On this Fourth of July, we Americans remember our imperfect founders. The majority of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence, including its primary author, Thomas Jefferson who wrote the opening assertion that “All men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” were slave owners.

In our Torah portion this morning we read about two of our Biblical ancestors who were also imperfect leaders. Moses and Pinchas:

In the story we encountered in the first Aliyah this morning regarding Pinchas, we found in verse 25:11 two forms of the Hebrew Verb KUF NUN ALEPH which JPS translates as passion, but which can also be understood as Zeal or Jealousy.

While the Torah text praises Pinchas, for his Zealous actions, granting him and his descendants the High Priesthood, I find Pinchas as described for us at the end of last week’s Parsha and the opening of this morning’s Torah reading to be a very problematic figure. So too did Samson Raphael Hirsch, the great 19th century German rabbi who is seen as the father of Modern Orthodox Judaism who wrote of Pinchas:

“He acted meritoriously, (in executing Zimri and Cozbi), ONLY because he caught the offenders in the act. If he had done so later it would have been murder.” The questions which Pinchas’ action raises for me today is: Is it possible to act with passion to make our world a better place for all, while avoiding the zealotry that has too often led zealots to justify acts of vengeance?

Pinchas is........

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