NUM322 The word zealous is defined in the dictionary as "filled with or inspired by intense enthusiasm or zeal; ardent; fervent." But the term zealot is also somewhat negatively defined as "fanatical or extreme adherence to a cause, especially a religious one." In The Biblical Hebrew, the same word is used for both jealousy and zealotry (Kana). In fact, the Greek origin for both words jealous and zealous is "Zelotes," which connotes "emulation, admirer, or follower." Are these two concepts connected? And if so, how? One commentary explains that zealousness is another form of positive jealousy -- jealousy for God, in which the zealot will defend God's name and honor whenever it is threatened (Pele Yo'etz on "Jealousy"). Pinchas is called a zealot by God (Numbers 11-13), as he is praised by the Almighty for killing two people who publicly worship idols, thereby desecrating God's name. Their actions brought about a plague upon the followers of the idol worship, while Pinchas' deed stopped the plague after 24,000 people were killed, and he is rewarded by God. Elijah is also called a zealot when he confronted the idol worshipers in his time (I Kings 19:10-14). Moses, too, was called a zealot by the sages, when he gathered the Levites to smite the three thousand idol worshipers of the Golden Calf (Midrash, Pesikta Rabbati 4:3). Like the jealousy describing God, it seems that zealotry on behalf of [God] in the Bible relates exclusively to idol worship. However, we also see that the commentators did not wholeheartedly support the notion of zealotry. Elijah seems to be castigated by God for being "too" jealous. In addition to the perpetual priesthood for all his descendants, Pinchas is given the gift of "Brit Shalom-Covenant of Peace." One modern commentary explains what this reward actually was and suggests that the quality of zealousness for God by Pinchas was appropriate in that particular instance, but only as a one-time act (Ha'aek Davar on Numbers 25:12). God was afraid that Pinchas might become emboldened by this action and use zealotry again in subsequent activities. God, therefore, changed the personality of Pinchas to make him a peaceful man (Covenant of Peace), never to use the trait of zealousness again. Thus, while zealousness and zealotry maybe appropriate in certain situations, it is not positive if it is an ongoing character trait. Later on in the Torah, when God commands the Jewish people to utterly destroy a city whose Jewish population was worshiping idols (Deuteronomy 13:13-17) -- an act of zealotry on behalf of God--the "reward" these destroyers received was the gift of mercy and peace from God, to ensure that this would be a one-time action only (Deuteronomy 13:18).

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NUM324 See [[EXOD622]] Exodus 22:1 bloodguilt AMJV 119

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NUM329 Despite the unity of Jacob's family, the rivalry and competition between the tribes did not diminish later in the desert. When Moses wished to appoint seventy new Judges to be the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish Court, he was fearful that if he appointed even one more judge from one tribe (six) while some of the other tribes have one judge fewer (five), those tribes would be angry at Moses and feel like losers of the competition. Since with exactly seventy judges not all the twelve tribes could receive six judges (two tribes would necessarily have five), Moses was forced to conduct a lottery so that the competition would be minimized and the appointment of judges would seem equitable to all, and not a decision by Moses, which would anger the less enfranchised tribes (Sanhedrin 17a). Similarly, in deciding which tribe would permanently receive which part of the land of Israel, there was great competition as well. God was aware of this competition and thus instructed Moses to conduct a lottery to determine not only which tribe would receive which section of land, but also which family within each tribe would receive which parcel of property [this and next verse; Midrash, Yalkut Shimoni, Beraishit 22:98].

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NUM339 [Regarding] an anomaly in the Torah when the Ten Commandments were given [, w]hen God spoke to the Jewish people, each person heard the same message from God, but in a distinctive manner. That is why the first commandment of the Ten Commandments is stated in the singular, says the Midrash (Midrash, Pesikta Derav Kehana 12:27). Every person learns in a individual way and hears the Torah messages in a manner appropriate for him or her. And because every human being is distinguishable from others, each prophet, charged with delivering essentially the same message from God to the people, delivered it in his or her inimitable way (Sanhedrin 89a). Everyone has his or her "style," and people must be tolerant of those whose "style" differs from theirs. Moses, the leader of the Jewish people, learned this truth through forty years of leading the Jewish people. This is the reason that when Moses was about to die, he asked God to appoint a leader to succeed him who had the capacity to understand that each Jew requires a different type of leadership, depending on his or her temperament. When God chose Joshua, He made sure to inform Moses that the new leader indeed had this quality of understanding each person according to his or her specific needs. (Midrash, Bamidbar Rabbah 21:2; Rashi commentary on Numbers 27:18). In keeping with this perspective on the nature of human beings, the Mishna states that one of the most amazing aspects of man's creation is that there are many characteristics of the human being which are common to every person, but at the same time, there are features that make each individual unlike any other person created before or to be thereafter (Mishna Sanhedrin 4:5). Thus, some aspects of human kind unite all people, while there exist to be other components of the human make up that allow each person to remain different and special. The Rabbis understood this, so that even when they enacted laws, they understood that some people would not be able to keep these edicts. As long as most, but not all, of the Jewish people would keep them, an edict was enacted. (Bava Batra 60b; Maimonides, Hilchot Mamrim 2:5).

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NUM349 In his book of Jewish law, Maimonides shows that Judaism not only tolerates non--Jews, but even offers the ultimate reward to non-Jews. While no other religions promise reward for those who do not follow that faith, Judaism declares that non-Jews who keep the seven basic Noahide laws (basic ideas and laws for all societies) attain the World to Come, without doing anything specifically "Jewish" (Maimonides, Hilchot Melachim 8:11). Moreover, the sacrifices brought to the Temple during one major Jewish holiday are not for the benefit of Jews, but are for the non-Jewish nations of the world. Thus, the seventy sacrifices on the seven days of Sukkoth are brought to help all of the non-Jews in the world (Numbers 29:12-24; Sukkah 55b). The Midrash says that if the non-Jews had been aware of this fact, they would never have destroyed the Holy Temple (Midrash, Bamidbar Rabbah 1:3).

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NUM362 See [[NUM317]] Numbers 25:12 covenant AMJV 274-5

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NUM387 When considering the proper path in life, says the Mishna, it is not enough that we choose deeds that will bring honor only to God. They must also bring honor to other human beings (Mishna, Avot 2:1). Therefore, every time a person decides upon any behavior, he or she must be very conscious that not only is it the right thing to do in that individual's eyes and even in God's eyes, but it must likewise be behavior that others will interpret as ethical as well. This concept--acting ethically in both God's eyes and in the eyes of others--is derived from the Torah's story of the two and one-half tribes who wished to remain on the east side of the Jordan River. Even though they displayed the right motives, they had to demonstrate that their actions were ethical to God and also to their fellow Jews. (For this reason, the men left their homes and families to fight alongside the other tribes for fourteen years.) [Continued at [[NUM141]] Numbers 14:16 powerless AMJV 315]

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NUM390 In addition to the intrinsic sin and violation of ethical behavior by the greedy individual, the greedy Jew also necessarily violates a host of other sins in the process of displaying greed (many of which are discussed in other chapters in this volume). For example, by immorally taking money from others due to greed, a Jew is guilty of stealing, a Torah violation (Leviticus 19:11). Even taking a very minor amount is still considered stealing (Maimonides, Hilchot Genaiva 1:2). And if the person is not aware that he or she is being swindled, this is the classic definition of stealing (Maimonides, Hilchot Genaiva 1:3). Another sin that a greedy person is guilty of (by swindling victims without their knowledge) is that of being a hypocrite. It is a Torah violation not to be "whole with God," i.e. act the same on the inside and on the outside (Deuteronomy 18:13). In fact, Rabban Gamliel would throw out any student from the Beit Midrash-House of Jewish Learning, if he showed any hypocrisy (Berachot 28a). All those arrested for swindling other or cheating the government, at one time, seemed to act legitimately-until they were caught. They all acted hypocritically, especially those who supposedly were Torah-observant Jews. Maimonides states that it is absolutely forbidden to act one way and think another way (or act differently in secret) (Maimonides, Hilchot De'ot 2:6). According to the commentaries, this action is a Torah violation, much like a land that appears fruitful on the surface, but beneath the ground everything is rotten (Numbers 33:35 with Ibn Ezra and Malbim commentaries). When King David specified the formula for a long and meaningful life, he stated that a Jew should not speak with guile. Rabbi David Kimchi understands this to be acting hypocritically, i.e., speaking one way but acting in a different manner (Psalms 34:13-14 with Radak commentary). Thus, an individual can achieve a great life by refraining from being a hypocrite. This is especially true in business, regarding which one's word should be one's bond, and a violation of one's word violates a Torah law (Leviticus 19:36, Bava Metzia 49a). Of the three types of individuals whom God hates most in this world, the number one category is a person who acts hypocritically (Pesachim 113b). Thus, if one's greed leads to speaking to people nicely as he or she cheats them, this is the ultimate sin.

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NUM407 There are two specific scenarios in which the emotion of revenge is most natural, and the Torah allows the emotion to be acted upon, but only in a supervised manner. The first case involves witnesses to a heinous crime who see a murderer killing an innocent person in cold blood. It is very natural for anyone seeing such an act to try to avenge the innocent victim and take revenge upon that murderer. Jewish law does not allow the witness to "take the law into his own hands" and kill that murderer on the spot as an act of revenge, no matter how justified. Rather, the witness must alert the authorities and bring this evil person to a court proceeding and then testify there (Maimonides, Hilchot Rotze'ach 1:5). But the feelings of that witness are still inside. It is for this reason that when the murderer is found guilty, the Torah commands that the witnesses actually take their active revenge by being the first to kill the murderer in the court supervised execution (Deuteronomy 17:7) In describing this execution, Maimonides emphasizes how it is the witnesses who must take the lead in the execution (Maimonides, Hilchot Rotze'ach 15:1). There are often others involved in every murder case who feel an even greater desire to take revenge against the murderer--the relatives of the victim. The Torah acknowledges these intense feelings of revenge and says that under certain circumstances, the relative of a murdered person can indeed take revenge and killed a murderer [this verse]. When there is a case of deliberate and intentional murder, Maimonides rules that the relatives, those who stand to inherit, are like the witnesses and therefore at the forefront of the execution (Maimonides, Hilchot Rotze'ach 1:2) Thus, their sense of attribution can be satisfied by taking part in the killing of the person who murdered the relative.

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DEUT35 In addition to judging the actions of our fellow man favorably (except for known evil people), there are others who should be judged favorably in their actions as well. The first is in regard to the actions of God Himself. Moses castigated the Jewish people for impugning the motives of God in bringing them out of Egypt [this verse]. The people said that the only reason God took them out of Egypt was because He hated the Jewish people and wanted them to be destroyed by the Emorites. For not judging God "favorably," these Jews were punished. On the other hand, part of Rabbi Akiva's greatness was that he judged God and His actions towards people in a favorable manner, no matter how bad the situation seemed. In a famous story, Rabbi Akiva wanted to stay at the Inn, accompanied by his donkey, chicken, and torch, and every step of the way it seemed that God was "against" Rabbi Akiva (Berachot 60b). And yet, Rabbi Akiva but never lost hope that everything that was happening was for a positive reason, controlled by God. First, he could not find any room in any "motel" to stay at, so he had to sleep in the fields outside of town. A strong gust of wind blew out his fire, so he was in complete darkness. Then a weasel ate his chicken and a lion then ate his donkey. At each step of the way, Rabbi Akiva blessed God and attributed positive reasons to everything that occurred, despite the fact that each action seemed to place Rabbi Akiva in a more desperate situation. The next morning, Rabbi Akiva awoke and saw that robbers had invaded the town and killed its inhabitants. If the robbers had seen his light or heard his chicken or donkey, they would have spotted Rabbi Akiva and killed him as well. So too, Nachum Ish Gamzu would always judge God favorably and say, "Gam Zu LeTova" -- "This too is for good," for everything that happened in his life, even though his arms and legs were amputated at one point (Ta'anit 21a). This attitude and obligation to judge God favorably are not mere stories in the Talmud, but are brought down in Jewish law as an obligation for every Jew in Jewish law in the way that Jews must view life and view God (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 230:5). Another group of people that each person must change favorably is themselves! A person may not view himself or herself as totally evil, but should always try to judge himself or herself favorably (Mishna Avot 2:13). Maimonides explains this Jewish law to signify that we may not exaggerate one's faults, but rather, we must try to see the good in his or her behavior as well (Maimonides commentary on Mishna Avot 2:13). Rabbeinu Yonah begins one of his philosophical works with a call for awareness about every Jew's obligation to introspect and see all the good in himself or herself. While trying to constantly improve one's moral character, a person should never lose sight of all the goodness within and should therefore judge himself or herself favorably (Rabbeinu Yonah, Sha'arei Avoda, "Introduction").

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