State Sponsored Zealousy

One of the paradoxes about the story of Pinchas is that he acted zealously, but with Torah sanction. Besides the fact that he earned the priesthood and the covenant of peace by killing Zimri, the prince of Shimon, the mere fact that according to Torah law anybody could have killed him is no less than astounding. 

Were one to see a Jewish man sleeping with a Midianite woman, one had every right to act zealously and kill that person. And, what if that person wasn't zealous? Is the law reserved for the zealous among us? 

To say that zealousness corresponds with the law is an oxymoron. If it is the said law, then it's not an expression of zealousness, and if it's zealousness, then, it's not the law. As a case in point, according to the Dromi law legislated after Shai Dromi had shot and killed Bedouin thieves that had broken into his property in the Negev, were one to act in a similar manner, one would be in keeping with the law. Would a person who followed the law be said to be zealous?!

A friend of mine, David Tauber, had an interesting interpretation. Zealous behavior, or mayhem, can not be state-sanctioned; it is in keeping, perhaps, with the law and spirit of the law, but can not be the law itself, and thus, when Pinchas rose up and did what he did, he was in a manner of speaking in contravention of the law, but in its true interpretation, given the gravity of the offense, did exactly what the law required - not that the leaders stand up, but that the select few, who are overwhelmed with rage, do what they genuinely see to be right. To say that anyone could do such a thing in given circumstances would be a slippery slope, so thus, in retrospect, the Medrash explains that Moshe and Aharon and all the other leaders of Israel forgot the law, or to apply it, but the deeper meaning, sociologically, would seem to be that certain things are not meant for the ordained leaders; ironically, it is ever so often those who stand up and do what is right, even if the law might forbid it, who are deemed most leadership-worthy, who can then take the helm and then change the laws which they were once in violation of. 

A dear, British friend, wishes me every July 4th, "Happy Insurrection Day!"








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