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When does God shift from judge to warrior? The Torah (תורה) reveals that certain sins — particularly public rejection of God's covenant — trigger divine fury rather than divine justice. Pinchas understood this distinction and acted accordingly.
The shiur examines the fundamental difference between divine justice and divine war, using Parshas Pinchas as the launching point. When Pinchas killed Zimri and Cozbi for their public display of intimacy, the Torah (תורה) describes God as having "jealousy" and "fury" (chemah) - terms that seem incompatible with divine justice. Rabbi Zweig explains that divine jealousy is not the unhealthy trait of wanting what belongs to others, but rather the protective instinct to guard what is rightfully one's own - just as a husband protects his marriage relationship. The key insight emerges from analyzing why Pinchas could kill someone for an act that carries no court-imposed death penalty. The answer lies in recognizing that certain sins constitute warfare against the divine covenant rather than mere violations within it. When Jews publicly consort with non-Jewish women, they effectively opt out of Jewish society - their children won't be Jewish, representing a systematic destruction of the covenant from within.
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Parshas Pinchas 25:10-13
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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.
