Pinchas Portion

Tomorrow will be the 50th anniversary of "This is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" - the landing and walking of the first man on the moon. What an amazing achievement, something that is so hard to imagine. Until this very day it is simply unbelievable to think that human beings flew to outer space, to discover parts of the universe outside of our planet. How did they do it? How is it possible for a human to do that? It is so amazing.
I sometimes think of the fact that our planet, a huge, immense, indescribably heavy body of material, is floating in space... can you imagine? It sounds so so unbelievable, so hard to grasp! This planet that weighs who knows how much, floats in the space, and does it in a fixed orbit... and not only that, it also turns around itself while doing so. If anyone would have told me that a thousand years ago, I would have burst out laughing. What? No way! Not in a million years! But... it is true. The pictures from outer space show it. And sometimes, when I need perspective on things, when things weigh me down and I need to put things in perspective, I think about this. I realize that we live in a mysterious universe, created by a really, truly omnipotent G-d, who can make huge planets float in space without falling, without crashing, without deviating from their orbit. A G-d that created not just this planet but all the endless number of other planets and stars. A G-d that created our planet with the perfect conditions to sustain life, all kinds of different forms of life, in a perfect way. If our planet would have moved a little too close to the sun, everything here would have burned and died. If it were moving a little too far from the sun, everything here would have been dark and cold. When you look around and see all the myriad forms of life - all the different types of plants and animals: sea creatures, reptiles, mammals, birds, butterflies, etc, you can't help gasping in awe. So much creativity, so much beauty and wisdom and perfection! And when you look inside one species, no one specimen is identical to the next. Think of us, humans. Our faces are so different from each other's. Even identical twins can be told apart by their relatives. We each have our unique finger prints. We each have our unique DNA. Each of us has a different voice, by which we can be recognized. Have you thought once that it is so incredible that there are SO MANY different kinds of human voices in this world? And you can tell by someone's voice so many things about them: their gender, their age (more or less), their current mood, their intentions. And it is not just within one generation. I would doubt that any time in History there was someone with exactly the same voice like mine, or who looked exactly like me, who had the exact DNA that I have. Isn't it amazing? So much creativity - endless! So much wisdom - unfathomable, and endless! How could anyone look at the world, live in this world, and not recognize that there is a Creator to all of this wonderful universe? So in relation to these thoughts, I'd like to share the following:
It is so interesting to see how things happen. I recently felt a deep desire to go deeper in my Torah learning, to penetrate some more mystical layers of commentary and wisdom. I felt a desire to read the book of Zohar, which is an ancient Torah commentary, that reveals a lot of deep secrets about this world and its reality, based on the different layers of the Torah texts. So inside of me I felt like I wish I could learn the Zohar, and then a couple of days later, when I went into my favorite synagogue in the world, the one of the university on Mt. Scopus, I saw there, in the entrance to the synagogue, a Zohar book. It was placed where people usually leave books to give away. I took it in my hand. It wasn't the WHOLE Zohar, just a part of it, but it was interpreted in a way that is easy to understand, even for people with not much background. I started reading it, and I try to read a part of it every Shabbat. It is interesting. I want to continue. I feel that without intending to, I'm also learning Aramaic in the process, because the original text is in this language, and then it is translated to Hebrew.
The Zohar is the main book of the Kabbalah (Jewish Mysticism). Our tradition holds that it was written in the 2nd century by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Secular researchers want to think that it was written in the 13th century. Either way, everyone agrees that it was written many hundreds of years ago - before anyone ever thought of establishing NASA, the American space agency, which provided us with satellite pictures from outer space. When you read some of the things that are written there, you are left with a feeling of awe and wonder: 'How did they know these things back then?'. I'll give you an example. The Zohar on the Book of Leviticus (page 10, A) says the following amazing truths on astronomy, at a time and age that humanity didn't possess such knowledge. The following is my translation of it, so don't expect it to be perfect:

"The whole world is turning around in a circle like a ball. Some people live in its bottom, and others live above. And all those who live in the different parts of Earth are different from each other due to the changes of weather, according to the weather that is in every different place. This is why they look different. There are places in which some have day light while the others have night. And there is a place in the world that is always with light without night, except for a very short time". 

If you want to see the original, I'll keep it at the bottom of this post. But - isn't it amazing? Long before Copernicus and Galileo, whether it was in the 2nd century or the 13th century, humanity didn't yet possess this kind of knowledge, and this Zohar book of Torah commentary tells this so explicitly! I'm so impressed!!! What else does this book know that we do not know today? Whatever it is, I would like to know it, so I've started learning. I wish there was more than just one Shabbat a week, so that I could read and study a lot more. I feel so privileged to be able to read it!

And also - the way it happened - I just felt the desire in my heart to study this book - and here it appeared in front of me at a place where they give books away. It was SO amazing! And it is not the first time that something like this happened to me. I wanted to study more about some areas of Jewish Law, and a specific book appeared (in exactly the same place!) just on time. HaShem listens.

We're experiencing a very hot summer here, which makes one want to stay indoors and not go out, and I've started feeling that I just don't move enough, and it is not good. Last Shabbat I took a walk to explore some streets in my neighborhoods and I discovered a street that I wasn't familiar with before. It's a villa street, and it is circular and quiet. I decided to start a walking routine every morning, and have this street as a regular part of my track. It's a big circle, with uphill and downhill parts, and I do it twice every day. To give myself the motivation to do it, especially in this heat, I listen to Torah classes while I walk, and then I feel like I'm not wasting my time on physical things, I actually gain some spiritual gains at the same time. When I need to give myself the motivation to go on a walk, I tell myself that it's time to listen to a Torah class on my smartphone, and so I go.

This week's Torah Portion is that of Pinchas. In last week's Portion, it was told how the Israelites started worshiping the Medianite's foreign god, and this happened because of their sexual promiscuity with the women of Median. A very prominent Israelite person, the prince of the tribe of Shimon, brought a Medianite woman and sinned with her in front of Moses and the whole nation, and in front of the Tent of Meeting. G-d punished us with an epidemic because of these sins. Then Pinchas, grandson of Aaron, took a spear and killed the Jewish prince and the Medianite woman. By doing it, the epidemic stopped and G-d gave him the gift of priesthood. You may ask why a gift of priesthood, isn't he a priest already, just by being Aaron's grandson? The answer is: no. Descendants of Aaron who were born AFTER Aaron was anointed as priest - they and their offsprings are priests, for ever. But Pinchas was born BEFORE Aaron was anointed, and therefore was not a priest. There is a lot to say about this whole episode. But I think the main message here is courage. Courage to be just, even if it is politically incorrect, non popular. Even if everyone around says and does the exact opposite of G-d's will - the courage to stand for what G-d wants. This is very relevant to our day and age. The Torah commands us to keep certain moral laws. But modern society has started fashioning their own laws, calling that which is good 'bad', and that which is bad 'good'. Horrible phenomena of people who do the exact opposite of G-d's will, proudly, without apologizing, and society celebrates them and prides them, and parades them. The cost for society in the long run, in the future, is going to be immense. It affects us in all kinds of different ways and we do not know where it would end. G-d stated His will in the Torah, but these people trample His word with their behavior and parades. He tells them in so many ways that this is wrong - including creating a disease that is specific to this kind of behavior, but they use modern medicine to get over it, to get healed from it, to avoid it. They don't want to listen. I think the whole world is washed with this wave, and it is very regrettable. If you don't agree with this now, you'll be forced to agree with this in the future, when the societal consequences of such behaviors will be evident and apparent to all, when it will be clear that the Torah is truly divine and unchangeable, and that "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace" (Proverbs 3:17). And Pinchas got a covenant of peace from G-d. None of us should kill, ever. But we should speak against that which is wrong. Not easy to do, but we should, each in our own way. So I did it now, in my own way.
Shabbat Shalom!

This is the original text from the Zohar book - in Aramaic with Hebrew translation in brackets. 

"כל ישובא מתגלגלא בעיגולא כדור (כל העולם כולו מתגלגל בעיגול ככדור). אלין לתתא ואלין לעילא (חלק מבני האדם מתגוררים למטה בתחתית כדור הארץ, וחלק למעלה). וכל אינון בריין משניין בחזווייהו משנויא דאוירא, כפום כל אתר ואתר, וקיימין בקיומייהו כשאר בני נשא (וכל אלו המתגוררים בחלקים השונים של כדור הארץ - שונים אחד מהשני בגלל שינוי מזג האויר, כפי מזג האויר של כל מקום ומקום. לכן תראה אותם שונים). ועל דא אית אתר בישובא כד נהיר לאלין, חשיך לאלין. לאלין יממא, ולאלין לילא (ישנם מקומות שלאלו יש אור ולאלו יש לילה). ואית אתר דכוליה יממא, ולא אישתכח ביה ליליא בר בשעתא חדא עירא (ויש מקום בעולם שמואר תמיד ולא יימצא בו לילה, אלא זמן מועט).