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Orchard of Delights Chukat
complained about Moses’ leadership. After Pinchas’ action no more In addition to our explanation above based on the paradox of free will
disagreements between God and the Jewish people are recorded in and Divine Omniscience, many others are offered. Rambam states
the Torah. His actions seem to have accomplished far more than just that Moses’ sin was that he lost his temper at the people, saying,
stopping the plague. “Listen now O rebels, shall we bring forth water for you from the
rock?” (Numbers 20:10). Rabbi Chananiel and the Ramban explain
Peace can often be achieved through negotiations and other
nonviolent means. Sometimes a mutually beneficial relationship that Moses and Aaron were punished for implying that they, and not
can be reached when the other side realizes that force will not be God, had the power to miraculously provide water.
tolerated or that the negative approach and attitude it has adopted These explanations imply that Moses exhibited, ever so slightly,
does not achieve the desired response, thus creating an opening for anger and pride. For someone on Moses’ level even such a minimal
it to change and rectify its thinking. However, in many cases, until display of pride and anger proved his undoing. Despite our patriarchs,
a very clear line is drawn in the sand and the aggressor’s bluff is prophets, and Torah scholars rising to spiritual levels beyond our
called peace cannot be achieved. Indeed, sometimes we must engage ability to truly comprehend, Judaism is careful to never grant them
in assertive and aggressive speech or action, on both personal and the status of “gods,” as has happened in other religions. In fact,
national levels, to force the aggressor to sue for peace. Sometimes their very humanity, their susceptibility to failure, their inherent
we must even go to war and overwhelmingly defeat the enemy so shortcomings make their tremendous spiritual achievements all
that it realizes that peace is the only option. This past century alone the greater. Therefore, the written and oral traditions record not
contains many examples of warring nations that forged a true and only their tremendous spiritual achievements but also their trials,
lasting peace only after the aggressor was soundly defeated. tribulations, and even failures.

Yet even having recognized this reality, we must admit that such The Slonimer Rebbe teaches that in a certain sense pride lies at the
a situation is less than ideal. Just as God’s conferring a covenant heart of virtually all sin, as it blinds people to true reality and gives
of peace (brit shalom) upon Pinchas hints to this unique and less them the false impression that any behavior is justified as long as it
than ideal situation, so does the broken letter vav appearing in the fulfills their desires. Pride and ego march hand in hand, fuelling each
word for peace (shalom). This broken letter, called a vav katiya, has other.
a small open space dividing the top and the bottom of the letter, a In Kabbalah, ten times a number signifies the actualization of
phenomenon that does not occur anywhere else in the Tanach.
its latent potential. The Hebrew word for pride (ga’avah) has the
The unique vav katiya’s many meanings shed further light on the numerical value of fifteen, while the word for anger (ka’as) has
nature of the covenant of peace that Pinchas merited. The very the numerical value of 150. Pride when left to inflate or fester can
word “shalom” – whose root letters also mean complete or whole – turn into anger, a trait the Sages deemed one of the worst possible
is astonishingly broken, thus drawing attention to a certain lack of character flaws.
completeness in the covenant of peace. This broken letter alludes to Moses had conquered his ego to such an extent that God spoke
the fact that while sometimes peace can only be achieved through the to him “face to face,” as no other human being ever had before.
energies of war (peace’s inverse), there will come a time when peace He received the Torah as a gift on behalf of the Jewish people and
between people and nations will be achieved exclusively through the transmitted it to the nation as an eternal inheritance. Whether or not
dynamics of peace itself. we merit the gift and inheritance of the Torah ultimately depends on

The Sages note that in the Torah’s first verse – “In the beginning our own abilities to conquer our egos, pride, and anger and reach
God created the heavens and the earth” – the letter alef appears six genuine levels of self-nullification and humility.

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