Parashat Pinhas- Poker at 5 A.M.
We read in Parashat Pinhas of the great reward God promised to Pinhas, Aharon’s grandson, for his act of zealotry during the tragic incident of Ba’al Pe’or, which the Torah relates toward the end of last week’s Parasha. Zimri, the prince of the tribe of Shimon, committed an offense with a gentile woman in full view of Beneh Yisrael. Upon seeing the outrage, Pinhas approached the two violators and slew them, in response to which God brought an end to the plague that had killed 24,000 members of the nation who had sinned with the women of Moab.
A number of Rabbis wondered from where Pinhas drew the courage and conviction to commit such an act, bringing upon himself considerable criticism and condemnation. The Midrash relates how many among the nation sharply denounced Pinhas’ zealotry, and claimed that he acted with wanton violence, and not out of a sincere desire to avenge God’s honor. Pinhas undoubtedly anticipated such a response, yet he was prepared to sacrifice his reputation in order to protest the disgrace perpetrated by Zimri. From where did he draw such inner strength and courage?
One Rabbi answered that Pinhas drew inspiration from – ironically enough – Zimri himself. Zimri displayed such loyalty to his passions, to the point where he was prepared to sacrifice his reputation and noble stature in order to commit this sin. He certainly knew that he would thereby forfeit his position as tribal leader and compromise his standing in the nation. But he accepted these consequences and was willing to make these sacrifices for the sake of satisfying his Yeser Ha’ra (evil inclination).
This "devotion" to the Yeser Ha’ra inspired Pinhas. If Zimri could make such great sacrifices for the sake of sin, then certainly he, Pinhas, could make at least the same sacrifices for the sake of God. Pinhas saw Zimri sacrifice his reputation and standing, and realized that he should do the same. Zimri’s loyalty to his passions thus inspired Pinhas to show this same degree of loyalty to his God and to his nation.
Once, as I was riding a train, I overheard a passenger telling another about his daily schedule. He would wake up each and every morning, without fail, at 5 A.M. to participate in an on-line poker game. At 8 A.M. – three hours later!! – he would stop, so that he could shower, eat breakfast and get to work by 9 A.M.
Upon hearing of this man’s daily poker game, I could not help but think about the forty days during the year – the forty days before Yom Kippur – that we Jews must arise for Selihot services at 5 A.M. This is a great challenge, to wake up so early and alter our schedules during this period in order to be at the synagogue promptly at 5 A.M. for five weeks. But I realized that if this man could show such loyalty and devotion to a meaningless card game, to waste three hours of his day, then certainly we could exhibit at least this much loyalty to Misvot.
We may likewise draw inspiration from the rampant culture of immodest fashion in contemporary society. Women today go to great lengths and make enormous sacrifices in order to dress in accordance with contemporary fashion. They compromise their personal dignity and their innate modest nature in order to fit in, to meet the dreadfully low standards of society. All the more so, then, must we make the sacrifices necessary to uphold the standards of the Torah, and dress and act in accordance with Halacha even when this is inconvenient and requires going against societal trends. If sinners can show unyielding commitment to their Yeser Ha’ra, then we must show at least this level of commitment to God and His Torah.
