Pinchas Shir: Pinchas Standing up for people

Pinchas Shir addresses the complicated narrative on Pinchas’ murderous actions that resulted in God’s praise and the cessation of thousands of deaths. The emphasis should not be on the superficial elements of the narrative — a death sentence for idolatry – but the actions of one person, however gruesome, that resulted in the saving on many lives; God saw his actions as virtuous.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, z/l: Pinchas Pacing Change

Moses asked God to name a leader who would “go out before them and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in.” Why the duplication? Rabbi Sacks writes about the sense of timing that is required in good leadership—what is possible when? For most leaders, the hardest challenge is change – people change slowly, and frequently resist, or experience the change as loss. When the timing is wrong, the people don’t follow.