[Avodah] True Peace

[Prof. Levine]

The following is from RSRH's commentary on Bamidbar 25:12

12 Therefore proclaim it: Lo! I give to him My covenant: Peace.

Here, the realization of the supreme harmony of peace is entrusted
by God precisely to that spirit and to that activism which thoughtless
people — anxious to mask their passivity and neglect of duty as “love
of peace” — like to brand and condemn as “disturbances of the peace.”
Peace is a precious thing for which one is obligated to sacrifice everything,
all of one’s own rights and possessions, but one may never sacrifice
for it the rights of others, and one may never sacrifice for it what
God has declared to be good and true. There can be true peace among
men only if they all are at peace with God. One who dares to struggle
against the enemies of what is good and true in the eyes of God is —
by this very struggle — one of the fighters for the bris sholom on earth.
Conversely, one who, for the sake of what he imagines to be peace with
his fellow men, cedes the field without protest and allows them to stir
up strife with God makes common cause — by his very love of peace
— with the enemies of the bris sholom on earth. What saved the people
was not the apathy of the masses, nor even the tears of sorrow shed
by those who stood idly at the entrance to the Tent of Appointed Meeting.
It was the brave act of Pinchas that saved the people and restored
to them peace with God and His Law, thereby restoring the basis for
true peace.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20110713/3a2c7d32/attachment-0001.htm>