Parshas Pinchas: Hypocrite or Hippogriff

Torah Parallels Weekly

Parshas Pinchas

💭 A Thought on the Parsha: Hypocrite or Hippogriff                         Rashi points out that the Torah goes into more detail of Pinchas’s ancestry than necessary. The Be’er Heitev explains further and writes that the indicator that there is something to be learned from the extra ancestry stated here is that the Torah already introduced Pinchas to us, just four passukim earlier at the end of parshas Balak, and went through his family tree at the time that he actually killed Zimri and Kazbi.  Rashi therefore explains that the passuk here is coming to counter what people were saying about Pinchas. People were teasing him for being a hypocrite that it was not his place to get up and kill a nassi of Yisroel. After all, his maternal grandfather was Yisro who was known for his previous occupation of fattening cows for avodah zarrah. This is why the Torah ties Pinchas’s yichus to Aharon Ha’kohen. In order to demonstrate that he came from good stock as well and therefore had the credentials, so to speak, to do what he did.              The difficulty with this Rashi is that it does not seem that such an argument would be strong enough to counter a teasing crowd which is not thinking logically. Pinchas got up and took the initiative to do what was unquestionably right. Attempting to verbally abuse Pinchas and calling him unfit to carry out such an action just because his ancestors were involved with avodah zarrah, is illogical. The argument that someone who comes from such a family cannot become someone who adheres to Torah values is totally incorrect. In such a situation where a crowd is clearly not thinking, what purpose is there in the Torah countering that Pinchas’s grandfather was Ahaon Ha’kohen? Were the people really only aware of part of Pinchas’s family tree that it had to inform them of Aharon to justify his actions and demote their claims? Furthermore, why does the Torah even feel the need to play their game? The fact that Pinchas’s grandfather was Aharon was not really what gave him the credentials to kill the nassi. There were no credentials necessary. It was the right thing to do no matter who Pinchas’s grandfather happened to be. So how could we understand the purpose of the passuk repeating here that Pinchas was a descendent of Aharon Ha’Kohen?             The Kli Yakar has a slightly different approach to explain what the Torah is trying to teach by tracing Pinchas’s ancestry here. He suggests that the passuk is not coming to address the argument of the people, but rather to report how great Pinchas was based on an internal struggle that he had to overcome in order to bring himself to kill Zimri. Pinchas knew beforehand that by taking the initiative, people would try to defend themselves through debasing and humiliating him by calling him a hypocrite coming from one grandfather who fattened cows for avodah zarah, and another who was personally involved in forming the eigel ha’zahav – the worst aveirah in history done by K’lal Yisroel! Different from pashuIt p’shat (simple explanation) in Rashi, the Kli Yakar explains that the Torah mentions Aharon Ha’kohen because Pinchas knew going in that his only “redeeming quality” was his grandfather Aharon, and even that only provided a shaky foundation because of his involvement with the eigeil. Therefore, the passuk comes to praise Pinchas by saying that even though he was Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon Ha’kohen and came from a family involved in “avodah zarrah”, which meant that there was a window open for people to mock him and call him a hypocrite – Pinchas overcame these feelings with the understanding that he was his own person tasked to do what was right and that he was not going to let these emotions get in the way from doing what was right. This is how the Kli Yakar learns the passuk and also offers it as p’shat in Rashi as well, perhaps for the reasons we underlined earlier.             This explanation does more than address our original issues with understanding the passuk according to the pashut p’shat in Rashi, it gives us a profound insight into Pinchas’ mind and by extension a clarity on an area of human behavior. The Kli Yakar’s explanation that the Torah is coming to tell us how great Pinchas was for overcoming an internal conflict is based on the premise that Pinchas had a hava amina (initial thought) not to do what was right out of fear of being called a hypocrite. Not only that, but overcoming this fear was something so challenging, that the Torah goes out of its way to re-write three generations of his ancestry which it mentioned just a few passukim earlier as praise to Pinchas’ courage of moving forward.                         There is no doubt that there are many people who do not practice what they preach, refuse to put their money where their mouth is, or are flat out hypocritical in their associations and actions. However, an important line needs to be drawn between hypocrites and hippogriffs. A hippogriff is a mythical creature which has the front half of an eagle and the hind half of a horse. No one would call a hippogriff a self-contradiction, because it is not. Rather, it is a new entity made of two distinct parts. A hypocrite is someone who says or represents one thing but does another. A hippogriff on the other hand is one who is a work in progress. Someone who does in fact recognize that he or she is not fully righteous or wicked, and that that does not have to be a self-contradiction but rather a unique entity which is a work in progress as long as one wants to search for truth and constantly striving to ultimately doing the right things.             Pinchas himself was a tzaddik and yet because of his imperfect, albeit tzadikkim, ancestors, he had an inner conflict and had to struggle to find the confidence to do the right thing and ignore the people in his head calling him a hypocrite. If that is true of Pinchas then it is certainly a real struggle that affects us. When we get caught in the trap of the yetzer harrah, in whatever area it may be, we are immediately faced with a simple but intense decision. Will we get stuck enough to make us lose confidence in our own religious devotion and allow the rebellious feeling to overcome us and extend to other areas rather than facing the external or internal voices of being called a hypocrite? Or could we accept the fact that we have fallen with the understanding that as long as we still want to be headed in the right direction, we are not a hypocrite, but rather a work in progress – an imperfect human being just like everyone else. This was the intense struggle that Pinchas had to overcome. It was so difficult for him to come to terms with the fact that it is okay to do what is right and continue doing the right thing even though something in the past might make you look like a hypocrite; and in his case, it was not even him but rather his grandparents – one who converted and was Moshe rabbeinu’s father in law and the other, Aharon Ha’kohen, who only had the best of intentions as the gadol ha’dor and leader of Klal Yisroel while Moshe went up on Har Sinai! If this is a struggle for Pinchas then how much more so for ourselves who may have this conflict on a much more personal and internal level, whether consciously or subconsciously.                         Perhaps this idea is one of the forces behind the concept of aveirah goreres aveirah (one sin leads to another). Once a person gets hooked with doing an aveirah, it is increasingly easier for him to do another because it is easier for him to continue down the path of doing aveiros than to stop and face himself as a hypocrite. It is a hard struggle indeed, but the way out is what we learn from Pinchas. One must try to be able to accept oneself even when his actions clash with each other. As long as he is being honest with himself and knows that what he really wants deep inside is to work hard and climb higher, then he is not a hypocrite but rather a unique entity with a beautiful personal blend of strengths and weaknesses that he is challenged to work with in order to reach his potential.             May Hashem help us be genuine and honest people with the clarity of where we are holding in life in order that we could accept who we are and decide the direction we want to be headed in. In this way we will be able to look in the mirror and see ourselves as a work in progress who is headed in the right direction – a hippogriff, not a hypocrite.