July 2, 2026
Parashat Pinhas continues the story that we began reading at the end of the previous parashah , Parashat Balak. After Bilam was unsuccessful in his attempt to place a curse upon Beneh Yisrael , he suggested to the king of Moav a different tactic for destroying them – to send the women of Moav and Midyan to lure Beneh Yisrael to immorality and idol-worship. Tragically, the plan worked. Hashem delivered a plague that killed 24,000 men among Beneh Yisrael who sinned with the women of Moav and Midyan. The plague stopped only when Pinhas – the grandson of Aharon Ha'kohen – stood up and killed two public violators, a man from Beneh Yisrael and a woman from Midyan. At the beginning of our parashah , the Torah names these two people whom Pinhas killed – Zimri, a leader of the tribe of the Shimon; and Kozbi, the daughter of a leader of Midyan. When naming the man who was killed, the Torah says: ושם איש ישראל המוכה אשר הוכה את המדינית – "And the name of the slain man from Yisrael , who was slain together with the Midyanite..." (25:14). The Keli Yakar points out that the Torah here twice mentions that Zimri was killed: איש ישראל המוכה אשר הוכה . This seems unnecessarily repetitive, as though Zimri was killed twice. The explanation might be that Zimri was already "dead" even before Pinhas killed him – because, despite his position of leadership, he went along with the crowd, he followed the tide. Rather than muster the strength to oppose the scandalous behavior – like Pinhas did – Zimri