With the recent death of my mother I have been reviewing memories of her and lessons she taught us. In this context I have been thinking a lot about the wisdom that her father my Opa taught her. He used to say,” Never start a fight, always end it”. Alfred Katz was revered as a wise and peaceful man. In my memory he was a European Solomon, regal, smart, and always looking for ways out of conflict.

In Matot- Masai, this week’s Torah portion we read:

And Moshe sent them, a thousand of every tribe, to the war, them and Pinchas the son of Elazar the priest, to the war, with the holy vessels and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.

Numbers 31:6

Why did they single Pinchas out? To this question Rashi said that this tells us that Pinchas was as important as all of the rest of them. Rashi goes on to ask why Pinchas is singled out instead of Elazar the High Priest? Quoting Midrash Tanchuma Rashi wrote:

He who began the commandment, in the that he killed Cozbi  daughter of Zur, let him finish it

Pinchas was a powerful character. He represented a certain zealousness. He seemed to be all too willing to end something that he started.

My Opa was a German ex-pat who evaded the Holocaust by escaping Germany. His oft quoted maxim to ”never start a fight, always end it” was often interpreted with less Gandhi and more Pinchas. It was not that you should “turn the other cheek“, rather if need be you should end a fight “with extreme prejudice“.

I quote my mother and my Opa often to my children. I find myself wanting to teach both messages. We are a peaceful people who walk in the ways of Aaron, like my Opan another Kohen Tzadik, and should pursue the ways of peace. But some times we need to stand up for ourselves and our ideals like Pinchas a different kind of Kohen. Violence is never excused, but being Jewish does not mean being impish. We need to embody a Judaism which peace loving, passionate and unwavering to stand our ground. My mother also manifested this duality of loving peace and being unflappable in her pride.

Please join us in learning the bible in preparation for our mother’s Shloshim which will be on July 20th. This is the last push here you can sign up to learn a chapter/book through here: http://hadranalach.com/2848