Yigal, you're not alone

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Last update - 09:54 26/07/2005
Yigal, you're not alone
By Akiva Eldar

The Al-Qaida movement, which draws its murderous coda from a sick interpretation of religious law, is not alone. We, too, have a movement that offers murderers a dispensation from the Torah, in the name of heaven and the world to come - a reenactment of the validation of political murder, in which tragic use has already been made in our recent past.

Chabad Youth, a movement that has declared war on the "sinner" Ariel Sharon and the disengagement plan, may its memory be erased, distributed last week the following lines, in a lesson drawn from the chapter of Zimri and Pinhas: "When Pinhas saw the situation in the field, he saw the plague striking the Children of Israel as a result of their actions, he saw Zimri, a president of the tribe of Shimon who was not concerned for the welfare of the members of his tribe, but who sought excuses to continue to sin and thereby cause many more to die in the plague. He took the law into his hands and with the approval of Moses killed Zimri and Cozbi, and thereby ended the plague that was striking the Children of Israel!"

The story of Pinhas has more than one interpretation, such as one that emphasizes the one-time-only nature of the act. Chabad prefers the following interpretation: "This is a murder brought on by peace. First of all peace between the Children of Israel and their Father in heaven, and later on peace between the Children of Israel and themselves." Just to make sure, for the benefit of those who did not understand the moral of the story, the Chabadniks explain that: "The merits of Pinhas can provide us an example of everyday life. Sometimes it seems that Moses, Elazar the Priest and the elders are standing and not doing anything. If so, who am I to take the initiative? We see that taking the initiative and doing God's will in spite of all the trials and difficulties on the way, are what can protect and benefit all of the People of Israel, and bring the true peace that will lead to the true and complete redemption."

Reader Raviv Naveh, who brought these things to our attention, notes, to the attention of the attorney general that he did not find these in a pamphlet in an improvised synagogue in the settlement of Yitzhar. They appear in the "Point to Consider" column, which is excerpted from the "Treasury of Talks by the Lubavitcher Rebbe," to readers of the free weekly Hamekomon newspapers, which are distributed directly to 305,000 households in Haifa and environs, Petah Tikva, Ramat Gan, Givatayim and Tel Aviv. "Instead of asking after the fact who issued the din rodef," Naveh warns, "We have before us a well-known movement, with a branch in nearly every city in Israel, which is distributing in our mailboxes a call `To commit an act.'''(A.E.)


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