Peace Through Self Sacrifice

הנני נותן לו את בריתי שלום

"Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace" (Bamidbar 25:12).

Hashem promises Pinchas His covenant of peace as a reward for his act of zealotry. The piece will explore the depth of this gift of peace.

במד' גדול השלום שניתן לפינחס

The Midrash teaches that great is the peace that was given to Pinchas.

The Midrash highlights the greatness of the peace bestowed upon Pinchas, signaling that this peace is something extraordinary.

כי שלום הוא אחד מדברים שנקראו מתנה כמ"ש במד' בחוקתי

For peace is one of the things that are called a gift, as the Midrash states in Bechukosai.

Peace belongs to a special category of things the Midrash designates as a gift, meaning it is not earned in the ordinary way but bestowed from Above.

כי בעוה"ז חסר השלימות כמ"ש במד' שלום אמר אל יברא דכולא קטטה

For in this world wholeness is lacking, as the Midrash states regarding peace: "Do not create him, for he is entirely strife."

Wholeness and completion are absent in this world; the Midrash even relates that the attribute of peace argued against man's creation because man is full of conflict.

אך כ' מי הקדימני ואשלם שע"י מסירת נפש נותן הקב"ה השלימות שהיא מתנה מעולם העליון

Yet it is written, "Who has preceded Me, that I should repay him?" (Iyov 41:3) — that through mesirus nefesh the Holy One, Blessed is He, grants the wholeness, which is a gift from the upper world.

Drawing on the verse in Iyov, the Sfas Emes teaches that one who gives of himself through mesirus nefesh draws down from Hashem the gift of wholeness that originates in the upper world.

וכן שבת נק' שלום והיא מתנה טובה כמ"ש פורס סוכת שלום עלינו כי בכל ימי המעשה נברא דבר מיוחד וכמו כן כל הברואים יש בכל אחד ענין מיוחד לא ראי זה כראי זו ולכן נחסר השלימות

And likewise Shabbos is called peace, and it is a good gift, as we say, "He spreads the sukkah of peace over us," for on each of the weekdays a distinct thing was created, and so too among all the creations there is in each one a distinct matter, this one not resembling that one, and therefore wholeness is lacking.

Shabbos too is termed peace and is a precious gift, since each weekday and each creature was made with its own distinct quality, and this very distinctness is what causes the lack of wholeness in the world.

ושבת הוא כלל כל הבריאה

And Shabbos is the all-embracing whole of the entire creation.

Shabbos gathers all the diverse parts of creation into a single unified whole, restoring the wholeness that the separate days lack.

וכמו כן האדם נברא להיות כולל כל הברואים מראש ועד סוף והוא בחי' השלימות

And likewise man was created to be all-embracing of all the creations from beginning to end, and this is the aspect of wholeness.

Man, like Shabbos, was created to encompass all of creation from beginning to end, and this all-embracing capacity is the essence of wholeness.

אבל ע"י החטא הראשון ניטל מאדם כח השורש שלו שהוא כולל הכל

But through the first sin there was taken from Adam the power of his root, which embraces everything.

The first sin stripped Adam of the power rooted in his source — the capacity to contain and unify everything within himself.

והוא אור הראשון שמאיר מראש העולם עד סופו

And this is the primordial light that shines from the beginning of the world to its end.

This lost power was bound up with the primordial light, which illuminated all of existence from one end of the world to the other.

ועל פינחס זה אליהו נתקיים מי הקדימני שהרי מצד התורה הבועל ארמית אין בו חיוב מיתה ומ"מ קנאין פוגעין בו

And concerning Pinchas — who is Eliyahu — there was fulfilled "Who has preceded Me," for from the standpoint of the Torah one who cohabits with a heathen woman is not subject to the death penalty, and nevertheless the zealous strike him down.

In Pinchas, who is identified with Eliyahu, the verse "Who has preceded Me" was fulfilled, for although Torah law imposes no death penalty on one who sins with a heathen woman, the law of "the zealous strike him down" applies.

והיא פסיעה למעלה מסדר המיוחד עפ"י התורה

And this is a step above the distinct order set down by the Torah.

Pinchas's act was a step beyond the fixed, ordered framework of normative halachah, reaching to a higher plane.

ולכן משה רבינו ע"ה לא חייבו מיתה רק פינחס בקנאתו ומסירת נפשו וזכה אל השלום תחת כל השמים לי הוא פי' שזה בחי' שלום כמ"ש על אליהו מי עלה שמים וירד שהוא למעלה ולמטה

And therefore Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, did not sentence him to death; only Pinchas, through his zeal and his mesirus nefesh, did so, and he merited the peace; "under all the heavens, it is Mine" (Iyov 41:3) is the meaning that this is the aspect of peace, as it is said of Eliyahu, "Who has ascended to heaven and descended?" (Mishlei 30:4) — that he is above and below.

Because his act transcended ordinary halachah, Moshe did not rule that the offender be put to death; only Pinchas, acting from zeal and self-sacrifice, carried it out, and through it he attained the level of peace that joins the upper and lower worlds, like Eliyahu who both ascended and descended.

ותחת כל השמים יש לו דביקות בו ית' ואיני נפרד

And "under all the heavens" — he has dveikus with Him, may He be blessed, and is not separated.

The phrase "under all the heavens" hints that even while in the lower world, Pinchas retained an unbroken dveikus with Hashem, never severed from Him.

ובאמת הוא בכח ברית מילה כמ"ש מי יעלה לנו השמימה ר"ת מיל'ה

And in truth this is through the power of bris milah, as it is written, "Who shall ascend for us to the heavens?" (Devarim 30:12) — the initial letters of which spell "milah."

This power of remaining connected to Hashem comes through bris milah, alluded to by the initial letters of the verse "Who shall ascend for us to the heavens," which spell the word milah.

ופינחס נקרא מלאך הברית ובתיבות השמים לי הוא

And Pinchas is called the angel of the covenant, and in the words "the heavens, it is Mine" (HaShamayim Li Hu),

Pinchas is called the angel of the covenant, and the Sfas Emes finds an allusion within the words "the heavens, it is Mine."

מילה

milah

The word milah is encoded in this phrase, tying Pinchas's level back to bris milah.

לי הוא תיבת אליהו:

"it is Mine" (Li Hu) is the word Eliyahu.

And the words "it is Mine" allude to Eliyahu, completing the link between Pinchas, the covenant, and Eliyahu.

Summary: The Sfas Emes explains that the covenant of peace given to Pinchas is the gift of shleimus, true wholeness, which is otherwise absent in this world because every day, creature, and person was created with its own distinct quality, leaving creation fragmented. Shabbos and man himself were meant to be all-embracing wholes that unify creation, but the first sin stripped Adam of this root power, which was bound up with the primordial light that shone from one end of the world to the other. Through mesirus nefesh, however, one draws down this wholeness as a gift from the upper world, fulfilling "Who has preceded Me, that I should repay him?" Pinchas, who is Eliyahu, acted beyond the fixed order of Torah law, and his zeal and self-sacrifice earned him the peace that bridges above and below — an unbroken dveikus with Hashem even within the lower world. This power flows through bris milah, alluded to in the verse whose initial letters spell milah, and the very words "the heavens, it is Mine" conceal both milah and Eliyahu.