Pinchas

This Shabbat, we read פרשת פנחס. This is the story of a true zealot, who was rewarded for his zealotry.

At first, the people did not know how to deal with this whole incident. After all, Pinchas took the law into his own hands, and acted alone as Moshe stood by.

He received a great deal of criticism for his actions, and only when Hashem, himself intervened, was it made clear that he acted properly.

He was rewarded with ברית כהונת עולם. Unlike the חשמונאי family who had no continuation of their family line, Pinchas and his descendants continue to live on. Some say he lived to the age of 400, and all of the כהנים גדולים in both the first and second temples, descended from him. There is an opinion that 380 individuals served as High Priest in both temples.

Despite the fact that Pinchas killed זמרי and כזבי for their public transgression, he was known as a man of peace.

There is an opinion that he negotiated the agreement between Moshe and the two and a half tribes, who wanted to live on the other side of the Jordan.

Generally, we are never allowed to take the law into our own hands. If one does, it had better be לשם שמים, for the sake of Heaven, without any ulterior motives of personal gain. Pinchas was such a person who was acknowledged as a true Jewish hero. who saved many lives.Look