Balak - connection to Pinchas

I am troubled with the last section of parsha Balak, where Pinchas throws a spear and kills both prince Zimri and his Midianite lover with one strike.  I am sure most people raised in the Western culture are.  We are taught from the very early age the kind of tolerance where violence is bad, while immorality is so-so.  Intrinsically a human being cringes at the sight of violence, the sight of blood.  And yet, who would avenge virtuous Jewish maidens on whom Zimri the noble prince turned his back?  Who would avenge the frustration, the despair that an innocent young girl feels when nice Jewish boys turn to chase other girls whose only virtue is neither talent nor beauty, but a simple fact that they are easily available?  Who would ensure that klal Israel continues its existence?  And yet, it is hard to get my mind around this, who would be the one to raise the spear, who would be able to throw the first stone – not me!

I feel there is a connection between the story of Balaam the evil prophet and the story of Pinchas.  Balaam is a spiritual man, a prophet on whom divine spirit rests, a man whom G-d talks to, and yet he is a thoroughly corrupt, immoral individual.  Balaam does not need an intellectual proof of G-d’s existence, he knows that G-d is there, that He controls the world, he knows what G-d wants from the man, and yet he persists in his wicked ways, following the considerations of his own corrupt mind.

People often act immoraly because they don’t believe in G-d.  They don’t have direct proof of G-d’s existence and they are not convinced by rational explanations, they say it is a matter of belief and personally they just don’t believe that G-d exists.  Balaam, the prophet, does not need a proof of G-d’s existence, he knows first hand that G-d exists and runs the world, but he just does not agree with what G-d is telling him, he does not believe that divine decree is the best for him personally.  The main difference between Balaam and Moshe is in the ego.  Moshe has practically no ego and divine spirit, ruach hakodesh, flows freely through him.  For Balaam ruach hakodesh gets filtered through the inflated ego, bend on gratification of physical and emotional desires.  

Unlike Jewish prophets and patriarchs, Balaam is not innocent, and in his not-so-limited experience he knows enough about the pollution of spirit.  His tactic to weaken Israel’s connection to Hashem comes from the expert knowledge that nothing takes a man farther away from divine presence than indulgence in sensual pleasures.  Balaam is in conflict with himself - his divine soul delights in seeing Israel dwell peacefully in his tents, while his ego keeps plotting one trick after another to bring Israel down to his level.

Immorality becomes attractive to masses when spiritual people, the artists and prophets, are immoral.  A spiritual person holds a strong attraction because of the spirit that dwells in him.  People are drawn to a person who is inspiring, enthusiastic, alive, talented. When such person acts immorally, and it becomes known, then to many immorality becomes attractive, because it is associated with the attractive, spiritual person.  

In the world we live in immoral people often appear pleasant and sociable, while virtuous ones come across as bitter and neurotic. This is the world we live in, where sinners are happy and serene, and righteous are stressed, pursued and misunderstood – the world of galut.

We approach faith cautiously, step by step, weary of the possibility of zealotry, apprehensive of fanaticism.  We are worried about the legacy of Pinchas, cautious to go all the way lest the children become fanatical zealots.  But as long as we live in the West, the real danger for children is to become like Zimri, or more likely a wishy-washy neutral intellectual, an unfortunate casualty caught in the middle of the path of the spear. 

We think of Pinchas as a quintessential zealot, forgetting that he threw his spear not out of hatred, nor out of repulsion for what he saw, but to save his people, our people, from the plague.  And if I look deep down in my heart, as kind and gentle and tolerant I may think myself to be, I would not hesitate to lift a weapon to save my children and my people from destruction, and I’d expect my son to do the same.