Pinchas / Judaism is not always governed by logic

If the story of Pinchas and Zimri played out in our world today, it would not be Pinchas who is universally heralded and Zimri who is thrown under the bus for being an arrogant and abrasive antagonist.

The story is pretty simple. Zimri, a leader of the tribe of Shimon, consorts with a Midianite woman in public. According to the Talmud (Sanhedrin 82), he mocked Moshe — if a Midianite (Zipporah) was permissible to Moshe, why was a Midianite prohibited to Zimri?

Pinchas, sensing the rebellious nature of Zimri’s act, as well as his mocking tone, recalled a law that declared that Zimri deserved the death penalty. And, in that particular circumstance, when he took the law into his own hands, he was praised for it (see Rabbenu Bachaye 25:6-7). He was even granted a reward of “The Covenant of Peace.”

In most circumstances, we do not tolerate taking the law into one’s own hands, which is why beyond Pinchas’ example, there will be no endorsement of vigilantism here.

But one wonders how our enlightened society would look at this case.

Our society would look at Zimri and say perhaps he is a little boastful and bold, but he is an adult and entitled to make his own decisions. Furthermore, the woman in question was a consenting adult, making their act nothing that could be construed as illegal. Furthermore, if Zimri was not married, then he was hurting no one. He has every right, our liberal provocateur will note, to marry or consort with any consenting woman he wants, of any religion.

Pinchas, on the other hand, has no excuse for his actions. Who does he think he is? He is a murderer! His dislike of someone’s behavior does not justify killing the person!

These are all very logical arguments. And the truth is, in some cases, logic is a good sell.

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik noted, however, that Judaism is not always governed by logic. Korach, for example, tried to figuratively skewer Moshe in his position as leader and teacher through very logical arguments against some of the commandments of the Torah. But logic doesn’t explain the mitzvah of techeilet, or the mitzvah of mezuzah.