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The following is from RSRH's commentary on Bamidbar 25:12<br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>12
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Therefore proclaim it: Lo!
I give to him My covenant: Peace.<br><br>
</i></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Here, the realization
of the supreme harmony of peace is entrusted<br>
by God precisely to that spirit and to that activism which
thoughtless<br>
people — anxious to mask their passivity and neglect of duty as
“love<br>
of peace” — like to brand and condemn as “disturbances of the
peace.”<br>
Peace is a precious thing for which one is obligated to sacrifice
everything,<br>
all of one’s own rights and possessions, but one may never sacrifice<br>
for it the rights of others, and one may never sacrifice for it what<br>
God has declared to be good and true. There can be true peace among<br>
men only if they all are at peace with God. One who dares to
struggle<br>
against the enemies of what is good and true in the eyes of God is —<br>
by this very struggle — one of the fighters for the
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>bris sholom</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>on earth.<br>
Conversely, one who, for the sake of what he imagines to be peace
with<br>
his fellow men, cedes the field without protest and allows them to
stir<br>
up strife with God makes common cause — by his very love of peace<br>
— with the enemies of the <i>bris
sholom</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>on earth. What saved the
people<br>
was not the apathy of the masses, nor even the tears of sorrow shed<br>
by those who stood idly at the entrance to the Tent of Appointed
Meeting.<br>
It was the brave act of Pinchas that saved the people and restored<br>
to them peace with God and His Law, thereby restoring the basis for<br>
true peace.</font></body>
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