A Passion for Truth
Prerequisites for Jewish Leadership
By Rav Moshe Shternbuch
The following was written
by Rabbi Daniel Yaakov
Travis based on a drasha
given by Rav Moshe
Shternbuch, Rosh Av Beis
Din of the Eidah Hachareidis
of Yerushalayim.
•••••
FAMILY TIES
“After Pinchos killed Zimri, the
shevatim chided him saying, ‘Your
grandfather [Yisro] was a priest to idol
worshipers and you have the audacity
to kill one of the heads of a shevet of
the Jewish people.’ Hashem rectified the
situation by tracing Pinchos’ genealogy
to Eliezer” (Rashi).
Rashi’s comment requires explana-
tion. The individuals who were harass-
ing Pinchos knew that his father was
Eliezer, son of Aharon. So what differ-
ence does it make if the Torah writes his
father’s name in the posuk?
His detractors said that Pinchos’ zeal
to kill Zimri was due to negative char-
acter traits which he inherited from the
non-Jewish side of his family. They ac-
cused him of feigning kana’us, passion
for truth, saying that he was a ‘wild man’
who had taken the law into his own
hands and had committed a reckless act.
Pinchos should be held accountable for
killing Zimri.
Yet, Eliezer was a son of Aharon,
who personified the attitude of “pursue
peace and love peace.” Everyone knew
that Eliezer followed in his father’s har-
monious ways, and any act by his son
which resulted from his influence was
certainly motivated by pure intentions.
By tracing Pinchos’ genealogy to
Eliezer, the Torah makes it clear that
Pinchos killed Zimri in the name of the
genuinely peace-loving ways he ab-
sorbed from his father and not due to
any sinister influences.
THE WHOLE TRUTH
Pinchos was rewarded for his act of
truth with a bris of shalom. When the
Torah recounts this, the letter vov in the
word shalom is written ketuah, split.
What is the deeper meaning behind this?
Peace is not always easy to come by.
Some people feel that peace-making jus-
tifies excessive compromising. Rather
than pursuing truth, they rush to carve
up everything sacred in a vain attempt
to appease all the parties. While they
may have good intentions, what results
is very far from what the Torah calls
peace.
By writing the vov split‚ the Torah is
warning against such strategies. The
split vuov hints that the word shalom can
be read without the vov, spelling
shaleim, complete. Thus, the Torah un-
equivocally warns us against carving up,
in the name of peace, that which is
worthless if it is not complete.
Technology has given us real life ex-
amples of this concept. A sophisticated
spacecraft that can take man to the moon
and cost millions of dollars becomes a
deathtrap if a single screw is loose. Like-
wise, foregoing certain core Jewish val-
ues and practices in an attempt to com-
25 Tammuz 5769 • July 17 2009
promise with the forces of the modern
world results in the self-destruction of
communities. Only complete dedication
to the ideals of Torah can bring real, ev-
erlasting peace.
STANDING ALONE
Pinchos understood that his act
would attract criticism, yet he did not
hesitate to kill Zimri. In doing so, he
showed Klal Yisroel the proper way to
act. One should only consider what is
correct in Hashem’s eyes and disregard
how others might judge you.
This fundamental concept is hinted
One must pursue the truth regardless of
what others might think.
at in the Aseres Hadibros. While most
of the Torah is in the plural form, the
Ten Commandments, which encapsulate
the entire Torah, are written in the sin-
gular. This fundamental creed is directed
personally to each individual Jew. The
Torah thereby teaches us that one’s ful-
fillment of mitzvos must not be affected
by the herd mentality.
This point is illustrated by the follow-
ing story. Rav Avrohom Kalmanowitz
was the rov in the city of Rokav in Eu-
rope. Later, he came to the United States
and was instrumental in helping the en-
tire Mirrer Yeshiva reach Shanghai, thus
saving their lives.
While still in Europe, Rav Kalmanowitz
had an important question that he
needed Rav Chaim Brisker to answer.
He heard that Rav Chaim was in Brisk,
and he went to the rov’s home and
knocked on the door. He continued
knocking, but to his disappointment,
there was no answer.
After waiting for a long while, Rav
Kalmanowitz realized that he had to re-
sort to more assertive techniques. He
called out, “Rav Chaim, I have a ques-
tion that involves pikuach nefesh.”
Within a few moments, the rov of Brisk
was at the door.
Rav Chaim explained his reluctance
to answer the earlier knocks as fol-
lows: “The Rambam writes (De’os 6)
that if the world is full of evil people,
a person should isolate himself in the
desert. Once in a while, I shut myself
up in my home and imagine that I am
in such a desert.”
Rav Kalmanowitz had come during
one of these times, and Rav Chaim had
only been willing to break his isolation
when he heard that it was a situation of
pikuach nefesh.
HELPING THE KLAL
Pinchos taught us a crucial lesson
that one must pursue the truth regard-
less of what others might think. The
chillul Hashem alone was certainly
enough reason to kill Zimri. However,
there was another major motivation be-
hind Pinchos’ actions.
Hashem had responded to the trans-
gressions of Klal Yisroel with a
mageifah, a deadly plague, which was
claiming thousands of Jewish lives.
Pinchos’ timely act atoned for their sins
YATED NE’EMAN
and stopped the mageifah. This effec-
tively saved the entire Jewish people.
A passion for the truth is praisewor-
thy, but only if it is tempered with a love
for Klal Yisroel. Had Pinchos’ actions
been spurred only by anger against the
Jewish people, they would not have been
as effective. His sincere desire to save
Klal Yisroel made Pinchos’ conduct a
true act of kinas Hashem.
NEXT IN LINE
As Moshe’s term of leadership over
the Jewish people drew to a close, he
needed an appropriate successor. After
Pinchos had shown such a passion for
the truth, perhaps he should have been
first choice for the position. Why wasn’t
he even considered a candidate for the
next leader of Klal Yisroel?
Yehoshua ben Nun spent years of his
life personally learning from and serv-
ing Moshe Rabbeinu. If a doctor or law-
yer cannot properly function in their roles
before completing an extensive hands-on
internship, certainly a leader of Klal
Yisroel must work closely with another
leader beforehand. This hands-on expe-
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rience helped Moshe Rabbeinu put
Yehoshua before Pinchos or any other
candidate for the leadership position.
Rav Shternbuch once spoke to the
Brisker Rov about someone who was a
talmid of his father, Rav Chaim Brisker.
When the Brisker Rov asked how long
this person had learned from his father,
Rav Shternbuch replied, “Three years.”
“Three years?!” exclaimed the
Brisker Rov. “Three years is not
enough time to be considered a talmid
of my father.”
From Pinchos we learn that in the pur-
suit of truth, we must disregard the opin-
ions of others, yet we must always main-
tain a deep concern for all our fellow Jews.
Yehoshua ben Nun teaches us that while
we must maintain our individuality, true
Jewish leaders are humble enough to learn
deeply and extensively from their prede-
cessors, who exemplify and epitomize true
Divine service. May Hashem help us all
to serve Him with truth at all times.
•••••
Rabbi Travis is a rosh kollel of Kollel
Toras Chaim in Yerushalayim, and is the
author of Shaylos U’Teshuvos Toras
Chaim and “Praying With Joy - A Daily
Tefilla Companion,” a practical daily
guide to improving one’s prayers, avail-
able from Feldheim Publishers. For more
information about his work, contact
dytravis@actcom.com.
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