THE BROKEN LETTER

“Therefore say: Behold, I give him My covenant of peace” (Bamidbar 25:12).

After Pinchas’ brave actions at the end of parashat Balak – he killed the chief of the tribe of Shimon and his Midianite lover while they were engaged in a public promiscuous act – Hashem awarded him with a “covenant of peace”. Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin (1888- 1978), one of the most prominent  Orthodox, Religious Zionist rabbis of the 20th century and founder of the Encyclopedia Talmudit, has a remarkable explanation on this reward in his book L’Torah U’l’moadim. I am indebted to Rabbi Dovid Hazdan of the Great Park Shul, Johannesburg, for bringing this to my attention. Below is a faithful rendering of Rabbi Zevin’s words from the original Hebrew:

The letter vav in the word shalom (“peace”) is written with a deliberate break in the middle (a vav keti’ah) in both Torah scrolls and in accurate printed editions of the Chumash. [To understand this we must first preface the following:] There are two kinds of unity: mechanical unity and organic unity. Mechanical unity is merely an aggregate, like the four walls of a house. Although they form a structure, there is no single inner force that penetrates them and makes them into one living whole. Organic unity, by contrast, is internal, like the unity of the 248 limbs of the human body. The life force that permeates every limb unites and binds them into one complete organism—the human body. This is the difference between shalem (“whole”), written without a vav, and shalom (“peace”), written with a vav. Something that is shalem is complete within itself, a single, integrated entity. But when peace (shalom) is made between two people, no matter how genuine and profound that peace may be, it ultimately remains an external peace; the two individuals do not literally become one being.

This also explains the difference between the peace that exists among the nations of the world and the description of Israel: “Who is like Your people Israel, one nation on earth” (II Samuel 7:23). The peace of the nations is an external peace—a peace based on shared interests. When those interests disappear, the peace disappears with them. Israel, however, is called “one nation” because the Torah, which is the living soul of the Jewish people, permeates every part of the nation just as the soul permeates every limb of the body, binding them into a single organic whole.

Accordingly, with reference to the Temple, Scripture sometimes speaks of “the sukkah of Shalem” (Tehillim 76:3) and elsewhere of “peace” (shalom). The unity experienced in the Temple, when all Israel ascended to “appear before the Lord,” was both external and internal. The people gathered physically in one place, but they were also united spiritually. This is the meaning of the verse: “A Psalm of Asaph: O God, the nations have entered Your inheritance” (Psalms 79:1). The Talmud asks: “Why is this called a psalm? Surely it should have been called a lament! It answers that it is because God poured out His wrath upon the wood and the stones (Eicha Rabbah 4:14), rather than upon Israel.” What is implied by the expression that God “poured out His wrath upon the wood and the stones”? It teaches that as long as the Temple served as a centre of inner unity, containing the Chamber of Hewn Stone where the Sanhedrin sat and from which Torah instruction went forth to all Israel (cf. Devarim 17:8–11), and as long as the Divine Presence dwelt there, the Temple was precious before God. But once the people destroyed that inner unity, leaving only an external gathering place—a mere central meeting point—then it had become nothing more than four walls of a building, wood and stone. Such a structure, by itself, God no longer desired.

The role of the Cohanim [as represented by Pinchas] was twofold. First, they were to promote external peace among Israel, ensuring that each person sought the welfare of his fellow, as the Mishnah says of Aharon: “Love peace, pursue peace, love people, and bring them close to the Torah” (Pirkei Avot 1:12). Second, they were to foster inner peace by instilling Torah within the people, as Scripture says: “For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek Torah from his mouth” (Malachi 2:7), and again: “If a matter of judgment is beyond you… you shall arise and go up… and come to the Levitical priests” (Devarim 17:8–9).

It is for this reason that God says, “Behold, I give him My covenant of peace” (Numbers 25:12), with the word shalom written using a broken vav. The broken vav symbolises both ideas simultaneously: with the vav and without the vav; both shalom (peace between distinct individuals) and shalem (an inward, organic wholeness). God’s covenant with Pinchas was not merely a promise of harmony between people, but of a deeper unity—a peace rooted in an inner spiritual oneness.

Lee, Chani Merryl & Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom!  

Rabbi Liebenberg.

This week’s YouTube message: https://youtu.be/bb63yhV7asY?si=juxCknyJ6eaMc-8l