[Avodah] Pinchas

[Cantor Wolberg via Avodah]

“Pinhas… has turned back Chamati, My wrath, from the people of Israel.”   (Num.25:11)
 
So, Pinhas has proven his unusual power to turn back God’s wrath from Israel through a very courageous, 
difficult and controversial act. The Vilna Gaon brilliantly observes that in the word chamati (my wrath), 
the two outside letters chet and yud read chai — life — while the inside letters, mem and tav, read meit — death.  
 
The hidden meaning is that by Pinchos facing squarely what has taken place on the outside, he has miraculously 
turned back the wrath of the Almighty. In doing so, he has removed death (meit) from the inside, replacing it with life (chai).
 
(Also, if you remove the "W" (for Wilderness) from "wrath" and replace it with "O" (for Obedience to God), the “orath” can be rearranged to read Torah). 

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. 
Norman Cousins
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