Pinchas: Kana'us, Ahavas Yisrael, and Mesiras Nefesh

Topics

• Three Elements in the Act of Pinchas
• Why Pinchas Deserved a Special Reward
• The Greater Mesirus Nefesh: Living With the Consequences
• Going Against One’s Nature
• An Eternal Covenant of Kehunah
• Mesirus Nefesh Creates an Inheritance
• “With All Your Soul” — Sacrificing One’s Will
• Kiddush Hashem Every Day
• The Covenant of Peace and Eliyahu’s Chair
• Pinchas Continues to Bring Kapparah
• Bris Milah: A Covenant Sustained Through Mesirus Nefesh
• Overriding the Chomer and Preparing for Geulah
• The Kana’us Within

Transcript

## Three Elements in the Act of Pinchas

Parashas Pinchas opens by returning to the courageous act of Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon HaKohen. Through his *kana’us*, he stopped the plague and brought *kapparah* to Klal Yisrael. The Torah therefore promises him and his descendants a covenant of eternal Kehunah: “Behold, I give him My covenant of peace. It shall be for him and his descendants after him a covenant of eternal priesthood” (Bamidbar 25:12–13).

Chazal also identify Pinchas with Eliyahu, who will ultimately herald the *geulah*. The reward attached to this one act reaches across generations.

There were three distinct elements within what Pinchas did.

The first was *kana’us laShem*. Pinchas avenged the desecration of Hashem’s honor. As Rashi explains, he carried out the vengeance that properly belonged to Hashem (Rashi to Bamidbar 25:11).

The second element was *ahavas Yisrael*. The Torah emphasizes, “He turned back My wrath from upon Bnei Yisrael” and “he atoned for Bnei Yisrael” (Bamidbar 25:11, 13). His act was not directed against Klal Yisrael; it was undertaken to save them. This connects him to Aharon HaKohen, who was “a lover of peace, a pursuer of peace, one who loved people and drew them close to Torah” (Avos 1:12).

The third element was *mesirus nefesh*. Pinchas placed himself in genuine danger. The Gemara teaches that had Zimri turned and killed Pinchas, Zimri could have claimed self-defense, because *kana’im pogin bo* is not a court-imposed punishment (Sanhedrin 82a). Pinchas nevertheless acted.

The danger was not limited to Zimri. Pinchas could also have feared the reaction of the shevatim and the nation. Indeed, they later humiliated him and attacked his lineage. Yet he proceeded, prepared to sacrifice himself for *kavod Shamayim* and for Klal Yisrael.

## Why Pinchas Deserved a Special Reward

Chazal say that Hashem declared, “By right, he should take his reward,” a teaching quoted by Rashi on the words “Therefore say: Behold, I give him My covenant of peace” (Rashi to Bamidbar 25:12).

The commentators ask: Why was a declaration necessary? Does not every mitzvah receive reward?

Ordinarily, a person cannot demand payment from Hashem. First, nothing in this world can properly compensate for a mitzvah. The true currency of spiritual reward belongs to Olam HaBa. Second, a person already owes Hashem everything—his life, health, family, abilities, and every possession. After receiving so much, how can he claim that Hashem now owes him because he performed one mitzvah?

Pinchas, however, did more than fulfill an ordinary obligation. *Kana’im pogin bo* was not a command imposed upon him by beis din. It was halacha, but not an instruction that could be formally issued: *halacha ve’ein morin kein* (Sanhedrin 82a). Pinchas volunteered himself for an act that exceeded his basic obligation.

More than that, he endangered himself. He entered a situation in which he could have been killed. There was no requirement of *yehareg ve’al ya’avor* here. Nevertheless, he willingly placed himself at risk for Hashem’s honor and to save Klal Yisrael.

This may explain the words, “By right, he should take his reward.” For ordinary obligations, a person cannot approach Hashem as a worker demanding payment. Pinchas went beyond what was demanded. He sacrificed what he was not required to sacrifice. For that extraordinary *mesirus nefesh*, the Torah emphasizes that he had earned a unique reward.

## The Greater Mesirus Nefesh: Living With the Consequences

Pinchas certainly risked being killed. Yet perhaps the greater *mesirus nefesh* was not the possibility of dying in that moment. It was the willingness to live afterward with what he had done.

There are two forms of sacrifice. One is the dramatic, single act in which a person gives up his life *al kiddush Hashem*. The other is the daily sacrifice of living for Hashem—doing what is difficult, continuing when one is tired, and carrying the consequences of a decision year after year.

The commentators discuss whose *nisayon* was greater at the Akeidah: Yitzchak’s or Avraham’s. Yitzchak was prepared to die once. Avraham would have had to return home and live every day with the knowledge that he had offered his son. The second form of *mesirus nefesh* can be more difficult because it does not end in one moment (Bereishis 22).

The Beis Yosef prayed to merit death *al kiddush Hashem*. According to the tradition recorded concerning his heavenly teacher, he was told that his greater *kiddush Hashem* would be to live and continue his Torah work. The exact source and wording of this account require verification, but its lesson is clear: sometimes Hashem asks a person not to die for Him, but to live for Him.

Pinchas had to live while the shevatim pointed at him and called him a murderer. He had to endure their accusations against his lineage. The entire nation could look upon him with contempt. To continue living with that burden required a deeper and more sustained *mesirus nefesh* than the remote possibility that Zimri might kill him.

## Going Against One’s Nature

Pinchas also acted against his own nature. We imagine him as naturally fierce, but Rashi identifies him specifically as the descendant of Aharon HaKohen (Rashi to Bamidbar 25:11). Aharon was the embodiment of peace and love. Pinchas carried that same nature.

For such a person to rise and kill a nasi of a shevet was not natural. He had to uproot his instinctive softness, force himself past his own revulsion, and do what the moment required. The courage to oppose one’s nature can be greater than the courage to face physical danger.

This explains the teaching that one who reviews his learning one hundred times is not yet compared to one who reviews it one hundred and one times. The single additional review makes him an “oved Elokim,” because he has gone beyond the accepted routine and broken his natural limit (Chagigah 9b).

According to an explanation attributed in the shiur to the Bnei Yissaschar, this was part of Pinchas’s special merit. His act was difficult precisely because it ran against his temperament. The reward was not merely for the outward deed. It was for the inner battle required to perform it.

His *mesirus nefesh* was therefore emotional and spiritual. He conquered fear, public opinion, shame, and his own nature. He forced every part of himself to serve Hashem’s will.

## An Eternal Covenant of Kehunah

The Torah promises that the covenant of Kehunah will remain with Pinchas and his descendants (Bamidbar 25:13). Kehunah ordinarily passes through inheritance. What additional promise was being given?

The Meshech Chochmah is cited as explaining that this Kehunah would never be uprooted from his line. Even when descendants might become unworthy of service, the essential covenant of Kehunah would remain attached to the family. The exact source should be checked, but the idea fits the central theme: what Pinchas acquired through *mesirus nefesh* became an enduring inheritance.

## Mesirus Nefesh Creates an Inheritance

A teaching attributed here to the Ramah MiPano distinguishes among Kehunah, kingship, and Torah. Kehunah and *malchus* were hereditary from the beginning. Torah, however, is open to every person. Chazal therefore warn us to be careful with the children of the poor, “for from them Torah will emerge” (Nedarim 81a). The son of a talmid chacham has no automatic ownership over Torah.

Nevertheless, the shiur explains that in later generations Torah sometimes did become a family inheritance. Why? Because the Amora’im and the great transmitters of Torah displayed extraordinary *mesirus nefesh* to preserve, clarify, and teach it. What was acquired through their sacrifice became deeply rooted in their descendants.

The same pattern applies to Kehunah and kingship. A kohen serves Klal Yisrael. A king must place himself at the head of the nation and carry responsibility for them. When the founder of a spiritual line sacrifices himself for the public, the strength he creates does not end with him.

This illuminates the promise to Pinchas. His Kehunah would remain because it had been purchased with *mesirus nefesh*. The Torah was not merely granting him a title; it was creating a spiritual inheritance.

A yeshiva student once displayed exceptional *hasmadah* despite growing up without strong encouragement to learn. When asked about his family, he described a grandfather in Samarkand who had risked himself for kashrus, for a shul, and for children to have a rebbe. The source became clear. The grandfather’s *mesirus nefesh* had resurfaced in the grandson as love and endurance for Torah.

Communist persecution could close schools and suppress Torah publicly, but it could not erase the tears and sacrifices of Jewish grandparents. Those tears remained before Hashem and eventually brought grandchildren back.

Whatever is built through genuine *mesirus nefesh* enters the family. It becomes a *koach* that later generations can awaken and continue.

## “With All Your Soul” — Sacrificing One’s Will

Every day, in Kriyas Shema, a Jew says, “You shall love Hashem your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your resources” (Devarim 6:5). Chazal explain “with all your soul” to mean even if Hashem takes your life (Berachos 54a).

The Mishnah Berurah brings that while saying these words, a person should accept upon himself the possibility of dying *al kiddush Hashem*. Some sefarim describe picturing a furnace and imagining that one is prepared to enter it rather than serve avodah zarah.

Yet a person must be honest. Can every ordinary person confidently say that he is presently ready for such a test? A teaching attributed to the Noam Elimelech cautions that a person should not fill his mouth with declarations that are not yet true. Hashem knows whether the words reflect reality.

There is, however, another meaning of *nefesh*. When Avraham says, “If it is your desire to bury my dead,” the word *nafshichem* means your will or desire (Bereishis 23:8). Accordingly, “*bechol nafshecha*” can also mean: love Hashem by surrendering your personal wants.

Perhaps only exceptional tzaddikim should picture literal martyrdom. The ordinary Jew can think about the *nisayon* of the present day. Ribbono Shel Olam, I love You more than this desire. I surrender what I want in order to fulfill what You want.

That is daily *mesirus nefesh*. It means coming to learn when one would prefer to rest, controlling one’s eyes in the street, restraining an appetite, giving up comfort, and breaking an unhealthy habit. It is not necessarily giving up life. It is giving up the part of life that competes with Hashem’s will.

Pinchas’s act teaches that a Jew can sacrifice his *ratzon* and overcome his *teva*. The daily form of “*bechol nafshecha*” is to offer one’s desires to Hashem, again and again.

## Kiddush Hashem Every Day

The pasuk states, “For Your sake we are killed all day long” (Tehillim 44:23). How can a person be killed “all day”? Literal martyrdom occurs once.

The answer may be that the pasuk is describing daily *mesirus nefesh*. Every morning and evening, through Kriyas Shema, a Jew accepts *ol Malchus Shamayim*. A responsum cited in the shiur explains that one who recites Shema morning and night with this acceptance is considered as though he sanctified Hashem’s Name throughout the entire day.

The Zohar is also cited as teaching that one who lives with *mesirus nefesh* is regarded as though he gave his life *al kiddush Hashem*. The precise locations of these sources require verification, but they express the same principle: a life of sacrifice can itself be martyrdom extended through time.

Other people spend their free hours pursuing pleasure without restraint. A Jew gives up activities that conflict with Torah. He learns when he would rather relax. He davens instead of sleeping longer. He controls where he looks and what he permits into his mind. He sacrifices desires that the surrounding world treats as normal.

“*Ki alecha horagnu kol hayom*”—Ribbono Shel Olam, throughout the day I surrender parts of myself for You. I kill the *ratzon* that pulls me away from Torah. I deny the *taavah* that claims to be my true identity.

Chazal teach, “One who wishes to live should make himself dead” (Tamid 32a). This cannot mean physical death. It means weakening the ego and desires that prevent genuine life. The person who “kills” his false wants becomes capable of living.

This is the accessible *kiddush Hashem* of ordinary life. It is the courage to fight an internal battle repeatedly, quietly, and faithfully. Pinchas sacrificed his will and nature in one historic act. Every Jew can continue that *mesirus nefesh* within the ordinary struggles of each day.

## The Covenant of Peace and Eliyahu’s Chair

What reward did Pinchas receive for surrendering his nature and desires? Hashem gave him “My covenant of peace” (Bamidbar 25:12). Pinchas later becomes identified with Eliyahu, the *malach habris*.

Jewish practice therefore designates a special chair for Eliyahu at every bris milah (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 265:11). The Midrash connects this practice to Eliyahu’s declaration in the days of Achav: “I have been exceedingly zealous for Hashem… for Bnei Yisrael have forsaken Your covenant” (Melachim I 19:10).

Hashem challenged him: How can you speak this way about Klal Yisrael? You will attend their brissim and witness that they continue to preserve the covenant.

This is usually understood as a correction. Eliyahu had spoken negatively about the nation, so he would now be required to witness their faithfulness. A genuine *kanoi* must never become a prosecutor who sees only evil. *Kana’us* must emerge from *ahavas Yisrael* and from a search for their *zechusim*.

A Midrash is cited as describing Eliyahu sitting and recording the merits of Klal Yisrael. That is the true *kanoi*. He sees good. When he takes action, it is because he wants to preserve and reveal that good—not because he despises the people.

The shiur also cites another possibility: attending every bris may be a reward rather than merely a punishment. Because Pinchas was “zealous with My zeal,” Hashem granted him the privilege of being present whenever a Jewish child enters the covenant.

The precise explanations attributed to the Perishah and the Chida require review. Yet both readings share one foundation: Pinchas’s *kana’us* bound him eternally to the bris. His act was not about destruction. It was about defending *kedushas Yisrael* and preserving the covenant for future generations.

## Pinchas Continues to Bring Kapparah

The Torah does not say only that Pinchas “atoned” for Bnei Yisrael. It uses a form that can be understood as continuing action: “*vayechaper al Bnei Yisrael*” (Bamidbar 25:13). A teaching cited from the Sifrei is understood to mean that Pinchas continues to stand and bring *kapparah*.

How does that continuing *kapparah* occur? Through Eliyahu’s presence at every bris.

The Midrash relates that Eliyahu objected that if he attended a bris where sinners were present, his *kana’us* would compel him to prosecute them. Hashem therefore promised that those present would receive forgiveness. Thus, Eliyahu’s attendance itself becomes a source of *zechus* and *kapparah*.

A tradition is also cited that Eliyahu continually offers merit on behalf of Klal Yisrael. The exact references to Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer and later chassidic sources require verification. The essential point, however, remains faithful to the shiur: Pinchas’s original act of saving the nation did not end in the Midbar. His mission continues whenever he attends a bris and stands as a defender of the Jewish people.

This explains the mohel’s prayer: “Eliyahu, angel of the covenant, stand at my right hand and support me.” The assistance requested is not merely technical help with the physical procedure. Eliyahu’s role is to support the entire covenant—to protect its *kedushah*, strengthen those performing it, and awaken Divine mercy for all who are present.

Pinchas originally turned away Hashem’s wrath and brought *kapparah*. As Eliyahu, he continues that same work throughout Jewish history. His *kana’us* became a permanent mission of *sanegoria*, protection, and repair.

## Bris Milah: A Covenant Sustained Through Mesirus Nefesh

Throughout history, hostile governments repeatedly attempted to stop bris milah. The Greeks forbade it. Later regimes, including Communist Russia, also tried to uproot it. Jewish families nevertheless continued, often at enormous risk.

Chazal teach that a mitzvah accepted by Klal Yisrael with joy continues to be performed with joy, and a mitzvah for which they displayed *mesirus nefesh* remains firmly established among them (Shabbos 130a). Bris milah survived because generations of Jews performed it with sacrifice.

This returns us to the principle developed earlier: what is acquired through *mesirus nefesh* becomes an inheritance. Eliyahu, who carries the spiritual power of Pinchas, stands at every bris to strengthen that inherited courage. “Stand at my right hand and support me” means: give us the strength to complete the covenant despite every force that opposes it.

Bris milah is itself a *korban*. The child is brought to the sandak, whom Chazal and later sources compare to a *mizbe’ach*. Yet this is not a korban of death. It is a korban of life.

The pasuk repeated regarding the blood of the covenant is, “Through your blood, live; through your blood, live” (Yechezkel 16:6). Jewish life is not defined by indulgence. It is life shaped through *kedushah*, restraint, and sacrifice.

The bris removes and limits the power of *taavah*. It teaches that a Jew does not surrender to every instinct. He lives, but he lives “*bedamayich*”—with a readiness to sacrifice desire for holiness.

The pasuk, “For Your sake we are killed all day,” is also associated by Chazal with milah (Tehillim 44:23; Gittin 57b). The covenant remains upon the person constantly. It accompanies him even in places where other mitzvos cannot be visibly performed. Bris therefore represents continuous *mesirus nefesh*: a life permanently dedicated to Hashem.

## Overriding the Chomer and Preparing for Geulah

Pinchas becomes Eliyahu, and Eliyahu will herald the *geulah*. The connection is not incidental. Pinchas’s entire *avodah* explains why he is the one who announces Mashiach.

The Navi describes Mashiach as “a poor man riding upon a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9), and Chazal discuss this image in Sanhedrin 98a. The Maharal explains that *chamor* is related to *chomer*, physicality. To be *rochev al hachamor* means to ride above and govern the material world rather than be governed by it.

The generation before Mashiach will face powerful *nisyonos*. Material abundance, technology, pleasure, and endless distraction will surround a person. Even when parnassah is difficult, the world offers an astonishing number of possessions, entertainments, and desires. The struggle will be to remain the rider rather than become the animal’s passenger.

The *ani* also represents affliction, humility, and the heavy burden of galus. A donkey carries a load uphill. Klal Yisrael has carried the burden of exile for generations. Mashiach identifies with that burden and comes to redeem those who have been humbled by it.

Pinchas modeled this conquest. His natural character inclined toward peace, yet he overrode his *teva* when Hashem’s will required it. He placed himself above fear, shame, instinct, and public opinion. That is *rochev al hachamor*.

Bris milah conveys the same message. It places a boundary upon physical desire and declares that *chomer* must serve *kedushah*. Eliyahu is the *malach habris* because he transmits the courage to rise above instinct. He is also the *mevaser hageulah* because geulah arrives when Klal Yisrael becomes capable of mastering its *chomer*.

The power that began with Pinchas’s *mesirus nefesh* thus leads toward Mashiach. When the Jewish people can carry physicality without being carried away by it, Eliyahu can announce that the time of redemption has arrived.

## The Kana’us Within

The Torah says that Pinchas was zealous “*besocham*”—among them or within them (Bamidbar 25:11). On the simplest level, his courage was demonstrated by acting openly in the presence of the entire nation. It is easy to issue fierce declarations from a protected distance. Pinchas entered the crowd and acted himself.

There is also a deeper meaning. Through his act, Pinchas implanted within Klal Yisrael the power of *kana’us* and *mesirus nefesh*. “*Besocham*” means that this strength entered inside them.

There is an external *kana’us* that confronts wrongdoing in public. But for most people, the primary battle is internal. A person may appear outwardly to learn, daven, and live properly while carrying powerful resistance inside. What is happening within his mind, heart, desires, and imagination?

The great *kana’us* of our generation is often the courage to fight the enemy within. It is the *gevurah* to challenge one’s *taavos*, to uproot a corrupt habit, to change an ingrained reaction, and to refuse the voice that says, “This is simply who I am.”

Pinchas transmitted that inner strength. A Jew possesses the capacity to be *moser nefesh* from within—to overcome *teva*, to redirect *ratzon*, and to repair himself even when nobody else sees the battle.

This is what a person should accept while saying Shema: “You shall love Hashem your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Devarim 6:5). *Bechol nafshecha* means: I offer You my wants. I sacrifice my personal will in order to perform Yours.

This inner conquest prepares the *geulah*. Eliyahu will announce redemption when Klal Yisrael has learned to become *rochev al hachamor*—to govern the physical rather than be governed by it.

He will call to the humbled nation and say that the time of redemption has arrived. The *ani* and the *anav* have reduced the power of possessions and ego. They have learned that their true identity is not what they own or desire, but their service of Hashem.

Pinchas’s final lesson is therefore not that every person should imitate his public act. It is that every person can inherit his inner *mesirus nefesh*: the courage to overcome himself, live with *kedushah*, and prepare the world for *geulah*.