Our Parsha this Shabbos is Parshas Pinchas,where Pinchas does an action of stopping HaShem's wrath by keeping purity in the Camp of Israel.He does this by killing a leader of the tribe of Simeon who had brought an idol-worshipper into the camp in front of our beloved Moshe . His action halted HaShem's wrath and peace was made between HaShem and His people . HaShem rewarded Pinchas for this action , for all time as a man of peace and some of our sages even think he will return as Eliyahu HaNavi who will announce the coming of the peace-bringing Mashiach .
This sounds like a strange reward for a man who killed.How can one who takes life,be thought of as the harbinger of Mashiach.
HaShem does not want death at all.HaShem would prefer us to follow His Laws and be good.But when it comes to the case of contaminating our nation with impurity Chas Ve Shalom that can spread , or an enemy that can destroy us , we are asked to act to save our people . Such an action on Pinchas's part,took great courage , going alone into a full camp of Simeonites and taking the life of their leader . It takes a great man,to stand up alone and act for HaShem's sake . This took amazing courage.His action , stopped the impurity from traveling into K'lal Yisroel and thus brought us purity. His action of removing this impurity,saved the entire nation from physical and spiritual harm.He saved us all . He was granted long life and was even one of the spies that Joshua sent to spy out Jericho .
HaShem asks us ,'Lo Alma Al Dam Rei'echa,' 'Do not stand by the blood of your fellow,' Leviticus 19:16 .This is what Pinchas did.When Jews are attacked,we are to stand together as one and help defeat the enemy.HaShem instructs us to wipe out the memory of Amalek-to kill them.They stand and attack HaShem's chosen people and wish to bring down HaShem Chas Ve Shalom . To keep this world pure and moral , we are ordered to kill them.To save the world we are to remove it's impurity . To kill impurity is to save us all.To bring Holiness and remove impurity , is to bring peace to HaShem's world.
This is the beauty of Pinchas . When we do aveiras or when people do things that are impure,they cause a distance between HaShem and us . To stop immorality and impurity,is to bring HaShem closer to us-to make peace between HaShem and us . Such was Pinchas . So can we all be . Before we do something we know HaShem told us not to do , think very carefully to make sure that our action will not cause HaShem to step back from us Chas Ve Shalom as we would never want such a thing Chas Ve Shalom . Though our Yetzer Horah may try to persuade us otherwise , doing a negative action will have very large repercussions and affect all , as causing HaShem to distance Himself from us , affects all . Let us all be fighters for HaShem and promote Holiness in all we do and say.
In this Parsha we see that the name of 'Pinchas is written with a small 'Yud.' This makes the word 'Pinchas look like 'Panchas, with the 'Yid' separate.'Taking this word and looking closer,it gives us 'Yud Paneh Chasah,' where 'Yud' represents HaShem's Name being the first letter of HaShem's Name.'Paneh' means 'Face' and 'Chasah,' means 'to find shelter.' Putting this together,we get 'To find shelter in the Face of HaShem.' When Pinchas on his own destroyed the impurity,HaShem turned back His Face toward Israel and so we were again sheltered from all negative forces.This shows us that to do HaShem's will and being faithful to HaShem,will keep us protected and close to HaShem,for nothing can stand and face HaShem that is negative.HaShem will bring us into His sweet and beautiful countenance and shield us from all that wants to do harm Chas Ve Shalom.Let us remember this with all our enemies,whether of a physical or spiritual nature,that all,will be removed if we all remain faithful to HaShem and His Commandments.Our Rabbis say that the 'Yud' in Pinchas's name is small, to show how HaShem made Himself small for Pinchas due to Pinchas's action for HaShem.May we all make ourselves small and humble ourselves in purity,before the will of HaShem. With eternal love and beyond,I wish HaShem a very blessed Shabbos Kodesh with love and to all,a very Blessed Shabbos Kodesh with love.