Lead Tidbit
Mild but Vital Application
Permit me to get personal (for a change). I'm known as Phil, but my name is Pinchas and I've always been drawn to the Torah's Pinchas because of his name (although he's got a YUD and I don't). But the main story in the Torah regarding Pinchas is a difficult one, because - atypically - we're not really supposed to learn from it. His action was so unique, so radical, so extreme, that had he asked Moshe Rabeinu if he could do what he did, he would have been told, NO. And he didn't ask, which makes it hard to learn from what he did, since we are supposed to ask. Rambam even says that had Zimri killed the approaching Pinchas in order to save his own life, he would have been justified to so do. Yet G-d rewarded Pinchas for what he did, giving him the seemingly contradictory Covenant of Peace, the Kehuna. So we are expected to value what Pinchas did, but are cautioned not to practically ever emulate his actions.

But, there is a mild application of the "Lesson of Pinchas" that we can take and apply in our own lives. And although I described it as mild, it is nonetheless vital in its application.

When Pinchas saw immoral and idolatrous behavior unfolding before his eyes, when he saw terrible betrayal of G-d and Torah, when he saw his fellow Jews and especially the leaders of the people not doing anything to stop the horrendous behavior of his fellows and the plague of G-d's wrath taking its toll on the people... he had to do something. He could not sit by and let it happen.

He did what he did, and although we probably may not grab a spear, we still must react. We must shout our objections and proclaim that it is wrong to... (I leave it to the reader to understand the end of the sentence... and the end of this Lead Tidbit.) We dare not be silent. Obscene plans are afoot.