History's Most Mysterious Man- Pinchas - The Parshah On Fire

One of the most mysterious characters in all of Tanakh has got to be Pinhas. Pinehus is a seemingly unassuming grandchild of Aronakayen who goes ahead and kills Zimry the leader of the tribe of Shim during his adulterous act and is then rewarded with the enigmatic brie. The word shalom here means shalom. He won't die. Pas then goes on to become Eliovi who has surfaced and resurfaced throughout the duration of Jewish history and continues to do so until this very day. And the Gmorrah in Sanhedrin says that when the Torah writes the word and he will atone in Hashem's of it does so in the future tense hinting to the fact that he will forever be the savior of the Jewish people. Pinas/o seems to show up wherever we go. At every bris we get a chair for him. At every pes we set up a cup of wine for him. We even go so far as to open the door for him waiting for him to come in. Every time we bench, we ask Hashem to send Elio to bring us good news. Every mot we sing songs hoping for his arrival. The list can go on and on. What exactly was it about Pinhas that gave him the that honor? What did Pinhas do that granted him the status of being the perpetual savior of the Jewish people in every generation? What? Just because he got up and killed Zimry. We find many people in the Tyra who did great things and yet they were not rewarded with anything remotely as dramatic as Pinas leaders like I don't know and Moshe and Aaron and Amram and Yf and Yehuda. What was it exactly about Pinhas that made him so remarkably great that he became the immortal savior of Jews for eternity? So there's virtually no way to explain the mystique of Pinas without entering, albeit cautiously, into the dazzling world of Tyra secrets, the proverbial deep end of the Tyra's endless ocean. And there we learn that Pinhus was not as unassuming as we may have thought. We learn that his spiritual energy was bottled up inside of him for years. In fact, it actually preceded him. The Rami Pano, the great Italian sage who lived in the 1500s in his work namos on page 155 and the Arizo in his work safer guula both write that Pinhas was actually the gilgal the spiritual reincarnation of our forefathers. The Zoyer and Paras Pinhas points out that the gumatrius of the word Pinas and the word Yitzuk are the exact same 28 which tell us that they share the same soul. The tune zar says that the name Yitzka can be read Katesai alluding to the fact that the soul of Yitz will be around until the end of days. And the question is why? Why of all the many holy souls that graced our planet is the one that lives in this world forever the soul of Yeitz? And so they explain that Yeetszuk was the ultimate paradigm of spiritual strength. Our forefather Yitzk willingly allowed himself to be bound up and burnt as an offering to Hashem. Yitsk would live his life completely enveloped in Hashem and his Tyra. He was about as perfect as a human mortal could be. Perfect except one flaw. He was blind. On that fateful day when Yitzik was lying on the altar waiting for his father Aram to sacrifice him, the angels in heaven were looking down and crying. And those tears dropped into Yitzk's eyes and blinded him. And therefore, writes the Arizal, there was one function he could not accomplish, and that was observing the world around him and lending kindness to it. Spiritual perceptiveness. He could not detect the spiritual or physical detriments around him to the same extent a man with sight could. And this he needed to achieve before his soul's mission could be complete. And because it's like soul was left a tad incomplete when it left this world, it needed to re-enter the world and achieve what it previously could not. It needed someone upon whom it could rely on to accomplish its mission. Pinhas was the perfect candidate. He was the grandson of Aron, the kayen and the spiritual leader and the ultimate lover of peace and practical sort of guidance counselor so to speak to the Jews at the time. And conversely, he was also the grandson of Yra, a former idol worshipper and priest who converted to Yiddishkite. And it made him perfect. Pinhas saw it all and he absorbed it all. The love of Jews, the titanic spiritual abilities of any man, the ludicrousness of idol worship. And additionally, Pinhas demonstrated great humility. When all his cousins became kohanim, and he didn't, unlike his cousin Kyra, who made a whole big fuss about his status, Pinas accepted his with a smile on his face. He did what needed to be done in it says that never in his life did. When the Torah focuses the story on Pimas, it begins with the word var he saw which means explains the Raami pano that he saw what Yeetsz could not. He picked up where Yitz left off. When Pinhas was standing there in the back of the crowd watching as Zimry, the leader of Shet Shim committed his horrible act with a Midyani woman. A wave of spiritual energy suffused him. The soul of Yeitzk discovered its perfect landing spot. And Pinhas realized that he was on this earth to defend the Jewish people. Presently, that meant to rid the world of sinners. So, he grabbed a spear and he killed them both in one blow. And right then and there, Hashem took a look at Pinas and took a look at Yitzk sitting high up in heaven. And he knew that this is what the Jewish people need. A man with the spiritual dynamite of Yitzk and the love and the perception and determination of Pinas rolled into one. He was perfect. He would be the one to ride the train alongside the Jewish people down history's long tracks. He would be there to correct the wrongs, to love the oppressed, to steer the Jews when their path goes ary, and give them hope when all seems lost. And therefore, Pinhas became Elanavi, the man who would defend and protect the Jewish people time and time again. He would weed out the sinners. He would inspire Chuva. He would encourage the blind and the poor and the needy. He was the only person in in the history of the world to have an open openly chronicled story of going to heaven alive. He lived in both worlds much like Yeitzuk who at the time of his of the Aada went up to heaven and came back down. Elio says the alsh went up to heaven specifically from the east bank of the Jordan River for that is the precise location that Pinhas killed Zimry. They are one and the same. When it says in my that is still alive it means that Elio and Pinhas carrying the soul of Yitz exist in this world in a literal sense. He is here watching and listening and nurturing showing up when we need it most defending us and empowering us. The very last Nvi to prophesize for us was the he was the last person to have received. The very last thing he heard Hashem say was the following. Behold, I will send you El before the end of days and he will restore peace within the land. That is the very last Nva recorded on earth. Elio will be the one to herald in Messiah for he has been with us throughout our journey. That is why we mention Elio on so many different occasions. We give him a seat at a bris. We give him a seat at our pesak table. We sing about him at weddings and mention his name while benching and hear stories of people who are sure that they've met him. So indebted are we to his kindness and protection that we attach the words to his actual name. The goodness and blessing he gave and continues to give the Jewish people makes him so synonymous with goodness that we literally attach that title to his name. Elio is referred to as Elio in more than 60 instances in Madrish and Gimar. Even the one time the phrase is tagged onto someone else in Tanakh as invul that Ezra is quick to point out the mand which says that was in fact Elio saving the day yet again. No person or book can possibly recount all the kindnesses and favors Elio has contributed towards the Jewish people. His benevolence is incalculable. He is the one who taught our teachers Tyra. Men such as Reb Abu Ri pinhas reb Anuadesh all were taught by Elio Anavi. He saved Rebi from agonizing toothaches. He appeared as a Roman soldier to save the life of Noameish Gamu and Titus. He showed up as a horseman to save Ashi who was being attacked by a snake himself Shabas. He disguised himself as an Arab to save a poor couple in Medish Rus Zuta. and he dressed up as a woman to save her of mayor from a band of barbaric Romans des he was the man who informed Bario of the Caesar's death and he was also the man who showed up to Rubika's door and enabled him to go to yeshiva facilitating him becoming one of the most important in the last 2,000 years in these are just the instances we know about when Elio is not traversing the whole world saving lives in their time, Jews in their times of peril or teaching our teachers Tyra writes the safer sedum. He sits and he writes down each and every mitzvah every one of us performs and signs his name on the bottom and puts it in a safe place storing it for the day it will be read in heaven. So aside for helping us in this world, he is the one ensuring our experience in the next world will be the absolute fullest. Of course, there were great men before Pinas and great men after Pinas, but few harbored as deep a love and as burning a desire to defend and help the Jewish people as did Yitskin/o. With a burning desire to save the Jews, threatened by a devastating plague that was brought about due to the adulterous acts that they were performing, he rose up and he became the timeless defender of the Jewish people. He took the soul entrusted within him and showed up at the doorsteps of Jews in distress for the duration of our history with passion in his heart and a fire in his soul. He wants nothing more than to stand up for us when we are down and to lift us up when we lose hope. Be it physically or be it spiritually. And that explains another phenomenon about Eliohanavi. Anytime in the Gumarra there is a question so piercing that none of the brilliant know the answer to the Gumar writes the word teu. The word teu is really an acronym for the words meaning to say that Eliohanabi who came from the city of Tishbi will one day tell us the answer to this question. It may be later in our lives in the form of a mysterious sage or at the end of times when Elonavi ushers in Messiah. But either way, Elio will be the one to tell us the answer to our unsolved question. Now, let's ask a pretty obvious question. Why is Elio the one to answer all our Torah questions if Mishraenu was the one who handed us the Ty? Wouldn't Moshe be the best candidate to tell us the answers to our toughest questions? Would it not be apppropo for the gar to write me as in why is it so explains in kadushy page 108im that Elio is the most fitting to answer all our questions for not only does he lived comfortably in the next world with access to the greatest reservoirs of tyran existence he has additionally been here on earth with us through the thick and thin and through every turn. He understands us. He comprehends our issues and our struggles. He speaks our language. That's why he will be the one to take all our questions and answer them. For he more than anyone knows us intimately. He is the champion of our grandparents and the champion of our parents. He is the champion of us. Us in 600, us in 1433, us in 1654 and in 1822, us yesterday, us today. Similarly, Pure Durb Alzar writes that when Elio is not crisscrossing the world helping Jews in need, he is sitting at the very entrance of heaven, when a person dies and the soul ascends to heaven, the very first person to greet it is Elio Anabi. He quickly reaches for that scroll in which he diligently recorded all of the good deeds that that person did. And he calls out to Hashem how special and unique that soul is. Sort of declaring how deserving that soul is of the fabulous reward. Eliel welcomes him into heaven. He is the first to welcome us into heaven. For he is the one who is forever watching us here on earth. He is guiding us and proddding us and saving us at the very last second. What better person to serve as heaven's doorman than he? Now listen to this story. On September 11, 2001, at 8:07 a.m., 39 minutes before al-Qaeda terrorists flew American Airlines plane number 11 into the Twin Towers, a group of nine Jewish businessmen stood at a nearby Schul waiting for a minion. Normally, there would have been more than enough people filling the minion, but that morning over 100 people were at the Schlushim of Jews killed in a Grand Canyon helicopter crash. So that day they only had nine people at the minion and completely unaware of the tragedy that was about to take place, the men began losing patients. These were serious men and they were professionals and all of them had to be at their desks in the World Trade Center well before 9:00 a.m. At 8:11 a.m. 35 minutes before the horror began, the men were sitting in Schaw impatiently tapping their watches and one of them got up and said, "Let's just stop and be aided. I have a meeting at 9. I I got to go." Another guy says, "No, just wait a few more minutes." So they waited some more and at 8:15, 31 minutes before the first plane burst through the first tower, one man got up and said, "Okay, I'm leaving. I'll just dive into my office." And just as he was about to pick up his talis bag and walk out the heard they heard the door of the shaw creek open and an elderly man they've never seen before walked into the shaw, marched right up to the um and declared, "I have yard sight and I must daven." So the man about to leave sat back down in his seat and at 8:17, 29 minutes before the plane began its slaughter of thousands of people. The old man started domining and unlike the other members of the minion, he was in no rush. He had yard sight and he was going to make it count. Excruciatingly slowly the men carefully uttered the words and the other men wanted to leave but stuck there to ensure there was a minion. The other men stayed until the very last Amain. The very minute the old men finished saying Kadesh at the end of Davening at exactly 8:45 the men picked up their belongings and ran outside only to see a sight that remained seared into their minds forever. A plane crashing into the World Trade Center, setting the entire building on fire. And they stopped in their tracks and they looked up at the smoke and they looked up at the death and they looked up at the fire and they looked up to see the dozens of people jumping from the top floors of the buildings to their horrible deaths below. They looked up and realized that that could have been them. Had that minion finished even 3 minutes earlier, they would have been dead. They then realized that that seemingly ordinary old man who just happened to show up at the Shaw probably wasn't so ordinary. And they ran back in to see who he was, but he was gone. Gone to help the next Jew from his plight. Gone to teach the next Tyrus scholar. gone to help the next young widow feed her children. And the men looked at the empty shell and realized that if not for that mysterious old man, they would be a pile of ash. And they went back outside and they ran for their lives. Sometimes the people who seem to slow you down in life, the people who arrive late, the people who interrupt your plans, the people who hold you back might just be doing far more than you realize. In that moment, it might feel frustrating. But sometimes that very person is a messenger from above. Sometimes that delay is your salvation because heaven doesn't always show up in thunder and lightning. Sometimes it shows up as an annoying neighbor or a long- winded friend or a detour that drives you crazy. Sometimes salvation wears the face of inconvenience. Sometimes Eliohani comes disguised as the one person you wish would just leave you alone because in life you never know. Maybe, just maybe, that person was sent your way to rroot your fate and save your life. Each and every week for hundreds of years, Jews after making Havdala softly sing the song Eleo Hanavi. And we look to the upcoming week. And we hope that Elo will be there to guide us and to inspire us. And we sing hoping that the soul of Yutz with the love and the strength of Pinas will be with us each and every day. But most of all, we sing the hope and prayer that this will be the week where Elio brings the news we've all been waiting for, the arrival of Messiah.