The Black Sheep Who Saved the Jews

Most of us don’t know what it’s like to be the black sheep of a family.

The black sheep is not a bad person or a loser: He’s just different, usually through being dealt a bad hand by nature. He could be the ugly one in a gorgeous looking family. He could be the postal worker in a family of doctors. He could be the last pup at the litter bowl.

In this week’s Torah portion, Phineas was the black sheep. He was the son of Elazar the High Priest and the grandson of Aaron, who started the priesthood in Israel. But Phineas was not a priest. G-d had designated Aaron and his four sons, and Phineas, already born to Elazar, was left out.

So, Phineas had to learn to make do without. While his father and his younger brothers were working in the Tabernacle, Phineas studied Torah. He was mocked for his Midianite grandfather and probably for being one of the only members of his family who was not ordained to work in the Tabernacle.

But Phineas’ status and modesty were exactly the reason that G-d chose him to save the Jewish people. Balaam, after failing to curse the Israelites, proposed that they be seduced by the girls of Midian, who would then lead them to idol worship. The so-called Mixed Multitude, the Egyptians who left their homeland to join the Jews in the desert, flocked to the girls. Many of the Egyptians had married into the tribe of Simon, and were ravaged by the plague wrought by G-d.

Instead of rebuking his tribe, the prince of Simon, Zimri Ben Salu, joined in the orgy. Outside the Tabernacle, the House of G-d, Zimri mocked Moses: “Shouldn’t this sexual act be permitted? Isn’t this what you did with your Midianite?” Moses was silent, unsure how to respond. The people around him cried.

Quietly, Phineas sidled up to his great-uncle. “Moses, we learned from you that he who consorts with a gentile woman is struck by zealots.” The old prophet remembered and told Phineas to carry out the mission. Phineas was aided by G-d with 12 miracles that allowed the young man to kill Zimri and Cosby, the Egyptian princess, without retaliation from the mob from Simon.

“Phineas son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest diverted My anger from the Israelites by zealously avenging Me among them. I therefore did not destroy the Israelites because of My zeal.” [Numbers 25:11]

It’s puzzling that G-d would be angry with the Israelites. The sages say the Children of Israel did not participate in the frenzy of sex and idolatry at Shittim. The sinners were the Mixed Multitude, the same group that took advantage of Moses’ absence to worship the Golden Calf. Instead, G-d’s anger was directed at the Jews for failing to stop the orgy — or even to make a serious attempt. Desecrating G-d’s name is as much about the apathy toward sin as the sin itself.

The exception was Phineas, the modest young man with few prospects in a family that passed him by. G-d had chosen Phineas to be the savior of Israel. The Almighty ensured that Moses would become confused to give his great-nephew the opportunity to shine.

“Therefore say, ‘I hereby bestow My covenant of peace upon him.'” [Numbers 25:12]

G-d’s gift to Phineas was not merely the result of his killing Zimri and Cosby. It was Phineas’ plea to the Almighty as he raised the spear that pierced the two sinners. Phineas cried: “Master of the Universe, should 24,000 die because of these two?”

Phineas’ question marked his love for the people and his pain over yet another tragedy. The 24,000 might have been sinners but they could have been saved under a leadership that cared enough to urge them to repent. Had the prince of Simon stopped the Mixed Multitude from the start, the bloodshed might have been averted. Had the leadership of Simon blocked the former Egyptians from marrying into the tribe, perhaps piety would have been preserved.

To Phineas, every individual was important. Contrast that to the leaders who send children to die in a conflict without an end or purpose. To these leaders, the people are what Harry Lime would describe as “dots.”

Look down there. Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? [The Third Man. Graham Greene. Page 129 Heinemann, London. 1950]

Throughout Jewish history, there has been a Mixed Multitude, a group of highly ambitious and venal individuals prepared to sacrifice the ordinary people for the elite. The Zohar in this week’s Torah portion, Pinchas, says that when the Mixed Multitude controls Israel, as it has done throughout the exile, “it is as though the rule of the Holy One, blessed be He, was removed and they had come under the rule of the stars and constellations.”

G-d’s covenant with Phineas has been eternal. He led the war against the Midianites and destroyed a cruel enemy that would stop at nothing to corrupt the Jews. He would become the high priest, a title bequeathed to his offspring well into the Second Temple. He would prevent civil war among the Jews. To several judges of Israel, Phineas would appear as an angel of salvation. The sages say Phineas would later be known as Elijah, the prophet who cried to G-d to stop the evil of King Ahab. Eventually, Elijah would be swept up into the heavens but never died. The once black sheep would visit the sages of the Talmud and answer the age-old question: When will the Messiah arrive?

The two figures [Phineas and Elijah] united and became one person: the one who is jealous of the purification of the people of Israel, the one who makes peace, who heralds the future redemption. They are one. And is it possible to separate these qualities? Is it possible that the one who heralds redemption will not bring peace? Is it possible that the one who makes peace will not be jealous of the jealousy of the Lord of Hosts? [Ralbag, Kings 1:17]