Parashat Pinhas continues the story that began at the end of the previous parasha, Parashat Balak. After Balak tried to have Bilam place a curse on Beneh Yisrael – an effort that failed – Bilam advised Balak to destroy Beneh Yisrael by sending women from his kingdom to lure them to sin. The plan almost succeeded – as Hashem sent a plague that killed 24,000 people from Beneh Yisrael to punish them for their sins. He would have destroyed the entire nation if not for Pinhas, who stood up and killed two people who were committing a public sinful act.
In the beginning of Parashat Pinhas, Hashem announces that He would be granting Pinhas great reward for saving Beneh Yisrael through his heroic act. The Rabbis teach us that Pinhas lived for many years, and he was the prophet Eliyahu.
The Hebrew names פינחס and אליהו have the combined gematria of 260 – which is twice the gematria of עין – “eye.” This means that Pinhas, who was Eliyahu, represents the notion of using both our eyes.
We all see with two eyes – an eye which looks at the present moment, and an eye which looks into the distant future. We have one eye which sees our immediate needs and wants, that which is convenient or enjoyable here at the present moment. But then we have a second eye which sees beyond the present moment, focusing on what really matters and what is really important in the long term.
This concept is powerfully expressed by a pasuk in Kohelet (11:9):
שמח בחור בילדותך...והלך בדרכי לבך ובמראה עיניך, ודע כי על כל אלה יביאך האלוקים במשפט.
Rejoice, young man, in your youth…and follow the wishes of your heart and what your eyes, but know that G-d will bring you to judgment for all this.
The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat (63b) explains that the first part of the pasuk is what the yetzer ha’ra (evil inclination) tells us, and the second part of the pasuk is what the yetzer ha’tov (good inclination) tells us. One “eye” sees the here and now, all the pleasures we can enjoy right now, but the other eye sees what’s really meaningful and really important, our long-term goals and aspirations.
As the people were steeped in sin, Pinhas stood up and opened their eyes. He needed to do something drastic in order for them to realize that this is not what life is about, that they had to look beyond the here and now, and see what is really important, what is really valuable, what is really meaningful. And so Pinchas is represented by twice the value of עין – because he teaches us to look with both eyes, to see our immediate needs without losing sight of our long-term goals; to focus not only on what we need and want right now, but also on what we need to do to live meaningfully.
An elderly woman, in her 90s, once asked that I come to see her, because she wanted to consult with me. She explained that her children and her aide insist on hooking her up to a machine that helps her breathe. The machine was very uncomfortable, and she did not want to use it.
I asked her to tell me all the reasons why she wants to continue living. She told me about her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and all the things she was looking forward to.
“You have many good reasons to continue living,” I said. “This machine is the price you have to pay for all those wonderful things.”
In life, there are the things we want, and the things we need to do so we can have what we want.
The problem is that people spend all their time paying the price for living, instead of living. We are too consumed with our immediate needs that we don’t give ourselves the opportunity to do what really matters, what is really meaningful and worthwhile.
Let’s try to live with both our eyes open – seeing not only the here and now, but also our long-term vision for what we want to accomplish during our brief sojourn in this world.