5784 - "Pinchas the son of Elazar the son of Aharon the Kohen" – Why does the Torah present Pinchas's lineage a second time? Presented by Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld, at the conclusion of the class of Rabbi…

00:02 Speaker 1 The parsha begins, “Pinchas son of Elazar son of Aharon the Kohen.” This raises an apparent question: a few verses earlier, Pinchas’s lineage is already given: “And Elazar took— and Pinchas son of Elazar son of Aharon the Kohen took.” Why does the Torah repeat itself? “Pinchas son of Elazar son of Aharon the Kohen”—the very same words. The explanation is as Rashi brings: the tribes were disparaging him. What were they saying about Pinchas? “Did you see this grandson of Puti, whose maternal grandfather fattened calves for idol worship, and who came and killed a prince of a tribe of Israel?” They were disparaging him. So the verse came and traced his lineage to his credit: No, he is Pinchas son of Elazar son of Aharon the Kohen. Of Aharon it says that he loved peace and pursued peace. There seem to be many questions about this explanation of Rashi. First of all, if Pinchas was right, why disparage him? What difference does it make who his grandfather was? He acted according to halachah, according to the law. That is the halachah. So what do you want from him? And if he was not right, then he was a murderer. He violated “You shall not murder.” What difference does it make who his grandfather was, or that his grandfather fattened calves for idol worship? He violated “You shall not murder”; he committed murder. And it makes no difference whether he murdered a prince of a tribe of Israel or an ordinary person. Is there a difference when it comes to murder? The simplest person or the most important person—it makes no difference. Murder is murder! So what is all this about? Rather, as the Rebbe also explains, what was the tribes’ complaint? Why did they disparage him? They said: True, he acted according to halachah. It says that when someone has relations with a non-Jewish woman, zealots may strike him down, and they knew that halachah. What, then, did the tribes claim? They said:

02:02 Speaker 1 What Pinchas did was not out of genuine zeal. He did it because he had a cruel nature. It was not out of zeal for Hashem; it was because that was his nature. And the proof? Who was his grandfather? His grandfather was Yisro, who fattened calves for idol worship. Fattening calves for idol worship is a very, very cruel act. Why? Because when you fatten a calf, an animal, it is as though you want to feed it and do something good for it. But what is the whole purpose? To slaughter it afterward. There is more cruelty in that than in simply slaughtering the animal. You act as though you are caring for it, doing what is good for it, but in fact you are doing just the opposite. So it is a cruel act, and they claimed that this was what Pinchas had done. He did not do it because he was truly zealous for Hashem, with genuine zeal, but because he had a cruel nature. That is why he did it. So the verse comes and traces his lineage, saying again, “Pinchas son of Elazar son of Aharon the Kohen.” Of Aharon it says that he loved peace and pursued peace. And the Rebbe points out that it specifically says “his maternal grandfather,” indicating that it was Aharon’s trait in particular that had been passed down to Pinchas. In other words, in his character and by nature, Pinchas was—

03:33 Speaker 2 [unclear].

03:34 Speaker 1 Yes. So he truly loved peace and pursued peace. And when he did such a thing and killed Zimri, it was because he was zealous for Hashem. It was genuine zeal. The verse has to come and testify to that. Hakadosh Boruch Hu testifies about him: Pinchas did not do it because of a cruel nature. He was someone who loved peace and pursued peace, and he acted only because he was zealous for Hashem. It truly was genuine zeal. One of the lessons we can—and should—learn from this is that when a person is suddenly seized by zeal and starts shouting and protesting something, he needs to examine himself: Where is this coming from? What is bothering you here? Does it bother you because it truly goes against halachah, or because it touches something deep inside you? Or is it coming from a bad trait? A person with a difficult nature may have simply found an opportunity to lash out at someone. A person must examine himself very, very carefully. When he acts zealously, he needs to know where it is coming from. Is it genuine? That is why, with regard to Pinchas, the Torah needs to repeat itself and say again, “Pinchas son of Elazar son of Aharon the Kohen,” so that we will not think that Pinchas acted only because his maternal grandfather fattened calves for idol worship. No. He was a descendant of Aharon the Kohen, and at heart he was a man of kindness. What he did came from genuine zeal for Hashem. Have a peaceful Shabbos.