“Comma” Parashat Pinchas 5784

I have been reading the Rabbi Aron Moss’s “Question of the Week” for more than twenty years now. Rabbi Moss is the rabbi of the Nefesh Community in Sydney. Each week he publishes a question usually sent by an anonymous reader and then he provides a comprehensive answer. His answers usually mix Jewish Philosophy and common sense with a healthy dose of Hassidism. I began reading Rabbi Moss’s questions after I was once sent a fantastic answer he gave to one particularly thorny question: “Why is it so important to be scrupulous in keeping G-d’s commandments? Does He really care if we shake three myrtle branches and not two, or if we wait only one hour between meat and milk instead of three or six? And I’m sure you won’t even answer this question because you’re too scared.” Rabbi Moss answered “I did indeed answer your question but I accidentally sent the email to ‘yahoo,com’ and not ‘yahoo.com’.” His point was that sometimes the difference between a comma and a period can have immense repercussions. Likewise, sometimes even the smallest deviation from the mandated halachic parameters can have similar repercussions.

I was reminded of this question while reviewing the Portion of Pinchas. Pinchas, Aaron’s grandson, has just killed the Prince of the Tribe of Simeon, who was cohabiting with a Midianite princess. By doing so, Pinchas stops a plague that had already taken the lives of 24,000 Jews. G-d rewards Pinchas for his act [Bemidbar 25:12]: “Behold, I grant him My covenant of peace”. All of the eleven English translations available on Sefaria translate the verse similarly. Nevertheless, this translation is problematic. The Torah is read with cantillations (ta’amei ha’mikra) that instruct the melody. Each cantillation has its own tune. The cantillations date back thousands of years, at least to the time of Ezra the Scribe. In addition to their melodic aspect, they also contribute to our understanding of the text. Cantillations can be divided into two groups: those that join two consecutive words into one thought (me’shartim) and those, like a comma, that divide two consecutive words into two distinct thoughts (mafsikim). Sometimes, accidentally using a “divider” instead of a “joiner” or vice versa can completely change the meaning of a verse. My favourite example is a verse in Psalms [97:10] “Those who love G-d hate evil, He will rescue them from the wicked (Mi’yad resha’im [comma] yatzilem).” By moving the comma backward by only one word, the verse is now translated as “Immediately, the wicked will rescue them (Mi’yad [comma] resha’im yatzilem)”. In the verse describing G-d’s “pact of peace” with Pinchas, the cantillations divide the verse as follows[1]: “Behold, I grant him My covenant [comma] peace”, separating the word “peace” from the word “covenant”. The cantillations that would interpret the verse as “My covenant of peace” would be slightly different[2]. The difference between the two cantillations is nearly imperceivable and yet the meaning of the verse is drastically changed. And now that you mention it, what does “My covenant – peace” even mean?

The Ibn Ezra[3] suggests that “My covenant – peace” should be interpreted as “My covenant – [a covenant of] peace”. This has the same meaning as “My covenant of peace” but is much more awkward, and so we will set this explanation aside. We can get some traction from Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin[4], writing in “Oznayim LaTorah”, who makes a fascinating comment about another anomaly in the verse: The letter “vav” in the word “shalom (peace)” is severed in half such that it looks like the letter “yud” standing on top of a smaller “vav”. According to our Sages in the Midrash, Elijah the Prophet and Pinchas were the same person. Rabbi Sorotzkin, further noting Elijah’s connection with the Messianic Redemption, teaches that real peace will not exist until the Messiah comes. Until that time, peace will be illusory and fleeting. It is doomed to be “severed” by yet another round of fighting. Elijah will herald in a new era, as the Mishnah in Tractate Eduyot [8:7] teaches: “[Elijah will come] neither to push away nor to bring near, but to make peace in the world, as it is said [Malachi 3:23-4]: ‘Behold I send to you Elijah the prophet… and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers’”. Rabbi Sorotzkin explains that we believe that specifically Pinchas-Elijah will augur the Messianic era, a time in which [Micah 4:3] “Nation shall not raise sword against nation”, because G-d specifically promised Pinchas-Elijah “a covenant of peace”. Until that time, all that we will experience in this world will be a severed peace. But in the Messianic Era, the severed “vav” will become whole again. We can leverage Rabbi Sorotzkin’s explanation to address our question by suggesting that not only is the “vav” in the word “shalom” severed, the entire word “shalom” has been detached from its rightful place and separated from it by an infinitesimal and yet simultaneously infinite comma. In the Messianic Era, just as the “vav” will return to its pristine condition, the word “shalom” will also return to its rightful location.

The problem with Rabbi Sorotzkin’s explanation is that not everyone agrees with his definition of Messianic Era. The Talmud in Tractate Shabbat [63a] brings the opinion of the sage, Samuel, who asserts the Messianic Era will be the same as today, but with political independence. Rabbi Assaf Bednarsh, from the prestigious Har Etzyon Yeshiva, puts it succinctly: “The messianic era is thus merely an improved version of the contemporary State of Israel[5].” The Rambam codifies this ruling as normative halacha [Hilchot Melachim 12:1]: “Do not presume that in the Messianic age any facet of the world’s nature will change or there will be innovations in the work of creation. Rather, the world will continue according to its pattern.” In such a world, peace will be no different in the Messianic Era than it is today. Israel will always have to defend herself from her enemies just like she did in the golden years of King David and King Solomon. The answer to the age-old question [Samuel II 2:26] “Must the sword devour forever?” is, unfortunately, yes.

Let us try, then, to reinterpret Rabbi Sorotzkin’s explanation with a more modest understanding of the concept of “peace”. The best place to begin is where Rabbi Sorotzkin begins, with the Mishnah in Tractate Eduyot. Rabbi Obadiah from Bartenura[6], in his commentary on the Mishnah, explains that the “fathers” in the verse in Malachi are the teachers and the “children” are the students. That is to say, the peace that Pinchas-Elijah will herald will be peace between a Jew and his fellow Jew. This can help us understand the severed “vav” and the misplaced “peace”. Pinchas committed an act of murder but by doing so, he slapped the Jewish People in face. Suddenly, the Midianite women they were cohabiting with lost their glamour. But it would be childish to think that suddenly everybody was high-fiving each-other and Pinchas had suddenly become a superstar. These wounds would take years to heal. And so while G-d promises Pinchas a covenant of peace, the “vav” will remain severed and “shalom” will remain misplaced, until we as a nation get our act together.

This week we begin a three-week period of mourning in which we commemorate the destruction of the Holy Temple and the two-thousand year exile of the Jewish People. Our Sages teach that the root cause of the destruction was infighting and senseless hatred. The conclusion, then, is clear: If we want to make Israel great again, if we want to live in real peace, then we must reconnect that “vav”. Beginning with me.

Ari Sacher, Moreshet, 5784

Please daven for a Refu’a Shelema for Shlomo ben Esther, Sheindel Devorah bat Rina, Esther Sharon bat Chana Raizel, and Meir ben Drora.

[1] There is a tip’cha (divider) under the word “My covenant (beriti)”.

[2] There should be a mer’cha (joiner) – an inverted tip’cha –  under the word “My covenant (beriti)”.

[3] Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra, usually called “Ibn Ezra”, lived in Cordoba, Spain, at the turn of the 12^th century.

[4] Rabbi Sorotzkin lived in Pinsk, Belarus, and in Israel in the previous century.

[5] I was once asked by an American rabbi if all that I am praying for three times a day is to have a souped-up version of the State of Israel? Shouldn’t I set my sights higher? His question completely missed the point:  He was chiding me for undervaluing the Messianic Era. But he had no idea how much I cherish the modern State of Israel as a critical step on the road to that era. In the words of R’ Yehuda Adelman, an old friend from Technion, I saw the glass as half full while he did not see even one drop of water.

[6] Rabbi Obadiah, also known as “The Bartenura”, lived in Italy and in Israel in the 15^th century.