This week I returned from two weeks at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. Michael, I, and 150 rabbis from around the world, studied several different perspectives on the evolving nature of the State of Israel from 1948 until today. We learned from historians, sociologists, psychologists, philosophers, kabbalists, politicians, treaty makers, academics, poets, Israelis and Palestinians–all who would call themselves Zionists.
We walked the golden streets of Jerusalem, swam in the warmth of the Mediterranean, sat in a park in Sheikh Jarra and learned the history of East Jerusalem. We davened and danced with Nava Tehila, who remembered our congregation with fondness from their Shabbat with us pre-Covid.
I also had coffee with Rabbi Hamilton from KI, and ran into Nehemia Polen from Hebrew College! Israel is like a little village, where you always run into people you know.
This week, in Parashat Pinchas, we read about the aftermath of Pinchas’ violent killing of two among the b’nei yisrael who behaved in a way he thought was wrong. Whether they were or not is irrelevant. Pinchas lost his temper, and struck them dead. It is a powerful dichotomy that, also in this parasha, Moses is told that he will not go into the Promised Land because he acted violently against a rock (he hit a rock instead of speaking to it gently to ask it for water). The parasha is bookended by one violent act at the beginning, and the reminder of violence at the end.
But the middle of the parasha moves me greatly. In the middle of violence and disturbance, God offers to guide the people toward a Brit Shalom, a covenant of peace.
לָכֵ֖ן אֱמֹ֑ר הִנְנִ֨י נֹתֵ֥ן ל֛וֹ אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֖י שָׁלֽוֹם׃*
Rabbah Claudia Marbach writes that the parasha is teaching Pinchas, and us about: ‘A brit — a covenant or a reminder, like the rainbow after the Flood. This will not, must not, happen again. Be on guard. From now on be a man of peace. If you are going to be a rodef, be a rodef of peace, not violence. Don’t be like your ancestor Levi, who slaughtered an entire city in anger and revenge. Rather, walk in the footsteps of your grandfather Aharon. To the Jewish people, God was saying, the future is not through violence. Make the transition.
The midrash Yalkut Shimoni (Torah, 771) says that Pinchas never dies but rather becomes Eliyahu, the person who witnesses every brit milah and Pesach seder and who shows up when we need him the most.’
During this Shabbat of Parashat Pinchas, I pray that there will be a brit shalom for the State of Israel; for those who dwell within her borders, those who dwell on her edges, and those who live in nations around her. May violence transition into peace. May hatred give way to accepted realities. May anger soften into hope. May Eliyahu stand in the middle of the violence, and create an everlasting brit shalom.
This Shabbat may your home be filled with shalom—peace and wholeness, gentleness and forgiveness.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Marcia Plumb
