This week, as we read Parshas Pinchas, we encounter a powerful moment of courage and divine reward. When a plague threatened the Jewish people because of moral collapse, Pinchas rose with holy zeal. He acted to defend the sanctity of the covenant, stopping the destruction in its tracks. In return, the Almighty granted him “My covenant of peace” and the eternal priesthood—a lasting legacy of protection and continuity for his descendants.

This Shabbos, we also stand at the threshold of America’s 250th birthday. Two hundred and fifty years ago, a new nation declared that all people are created equal and endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights. That declaration was not merely political; it was a moral statement rooted in the same conviction that animated Pinchas: that........

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