This week's Miller's Musings is sponsored:
לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם
and should be for a רפואה שלמה for
יהודה זאב בן ברכה אלכסנדרה גילה
דבס''
MILLER’S MUSINGS
פנחספרשת
*Becoming of You*
Many profess to desire peace, but perhaps do not know the true meaning of the word. What looked like an act of war by Pinchos, in skewering the two members of royalty, was in fact performed to bring about peace. In the face of such immoral behaviour from one supposed to be an example to all, peace between the Jewish people and Hashem could only be restored through the drastic action that Pinchos took. This helps us understand the suitability of a covenant of peace as a reward, but it still doesn't tell us exactly what one is. Let us try and understand the nature of this gift.
A condemned city was one in which the majority of the inhabitants had turned to idol worship. When certain conditions had been met it would be razed to the ground and its inhabitants executed. Those who would follow the directives of the Torah and bring about its destruction were promised by the Torah that Hashem would "give you mercy". The reason for giving this assurance was because a massacre and annihilation of this kind could easily imbue within a person a certain level of cruelty that they had hitherto not displayed. Their innate feelings of compassion could be somewhat eroded by being party to such devastation. They were therefore blessed with the quality of mercy to counterbalance this effect and leave their humanity still intact and still very much instilled within their hearts. This same logic applied with Pinchos, says the Netziv. Despite having killed only for the sake of Heaven, a small semblance of callousness may have entered into his soul. To counteract this Hashem made a covenant that peace would exist within his being, so that he would remain, as he always was, one whose essence was one of kindness, love and amity.
The war within our soul between doing what is right and doing what is wrong, is normally waged upon the battlefield of our conscience. We strive to do what Hashem would want from us because that is the best way to live our lives. But if we succumb to the wiles of the Yetzer Horah, we justify our actions with the knowledge that this is just a one-off that will not necessarily effect who we really are. We are not our mistakes and can always rectify them if necessary. But following on from what we have said we must realise the permanence of such acts. Their effects are immediate and deep rooted within us and can change our essential nature. Callous acts make us more callous. Acts that display a lack of faith cause us to be less trusting of Hashem. Of course the converse of this is equally true. Perform an act of kindness and one becomes intrinsically more kind. Display great reliance on Hashem and conviction in His goodness and you transform into a person of superior belief. There is nothing that cannot be reversed through sincere Teshuva but we must realise that our actions do define who we are and what we have done will determine who we will be.
*May we spend this Shabbos making us true keepers of Shabbos and its holiness*
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