here simultaneously. There was a reason for the affair of Cosbi and Zimri. Perhaps it is along the line of the Mei HaShiloach's teachings that the sins in the Bible serve a higher purpose. Aharon and Miriam's "loshon hara" or speaking against Moshe in the end of parshat Behalot'cha served the purpose of showing the greatness of Moshe Rabeynu, so all would know that he spoke to God face to face. Korah's rebellion served to show us the greatness of Aharon the Cohen and his family. Tslofchad, the first one to violate the Shabbat (and be put to death for it) showed the true greatness and Kedusha of Shabbat. And maybe Zimri, by bringing the licentiousness that was rampant at his time out into the open, showed us the true greatness of modesty and sanctity in conjugal relations. Zimri was a vessel used by God to teach us something. And rabbi x y and z is most likely not Zimri. The Mei Hashiloach notes that Moshe Rabeynu did not get involved in punishing Zimri for his actions. Moshe Rabeynu knew that Zimri was no ordinary case. And though Pinchas did not see the true level of Zimri, God in the end agreed with Pinchas and his act of zealotry. Pichas stresses to us never to assume that because you desire something so great that it is God's will. Pinchas - there is free choice. Zimri - it is beyond choice.