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I have this friend, let's call him 'Jack'. Now, Jack is quite crafty at employing different voices in order to play phone pranks on me. It always serves as a good laugh between friends. Well, one Sunday, actually it was Mother's Day, Jack called me on my home phone utilizing his real-to-life elderly Jewish grandmother's voice. He wasn't going to get me this time.
Jack: "Hello? Is Dr. Wasserman there?"
Me: "Yes, this is him."
Jack: "Are you an Acupuncturist?"
Me: "Nope," I said firmly.
Jack: "You aren't? Then what are you?"
Me: "I am a harpoonist!"
Jack: "A whaaat?!?
Me (trying to be funny): "You see, harpooning is very similar to acupuncture, except the needles are longer and they kill whales." (...as I chuckled, almost audibly, to myself)
Jack: "I must have the wrong number."
Suddenly, I realized that this was not my friend Jack, but actually a real, elderly Jewish woman accidentally calling my home phone instead of my office number. I apologized profusely explaining about my prankster friend, hoping that I didn't just lose a potential client.
That ole Jack! He got me again. And, he wasn't even aware of it.
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| Microversion of Pinchas' spear that earned him the 'Covenant of Peace' |
At the end of last week's parshah, we see that Pinchas stops a supernatural plague which was resulting from an act by Zimri, the head of the tribe of Shimon. Zimri was performing a certain illicit act with a person with whom he was not supposed to be. With the insertion of an over-sized acupuncture needle the size of a spear, Pinchas quite literally caught Zimri in the act. 'Nuf said. See there.
The G-d-given reward of this act occurs in this week's Parshah, Pinchas. He is given Hashem's "Covenant of Peace". Doesn't it seem ironic that what appears to be a violent act is rewarded with a "Peace" covenant?
Perhaps, the healing arts and acupuncture, in particular, might lend a (healing) hand to understanding this paradox. Acupuncture's stated goal in healing is 'to bring a person closer to a homeostatic state of wholeness and balance' ; closer to the ideals of health and wellness. Similarly, the word for Peace is Shalom, which in Hebrew, can also connote completion and wholeness. This idealic state rarely comes through ease and comfort. To those unaware of acupuncture's purpose, the idea of multiple needles being inserted into a person in a single session (at a cost) does not sound like a Sunday past time. Yet, once aware of the mechanism and goal, it is done voluntarily. So, too with the achievement of any ideal state, it is accomplished through hardwork, even pain. L'fum Tza'ara Agra...
Maybe its for this reason that with Parshas Pinchas, we enter the 'three weeks' of the Jewish calendar termed "Between the Straits". There is a pivotal explanation by the Maggid of Mezritch to the verse in Lamentations (1:3) from which this term is derived. The verse reads, 'Kol Rodfeha Hisiguha Bein HaMeitzarim'. Translation: All of her (Israel's) pursuers capture her between the straits. The Hebrew word, Rodfeha, meaning 'her pursuers' can be craftily read as 'those who pursue Hashem' (by simply placing a space between the Rodfe and the ha). This results in an alternate reading of 'All of those who want to come close to Hashem may achieve a greater understanding of Him in difficult times' (Note: the Hebrew for capture can also refer to an intellectual grasp). Although healing isn't always pleasant, it can bring us to a higher state than what existed before the imbalance.
May we all utilize our difficult times (G-d willing, they be few in number) to achieve a greater sense of Shleimus (wholeness) and closeness to Hashem.
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