Mindful Torah...and more

This week's parashah/portion is Pinchas (Numbers / Bemidbar 25:10 – 30:1). It begins by recounting an incident from the end of last week’s parashah where Pinchas, son of Eleazar the priest, slays an Israelite man and Midianite woman after they enter a tent to have sexual relations. This takes place after the text tells us that the Midianites have led the Israelites into whoring, both in terms of women and also after other gods (especially the Midianite god Baal Peor). And so this act involving two people, represents what is happening on a greater communal level. At the start of this week’s parashah we are told that after Pinchas slew the “offending” couple the plague that was ravaging the camp ceased. Furthermore, God gives Pinchas a brit shalom /covenant of peace as a reward for his zealousness. After Pinchas receives this covenant, God instructs Moses to take a census of all the male members of the tribes. This is followed by it the plea of the five daughters ...

The early 20th century Jewish existentialist philosopher Franz Rosenzweig believed that the knowledge of our mortality is the ultimate negative force in our lives.  The fact that we know we shall eventually die hangs over us like a cloud, if we let it.  However, it is love that is the ultimate positive force in our lives.  It is the existence of love that allows, and even compels, us to live life in spite of the knowledge of our mortality. Hopefully, most of us don't spend our lives constantly thinking about our ultimate end.  Rather, Rosenzweig believed that the ultimate goal is to live a life dedicated to the love of God.  This goal is achieved, in good part, by loving our fellow human beings.  In loving,  we are able to find goodness and hope.  I agree with Rosenzweig in the power of love to create meaning in our lives in spite of the knowledge that we will die.  However, it is also true that we all eventually begin to face our own mor...