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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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Why does the Torah say we'll tell our children about the Exodus and then know God—shouldn't knowledge come first? The shiur distinguishes between remembering (zachor as passive recall of the past) and commemorating (zachor as bringing past experience into the present). Life-cycle events like the Seder require celebration because their transformative impact continues beyond the initial moment.
Why is Pesach called "Chag HaMatzos" — the holiday of matzah, the bread of slavery — rather than the holiday of freedom? The shiur develops a profound yesod: we must embrace our painful past, not deny it. The Jewish training in slavery taught service beyond self-interest. Taking the Egyptian wealth wasn't about compensation but about internalizing that experience and transforming suffering into strength.
Parshas Pinchas 25:6-13
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Why does the Torah separate Avrohom's eulogy for Sarah from his crying for her? The shiur shows that Sarah required a public eulogy focused on the communal loss of a leader, not Avrohom's private grief. This teaches that we must view Jewish tragedies through a national lens first, seeing attacks on Am Yisrael as collective losses that dwarf personal concerns.
