Parshat Pinhas Rabbi Chaim Brovender

Let us learn a posuk with Rashi

After the episode with the daughters of Moav and the leadership shown by Pinchas in stemming the tide of idolatry, Hashem commands Moshe to count the people once again. The punishment of the plague took twenty-four thousand lives. There was good reason for a new counting. The Torah reports the results of the counting in groups: "Reuven the firstborn of Yisrael..." followed by "...the sons of Reuven, Hanoch the Hanochite; Pallu the Palluite…" (26: 5). In each case, the phrase "...from the family of..." recurs.

Hanoch is not only listed as the son of Reuven but also a Hanochite, (hahanochi, with heh at the beginning and a yod ending). This is not remarkable: as the word Canaani reminds us, many times the name of a nation is derived from a place or person name using the yod ending.

Rashi however finds the repeated use of this form notable and comments upon its use: "The nations would say that the Egyptians dominated the bodies of the women in Egypt. They ruled over the bodies of the slaves, surely they ruled over their women. This is the reason for the added heh and yod representing G-d's name. It is as though Hashem states: I testify that they are the children of their fathers."

Rashi felt that this insight of Chazal is necessary to understand the pshat, the plain meaning of the text. There was a serious issue being addressed. If the sin of the golden calf might be understood (cf. Ramban ad loc) as being less than idolatry, this was not an option in our case. The daughters of the Moabites came for one purpose only, and they were successful to the point that a plague was necessary to wipe out the scourge that they brought upon the nation.

The event was noteworthy in its severity. The people chose to follow their desires and accept the idolatry option offered through sexual indiscretion. It is hard to find a mitigating factor. Apparently, the credit must be given to Pinchas who brought a new kind of "peace" into the world. This peace that declared that grievous sin, even in a world of that has experienced of the Exodus from Egypt and by those who accepted the Torah at Sinai, does not disqualify: the people persevere as the nation charged in G-d's service and the bearers of G-d's name.

There is no way to mitigate or to minimize their transgression. However, the "families" of Yisrael retain a kind of timeless innocence even if a particular generation sins terribly. The generational perspective includes those who have been born as well as those who have not yet been born: they are redeemed because God's name is upon them in an irrevocable way. Even the idolaters among the people carry this name and pass it on to future generations.

For Rashi then, there is a special reason for counting the people at this point. The Torah emphasizes that the people as individuals and collectively carry the name of God with them. Pinchas saved the moment and seems thereby to save all of history. The greatness Pinchas exhibited consisted in this: he understood saving the people remained worthwhile even at a time of their disgrace. In this way, peace was brought to them.

Gut shabbos,
Chaim Brovender

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