When I was a child, I was often in trouble with the teacher. It wasn?t that I was louder or more rambunctious than my peers, it was that I had bright red hair and a voice that carried well. The whole room of children could be talking, but I was the one who always got nailed.
One of my teacher?s favorite punishments was to have unruly or loud children spend our playtime sitting in the classroom copying a page from the dictionary. The teacher regarded this as the dullest assignment she could come up with, and most kids hated it.
I didn?t. I loved it. I loved it more than playing. It was during those long hours pouring over the dictionary that I learned the power and the importance of words, a lesson I still learn daily.
G-d created the universe with words, words that we still have today in Torah. Words created humanity, and then, in a show of immense trust and mercy, G-d gave humanity the power to use this force as well. Adam, the first man, used words to define the things around him when he gave everything a name.
Words are so powerful, in fact, that one can change history, kill, maim, start or stop wars, and exert tremendous pressure upon others ? simply by knowing the right combination of words and phrases, and being in the right place to utter them. This is the reason why our sages warn us against Lashon Hara, the evil tongue, because people are often unaware of the power that G-d has given them to perfect or destroy the universe through words.
Everything depends on our correct understanding and use of words ? starting with the words of G-d in Torah. Often our common use of words must be compared against G-d?s use of words in order to get us back on the right track. One of those words is ?peace.?
I started thinking about the word ?peace? when I heard about Israeli Ambassador Zvi Maz'el attacking the exhibit of immorality know as ?Snow White and the Madness of Truth? in the Swedish museum. The only thing I could compare Maz'el?s actions to was the zealous reaction of Pinchas in Torah.
Pinchas, tired of seeing the blatant immorality of Jewish men with the Midianite and Moabite women, tired of seeing the Jewish leadership simply stand and cry in the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, acted with strength and alacrity. ?[He] stood up from amid the assembly and took a spear in his hand. He followed the Israelite man into the tent and pierced them both, the Israelite man and the woman into her stomach ? and the plague was halted from upon the Children of Israel.? (Bamidbar/Numbers 25:7-8)
Why is this incident a reminder of the word ?peace?? Because it is with Pinchas that G-d establishes his Covenant of Shalom (commonly translated as Peace) and the eternal priesthood ? not with other more placid and quiet men. Why is this?
The answer lies in the true understanding of Shalom. The word comes from Shalem (perfection, wholeness). Peace, in Jewish tradition, in the words of G-d, is the establishment of a state of perfection between G-d and humanity. This is done by holding upright what is good and destroying what is evil. Pinchas did not act out of hatred or revenge, he acted out of a love of G-d and the Jewish people. He acted to bring goodness and perfection to the world.
As Pinchas shows us, and as Maz'el demonstrated recently, perfection does not happen through the pacification of evil, it comes through the destruction of evil in our midst. One cannot make an agreement with one who wants to destroy you, and one cannot tolerate the garish display of evil without acting upon it.
Today, most people translate Shalom to the word ?peace?. But this is completely wrong. ?Peace,? or ?pax? in Latin, is a word meaning ?agree? or ?pacify.? It refers to a state of tranquility, not a state of perfection. It is passivity for the sake of comfort, sacrifice of ideals for the sake of self. This is the antithesis of the covenant given to Pinchas, and it is the road to death and destruction, the road to the plagues of immorality and violence that Israel finds herself in today.
Just as Maz'el finds himself under attack, so did Pinchas, but those who attacked Pinchas and said that he should be prosecuted for his act were wrong. They were twisted in their understanding of right and wrong by the influence of foreign cultures. In the end, they were set straight ? by the Almighty One, "Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aharon HaKohen, turned My anger back from upon the Jewish People, in that he was zealous for My sake amongst them...." (Bamidbar/Numbers 25:11)
One of my teacher?s favorite punishments was to have unruly or loud children spend our playtime sitting in the classroom copying a page from the dictionary. The teacher regarded this as the dullest assignment she could come up with, and most kids hated it.
I didn?t. I loved it. I loved it more than playing. It was during those long hours pouring over the dictionary that I learned the power and the importance of words, a lesson I still learn daily.
G-d created the universe with words, words that we still have today in Torah. Words created humanity, and then, in a show of immense trust and mercy, G-d gave humanity the power to use this force as well. Adam, the first man, used words to define the things around him when he gave everything a name.
Words are so powerful, in fact, that one can change history, kill, maim, start or stop wars, and exert tremendous pressure upon others ? simply by knowing the right combination of words and phrases, and being in the right place to utter them. This is the reason why our sages warn us against Lashon Hara, the evil tongue, because people are often unaware of the power that G-d has given them to perfect or destroy the universe through words.
Everything depends on our correct understanding and use of words ? starting with the words of G-d in Torah. Often our common use of words must be compared against G-d?s use of words in order to get us back on the right track. One of those words is ?peace.?
I started thinking about the word ?peace? when I heard about Israeli Ambassador Zvi Maz'el attacking the exhibit of immorality know as ?Snow White and the Madness of Truth? in the Swedish museum. The only thing I could compare Maz'el?s actions to was the zealous reaction of Pinchas in Torah.
Pinchas, tired of seeing the blatant immorality of Jewish men with the Midianite and Moabite women, tired of seeing the Jewish leadership simply stand and cry in the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, acted with strength and alacrity. ?[He] stood up from amid the assembly and took a spear in his hand. He followed the Israelite man into the tent and pierced them both, the Israelite man and the woman into her stomach ? and the plague was halted from upon the Children of Israel.? (Bamidbar/Numbers 25:7-8)
Why is this incident a reminder of the word ?peace?? Because it is with Pinchas that G-d establishes his Covenant of Shalom (commonly translated as Peace) and the eternal priesthood ? not with other more placid and quiet men. Why is this?
The answer lies in the true understanding of Shalom. The word comes from Shalem (perfection, wholeness). Peace, in Jewish tradition, in the words of G-d, is the establishment of a state of perfection between G-d and humanity. This is done by holding upright what is good and destroying what is evil. Pinchas did not act out of hatred or revenge, he acted out of a love of G-d and the Jewish people. He acted to bring goodness and perfection to the world.
As Pinchas shows us, and as Maz'el demonstrated recently, perfection does not happen through the pacification of evil, it comes through the destruction of evil in our midst. One cannot make an agreement with one who wants to destroy you, and one cannot tolerate the garish display of evil without acting upon it.
Today, most people translate Shalom to the word ?peace?. But this is completely wrong. ?Peace,? or ?pax? in Latin, is a word meaning ?agree? or ?pacify.? It refers to a state of tranquility, not a state of perfection. It is passivity for the sake of comfort, sacrifice of ideals for the sake of self. This is the antithesis of the covenant given to Pinchas, and it is the road to death and destruction, the road to the plagues of immorality and violence that Israel finds herself in today.
Just as Maz'el finds himself under attack, so did Pinchas, but those who attacked Pinchas and said that he should be prosecuted for his act were wrong. They were twisted in their understanding of right and wrong by the influence of foreign cultures. In the end, they were set straight ? by the Almighty One, "Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aharon HaKohen, turned My anger back from upon the Jewish People, in that he was zealous for My sake amongst them...." (Bamidbar/Numbers 25:11)