Parashat Pinhas- Zimri and the Compromising of Religion
Zimri and the Compromising of Religion
In the beginning of Parashat Pinhas, the Torah concludes the unfortunate story of "Ba'al Pe'or" of which we read towards the end of last week's Parasha, Parashat Balak. During this incident, a man from Benei Yisrael publicly sinned with a gentile woman, in the presence of Moshe and the entire nation. Pinhas (Aharon's grandson) slew the couple as they committed the sin, which brought an abrupt end to the deadly plague that God had brought upon the nation and killed 24,000 members of Benei Yisrael. Here, in Parashat Pinchas (25:14), the Torah identifies the man as Zimri, the tribal leader of Shimon. Some commentators claim that Zimri was actually Shelumiel Ben Surishadai – the tribal leader of Shimon during the time of the Mishkan's inauguration, when all the tribal leaders brought a special offering to the Mishkan (see earlier in Bamidar, 7:36).
In light of this identification of the man who committed the public act of sin, this story becomes very troubling. The tribal leaders were prominent and distinguished men, people of respected religious stature. How is it possible that Zimri could commit such a heinous sin, and shamelessly make it into a public spectacle? And if, indeed, Zimri was Shelumiel, he was not a young man; he had served as tribal leader already for forty years. Accordingly, he was over 200 years old. Clearly, this sin was not the result of uncontrollable passion. How can we explain this incident?
Rav Yosef Haim Sonnenfeld (Jerusalem, 1849-1932) explained that Zimri acted out of religious conviction. As we read in Parashat Balak, the nation of Moav had begun drawing Benei Yisrael to idolatry and immorality. In an effort to lead Benei Yisrael to sin, Moav set up a market near Benei Yisrael's camp where young women sold fine clothing. The women would engage the customers in conversation and lure them to idolatry and forbidden relations. Zimri decided that this spiritual crisis demanded the drastic measure of allowing the men of Benei Yisrael to bring the Moavite women to the Israelite camp. Under the current circumstances, Benei Yisrael were led towards idolatry, the gravest of all transgressions in the Torah. If Benei Yisrael would be allowed to bring the Moavite women to their own camp, on their own terms, they would at least be saved from the grave sin of idolatry. Zimri felt that the nation should compromise its stance vis-à-vis immorality in order to avoid falling into the trap of idolatry.
To that end, Zimri sought to lead by example and brought a gentile woman to the camp. He hoped that this would convince the people that they should bring the women of Moav to their camp rather than go the tents of Moav, where they would likely come to worship idols.
Of course, Zimri was wrong. We cannot attempt to save Jewish observance by compromising our principles and values. The non-Orthodox Jewish movements decided to allow men and women to sit together in the synagogue and to drive on Shabbat in order to attract a larger attendance. They similarly thought that by canceling the observance of the second day of Yom Tov they could encourage greater participation in Yom Tov celebration. This was Zimri's mistake, as well: attempting to save Judaism by compromising Judaism. Once a breach is made in the fence, there is no fence, and anything becomes possible. Indeed, today the non-Orthodox movements are very far from traditional observance and assimilating at an alarming rate.
Judaism does recognize a concept known as "Et La'asot Le'Hashem," the enacting of extraordinary measures for the sake of preserving the Torah. Most famously, Rabbi Yehuda Ha'nasi saw that the Jewish people were no longer capable of studying and transmitting the Oral Law by memory alone, and he therefore compiled the Mishna, suspending the law forbidding a written record of the oral tradition. But these decisions must be made only by Gedolei Yisrael, the leading Torah scholars of the generation. Once Moshe voiced his objection to Zimri's idea, he should have backed down and submitted to Moshe's authority. Instead, he persisted and demanded that his proposal be accepted, and for this he was punished and is forever known in Jewish history as a sinner.
This message is a critical one for the preservation of authentic Judaism. We do not recklessly change the system; we must keep things the way they are and trust in God's ability to ensure Torah's survival. Any creative innovations must be implemented only with the approval and guidance of our Torah leaders, who are endowed with the knowledge, vision and foresight needed to make these critical decisions.
