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Why does Pinchas receive a covenant of peace after killing Zimri? Rabbi Zweig explains that Pinchas waited until he saw the people crying—understanding intuitively that the behavior was wrong but lacking courage to act. True zealotry isn't extremist violence but calculated action to preserve life and restore harmony between God and His people.
Rabbi Zweig addresses several fundamental questions about the Pinchas narrative that challenge conventional understanding. First, why does someone who commits an act of killing receive a covenant of peace as a reward? Second, how does one person's action stop a plague that threatened the entire Jewish nation? The key insight emerges from careful analysis of the phrase "in their midst" and the detail that the people were "crying at the opening of the tent." The crying indicates that the Jewish people instinctively understood Zimri's behavior with the Midianite woman was wrong, but they lacked the courage or clarity to act. This was Bilaam's strategy—to entice the Jews into licentiousness, knowing God despises such behavior. When Moshe couldn't immediately recall the relevant law, the people felt helpless despite their moral intuition.
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Parshas Pinchas 25:6-13
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