Musar zu Jehoschua 2:25

The two words "לאמר" that we mentioned earlier as apparently superfluous, have something in common. The repeated "דבור" suggests that there was an exoteric (נגלה) as well as an esoteric (נסתר) element in what the Torah tells us here. In 25,10 the exoteric meaning is to inform the people of the noble lineage Pinchas was descended from, whereas in 25,12 they are to be informed of an additional dimension of Pinchas' greatness, i.e. that he is equated with the prophet Elijah. This is alluded to in the words "because he displayed jealous fervor on behalf of his G–d" (25,13). The letters in the expression “לאל-היו,” are identical with the word “לאליהו,” “to Elijah.” The latter also excelled by displaying jealousy on behalf of G–d, something that he himself is quoted as saying to G–d in Kings I 19,10. He referred to his having slain four hundred Jewish priests who had forsaken the Torah to serve the idol Baal instead. Elijah's performance on Mount Carmel was similar to that of Pinchas at Shittim. The name אליהו (which in the Bible is frequently spelled without the letter Vav at the end) contains two names of G–d, i.e. El and Ya-h. In his encounter with Zimri Pinchas restored the honor of the name El, since the Israelites at the time had been guilty of insulting that name of G–d by serving the El of the Moabites and Midianites, "וישתחוו לאלהיהן" (Numbers 24,2). The second of the Ten Commandments specifically prohibits a Jew prostrating himself before an alien deity (Exodus 20,4). Pinchas' deed restored the relations between G–d and Israel which the people's behaviour had upset. His deed, when analysed, consisted of discrediting a man and a woman who respectively were leaders of their tribes, or, in the case of Cozbi, whose father was an ancestral tribal head. The Torah emphasizes the word איש and אשה, when referring to these two both in 25,8, and in 26,14-15, although there is no need for this. We have mentioned repeatedly that the letters "י and ה" in the Hebrew for "man" and "woman" teach us that only when they remain aware of G–d's Presence in this world are they safe from burning up in the passion of their sexuality, seeing that without those letters of G–d's name their names would signal merely masculine and feminine "fire" respectively. The name of G–d contained in those two people whom Pinchas slew was Ya-h. These two had disgraced the name of G–d by their conduct. The Torah in order to draw our attention to all this repeats: …. ושם … איש … ושם האשה, (26,14, 26,15). Rashi already explained that at the count of the people after this episode the peculiarly worded names of the tribes i.e. ה-ראובנ-י, and not simply ראובן demonstrated that the name of each tribe contained the name of G–d. G–d thus personally testified-that the members of all these tribes were conceived while their respective parents maintained absolute chastity. This too is the meaning of Psalms 122,4: שבטי י-ה עדות לישראל, "Israel are G–d's tribes, as per G–d's personal testimony." The letter ו in the word שלום, is "amputated" in 25,12. Baal Haturim points out that the numerical value of that word equals זהו משיח, "this is the Messiah." By diminishing the size of that letter, it is as if one had not thought about the last letter in the name of אליהו. Elijah is the prophet who announces the imminent arrival of the Messiah and prepares people for that. Removing part of the letter ו is meant to convey to us that Elijah (as alluded to by the absence of the last letter in his name), will materialise when one least thinks of him.. The letters added to the names of the tribes during this count therefore can be viewed as making up the second name of G–d contained in the name אליה, the name Ya-h. The Torah informs us in Exodus 6,25 that Pinchas' father had married one of the daughters of Putiel, who according to Midrash Hagadol fattened (play on word Putiel) all the idols in the world and the other tribes despised him on account of his ancestry. Since the name פוטיאל concludes with the letters of the name of G–d, however, the Torah alerts us to the fact that he converted to monotheism, i.e. El Ya-h. The whole verse is an allusion to Joseph who controlled his desire in his involvement with the wife of his master Potiphar, whose similarly sounding name reminds us of what took place then. Just as Joseph preserved the holy covenant with G–d at that time, so Pinchas, his descendant maternally, restored the holy covenant with G–d by taking G–d's revenge on Zimri. As a result, G–d granted him "My covenant Peace." Targum Yonathan on that verse says that Pinchas was made into an angel who would live until he could announce the final redemption. It is further written (of Pinchas) that G–d's covenant of life and well-being was with him (Malachi 2,5), that "the true Torah was in his mouth. He walked with Me in peace and equity, nothing perverse was on his lips. He served Me with complete loyalty; he held many back from committing iniquity, for the lips of a priest guard knowledge and people seek Torah from his mouth, seeing that he is an angel of the Lord G–d of Hosts" (Ibid 6). This verse clearly alludes to Pinchas, since Pinchas became an angel, as our sages comment on Joshua 2,4, (Tanchuma quoted by Rashi). Since Pinchas held back many from sinning, he is described by the prophet as having the true Torah issuing forth from his mouth. "Truth" is an element that reinforces and strengthens religious belief and practice. It is not something merely personal, but is something that must be demonstrated to the community in order to be capable of convincing such a community to do penitence. Such a result is called אמת, truth. Truth is something of an everlasting nature.

(Devarim 26:17): "The L-rd did you single out this day to be to you as a G-d, and to walk in His ways, and to keep His statutes, and His mitzvoth, and His judgments, and to heed His voice." From this verse we learn the greatness of strengthening oneself to walk in the ways of the traits of the Holy One Blessed be He, to be merciful, gracious, and the like. For Scripture mentioned this quality ["to walk in His ways"] before keeping the statutes, the mitzvoth, and the judgments, whereby we infer that it takes precedence to the others [(as we find in Berachoth 41b on the verse that speaks in praise of Eretz Yisrael (Devarim 8:8): "a land of wheat, barley, grapevine, etc." — "That which precedes (in the verse) precedes for the blessing."] And one must greatly strengthen oneself in this — whence we learn in our instance to guard greatly against the issur of lashon hara. For this is one of the ways of the traits of the Holy One Blessed be He, as our sages of blessed memory said (Sanhedrin 43b) concerning the deed of Achan, who violated the ban, because of which Israel was defeated in the war. (Joshua 2:6): "And he [Joshua] fell on his face to the ground before the ark of the L-rd… (10): And the L-rd said to Joshua: 'Arise, why do you fall on your face… they have also stolen; they have also denied… (12): I will not be with you if you do not destroy the cherem [(the forbidden property] from your midst.'" Joshua said to Him: "Who has sinned?", to which He answered: "Am I a slanderer? Go and cast lots and it will be known to you." Even for something that it was a mitzvah to clarify, such as the act of Achan, where they were obliged to destroy the cherem, even so, since it could come to light of itself, it should not be spoken.

The spies reversed the true state of affairs by reporting that the inhabitants had merits, implying Israel did not have sufficient merits. They committed one sin after another, until in the end they denied the virtues of G–d by implying that these inhabitants were mightier than G–d Himself, when they said in 13,31: "for it is stronger than He," (referring to G–d when they said ממנו.) When Joshua sent out his spies, they repaired the damage done by the ten spies in our story. That is the deeper significance of the red line that they demanded that Rahab should suspend the rope outside her window (Joshua 2,18).

This is the metaphysical aspect of the word אמת, that we find mentioned by Joshua's spies; it is the measuring line described as the "תקות החוט" (see Joshua 2,14 for the word אמת, and 2,18, for the red line)ץ When the letter ו is written as a word, it symbolizes אמונה, faith, loyalty, since the middle letter א joins the two letters ו together. By so doing it creates a bond between דין and רחמים. Since the א also means “one,” this means that either group of six tribes is always joined with the אלוקי יעקב, "the Lord G–d of Israel”. Each group of six represents half the permutations of the ineffable name of G–d. The specific attribute for Jacob is that of תפארת, the sixth of the ten emanations, ספירות. This corresponds to the letter ו in the Ineffable Name. This is what Joshua's spies had in mind when they spoke about the אות אמת. We also know that Jacob and אמת are inextricably linked, since it says תתן אמת ליעקב, You have given "truth" to Jacob (Michah 7,20). If, G–d forbid this א would be separated from its respective ו, this would point at a universe in which more than one authority would rule, as the heretics claim. Their argument is that it is inconceivable that the power that created light should be the same as that which created darkness. This amounts to a denial of the verse: "It was evening, it was morning, one day (Genesis 1,5)."

I have already explained how all the attachment to G–d is achieved by means of Torah, and how all the "crowns" have as their purpose to further that attachment. The "crown" of Royalty may therefore be viewed as conferred due to the Torah. The tribe of Levi, which represents the "crown" of Priesthood, is described in Deuteronomy 33,10 as performing the function: יורו משפטיך ליעקב ותורתך לישראל, "They will instruct Jacob in Your laws and Israel in Your Torah." Clearly, this "crown" too is conferred thanks to the Torah. Concerning the Kingdom of the house of David, we find that our sages comment on the verse in Samuel I 16, 18: וה' עמו "G–d was with him," by remarking that the שכינה accompanied David wherever he went. The "crown" of Royalty is part of the "crown" of the Priesthood since the Kingdom of the seed of Yehudah was rooted in Tamar the daughter of Shem, who had been a High Priest already in the days of Abraham (an alternate name for Malki Tzedek mentioned in Genesis 14,18, as per Nedarim 32). When Israel later on sent spies to the land of Canaan prior to conquering it under the leadership of Joshua, the latter sent out Pinchas and Caleb. Caleb was from the tribe of Yehudah who represented Royalty, whereas Pinchas represented the Priesthood. (Cf. Bamidbar Rabbah 16, 4 commenting on Joshua 2, 1) Something of a similar nature will occur in the future when the prophet Elijah will represent the Priesthood before the arrival of the Messiah, and the Messiah will be Royalty incarnate. Pinchas is identified with the prophet Elijah.

Let me explain this subject at greater length: Our sages (Berachot 32b) have said that as of the day the Temple was destroyed the gates of prayer have been locked. We know this from Lamentations 3,8: Even though I cry and plead, He shuts out my prayer." Our portion revolves around this problem. Let me first quote something from the book קול בוכים on Lamentations 5,11: "They have ravished women in Zion." The author comments as follows: We find in the Zohar that the plural "women" which Jeremiah refers to in this verse refers to two specific women, paragons of seduction, i.e. Lilith and Machalat (daughter of Ishmael). Kabbalists write that Lilith is accompanied by 480 groups of destructive agents corresponding to the numerical value of her name לילית. They follow her and indulge in wailing, etc. Machalat is accompanied by 478 groups of destructive agents corresponding to the numerical value of her name מחלת. All these 478 groups follow their mistress dancing and generally making merry. These two women never collide with one another throughout the year; they do not inflict harm on each other though there is constant warfare between them. [their philosophical outlook. Ed.] The only day in the year when they are confrontational is the Day of Atonement. Due to the confrontation these two women and their followers are engaged in on the Day of Atonement they have no time to interfere with our prayers enabling our prayers to rise heavenwards. Usually, whenever a person sins these women are alerted and told "why are you at peace at a time when there sin is about? Arise and destroy the universe!" This is the meaning of Isaiah 3,12: נשים משלו בו, "Women ruled over him" (the people of Israel). I have heard from my teacher that the women referred to in the verse in Isaiah are the wives of the two spies. They are the two "spies" of the earth mentioned in the Zohar which are identical with the two male goats used in the service on the Day of Atonement. As soon as Joshua wanted to enter the land of Israel these two "spies" submitted to the authority of Joshua, prostrated themselves before him and offered to be his servants. Joshua expressed his dissatisfaction with this arrangement, insisting that he would only use the services of Pinchas and Caleb as spies to reconnoiter the land of Canaan. However, he asked these two "spies" to spread feelings of demoralization among the inhabitants of the land of Canaan in order to facilitate the conquest of the land by the Jewish people. The "spies" agreed and complied with Joshua's instructions. We can derive all this from the text in the relevant verses in the Book of Joshua. In Joshua 2,3 the spies Joshua sent out are described as having come לחפור את הארץ, "To spy out the land," whereas in actual fact we do not find any word in the whole story about their having performed the mission of spying out the country. The inhabitants simply seem to have melted away much as wax melts in the presence of fire. The spies are reported as having arrived in Jericho by climbing the outer wall of the house of Rachav. They immediately became aware that the whole country was demoralised at the prospect of being invaded by the Israelites. The inhabitants simply had no backbone left. The Talmud Zevachim 116b derives from the statement of Rahav – the city's most prominent harlot – that: ולא קמה עוד רוח באיש מפניכם, "that the men of the country had all become incapable of having an erection due to their fear of the Israelites." Clearly then the two "spies" had performed their task in advance of the arrival of Pinchas and Caleb.