Temple

A vision of a people comes to mind. Descending upon a cloud of glory, the Holy Temple, fully rebuilt, alights on the central hill. The people, with dusty faces and tired eyes, wipe away the tears from their faces. At long last, the dreadful sound has ended. The harmony of the paradox has comes to a climax and is a sweet sound to the listener. The sweet nectar drips from the fruit-sweet roof. 

Where have we been for so long? What is this dry feeling in our throats? What is that desert behind us? It is naught but an illusion. Something we have been living in for too long. As if we awoke from a bad dream, we come to. All the fear and worry that was clouding our mind is away. What remains is nothing but the truth. 

The enemy is no longer hostile.

The pain is no longer felt. 

The anger dissipates.

The people break down and burst into tears of joy. The tear ducts swell to the brim and squeeze out pure delight. We have awoken from a terrible confusion, a wrenching mirage, we have awoken from that to a clear paradise. Life could be this good. Life is this good. 

Suddenly, one elderly woman points her finger, with awe at a man’s chest. He looks down in wonder and the people crowd around. A purple light emits from under his shirt. A crystal-like feeling of inner-tranquility shimmers within him. He pulls back the cover to reveal something beautiful inside. A visage of the Temple, at the core of this shimmering light, floats within him. A voice passes through the wind ‘And they will make for me a Sanctuary, and I will dwell within them.’

Do not be afraid. Do not lose hope. Do not let the dryness of your throat drive you to insanity. The water will come. Your thirst will be quenched. Do not despair. The fire in your heart does yet burn. No rain can dampen the flame within. There is no lack of fuel. You take a deep breath in and the light blazes. 

The night is light and bright with laughter. The mind is no longer plagued with unspoken fears and unknown darkness. The Essence wrestles playfully with itself in a million different ways, and then some more. Within each world exist another trillion. And so on, ad infinitum. Infinite recursion of fractal complexity, which is, at its core, one simple thing. 

We eat, we feast, we drink, we cackle with true joy of life. We have no shame in our delight. We have no pity for the other, for no one lacks. Everyone celebrates their lot and connects with each other. There is no greater height. Until there is, and then it is reached. And further, a higher peak. 

The temple within each and every one of us exists in ultimate glory. The walls may be stripped down, the chamber may be dismantled, the altar disgraced, but the foundation remains. From that foundation, anything can be built. ‘Turn it over, turn it over, for all is in it.’ These words echo through the halls of our empty vessels, waiting to be filled with water. Turn over that stone, adn then the other one. The grand plan is being orchestrated by a Great Manager. Your job is singular: one brick and then another, and when you look up, the project is built. There is no undue stress on you. Only a passion, burning within, that will not let up until the job is done. ‘If not now, when? If not I, then who?’ Take these words to heart and place them deep inside, these true words. ‘Not upon you is the work alone, nor are you exempt from it. If you have learned much Torah, you will be rewarded greatly.’ But we’re not in it for the cheese, are we? No, there is something much greater than mere recognition and prizes. There is quality, there is joy, there is life, fresh as the water that flows from the mountain spring to be drunk freely. Dripping down from your chin, you drunkenly exclaim, ‘Hodu Lashem Ki Tov, Ki Le’olam Chasdo!’

Pinchas

Pinchas. What an enigmatic character. Enigmatic, in the sense that he defied definition. Enigmatic, meaning that there is more to know about him than what the Torah explicitly states. Much has been passed down, through tradition, from generation to generation regarding Pinchas. And yet still, so little is known about him. So little is known about his true character, the man that lived behind the spear. The man that existed before slaying Zimri. The man that lived according to his principles. 

The first thing to note about Pinchas is his story, that short excerpt that appears briefly in the Torah, making his name known and remembered everafter. He took the spear in his hand, entered the tent of Zimri ben Salu, and slew him in the midst of his relation with Cuzbi bas Tzur. “And he took a spear in his hand” — these are the six words [of Shema Yisrael] (Zohar). Standing in the face of a young nation, a multitude born of chaos, half of whom feared G-d, while the other half seemed to have completely forgotten His Law, Pinchas was bound in his mind with the unity of G-d and feared nothing besides for Him. He took the spear in his hand and drove it through Zimri’s manhood, reaching straight to Cuzbi’s womb. Gruesome, for sure. Which makes one wonder: was Pinchas a bloodthirsty killer? Did he enjoy the opportunity to murder two individuals in the name of G-d and get away with it? 

Chas v’Sholom to say so. “And the L-rd spoke to Moshe, saying: Pinchas will be anointed as a priest before me, for he has saved my People by avenging my vengeance, and I will give him my covenant of peace” (paraphrased). The parsha that is named Pinchas, that is, the portion of Torah that is symbolized by Pinchas’ spiritual soul-root — for we know that all the names of the parshiyos in Torah came about meticulously by the Creator Himself (Shaloh) — does not talk about his act of vengeance, but rather about his character. The abovementioned incident was recorded in last week’s portion — Balak — a treacherous and twisted man. It was an unfortunate reality that Pinchas had to do what he did, but what he did was the right thing — although it might seem lotherwise. But this week’s parsha talks about what G-d saw. “For man sees to the eye; and G-d sees the inner heart” (Samuel I, somewhere). What G-d saw was “his covenant of peace”. Pinchas did what he had to do to keep and maintain the peace, for the sake of the people, and for the sake of the continuity of creation.We are living in turbulent times, there is no doubt about that. I lean away from political rhetoric and reject violence. The lesson from Pinchas does not mean that we have the right to maim, injure, or kill, G-d forbid. We must trust in G-d that all will be well. We have been promised, that if we do what is right in G-d’s eyes, then we will only receive good from him. What’s important for us to take away here, is that sometimes we have to step up to the plate when no one else will. When all the people are confounded and confused, lost and insecure, we must take the stand and act on what is right. Even Moshe Rabbeinu himself was at a loss to the situation at hand. Pinchas had a flash of inspiration and his leader told him  to run with it. We all have our Pinchas moments, moments when we know what is right to do, yet we are afraid to act out of fear of an uncertain backlash. Yet we can all take a spear in our hands — Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad. All outside conclusions will then dissipate, and only the truth will remain.