Written by: Dovid Kark, Grade 10 student, YOC
In Sefer Bamidbar, the notion of jealousy, קנאה, appears more times than in any other place in the Torah. It appears with reference to the stories of Korach and Pinchas, as well as the laws of the Sotah, among other examples. However, the typical definition of קנאה as jealously does not aid us in adequately understanding the function of this central idea in Sefer Bamidbar. In this essay, I will analyze various instances of קנאה in the Tanach in order to shed light onto the meaning of קנאהin the narrative of Bamidbar. I will argue that all examples of קנאה in the Tanach fall out on a scale between between evil selfishness and pure לשם ה’. Since קנאה is such a passionate emotion, when it is done for a good reason with pure intentions, for Hashem’s sake, it is regarded as very noble thing by the Torah. However, if it is not done completely לשם ה’, but for selfish reasons, קנאה can quickly turn into something horrible. We will see the noble instances of קנאה through Pinchas and Eliyahu, moderate levels of קנאה from the Sotah and the story of Eldad U’Meidad, and evil קנאה from the stories of Miriam’s Lashon Hara and Korach.
The first real example somebody in Bamidbar doing קנאה purely לשם ה’, for Hashem’s sake, is Pinchas. Pinchas killed Zimri, the Nasi of Shevet Shimon, because Pinchas knows that Zimri’s sin is wrong against Hashem, even when no one else is willing to step up and kill Zimri and the woman. Hashem tells Moshe in (25:11) that בְּקַנְאוֹ אֶת–קִנְאָתִי, Pinchas’ קנאה avenged the קנאה of Hashem, as Pinchas stops the plague that was happening at the time due to the people sinning with the Midyanim. Rashi explains on that Passuk that כל לשון קנאה המתחרה לנקום נקמת דבר, every time the Lashon of קנאה is used, there is an anger of vengeance on a certain thing. As we have said, this anger is sometimes good and sometimes bad, but in Pinchas’ case, we can see how good it is from the fact that Hashem gives Pinchas the elevated Kehunah. This is made explicitly clear when Hashem says אשר קנא לאלוקיו (כ”ה:יג)ג, Pinchas had קנאה for Hashem, which, as stated, is the only true source of good קנאה. It can be seen here that קנאה is defined by action.
Another great example of good קנאה is Eliyahu. After the story of Har Hakarmel (Melachim I Perek 18), where Eliyahu proves to everyone that Hashem is the true God and not the Ba’al, Eliyahu goes ahead and kills every single one of the false Ba’al prophets. Eliyahu then runs away, because Achav and Izevel are trying to kill him. When Hashem asks him יט:ט) מַה–לְּךָ פֹה), what is he doing there, Eliyahu answers in the next Passuk, קנא קנאתי לה’ אלקי צבאות, that he has had קנאה for Hashem’s sake, like Pinchas. Here he uses a double Lashon to express this idea, which, as we learnt in class, signifies how strong his קנאה for Hashem is and how important it is to him. Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz zt’’l comments on this idea in his book, Biblical Images, “This jealousy is to be understood as the jealousy of love… It is a need for exclusivity, a need to direct all of one’s feelings only toward God. Nothing else is possible.” (pg. 142). Rabbi Steinsaltz explains how when one has קנאה for Hashem, everything else is irrelevant; it does not matter how others think or how they react, as it only about Hashem. Is this connection between Pinchas and Eliyahu a coincidence? Many think it is not, as the Yalkut Shemoni says (Remez 771),אמר רבי שמעון בן לקיש פינחס הוא אליהו, that Pinchas is, in fact, Eliyahu. This explains their strangely similar קנאה they have for Hashem.
The first mention in our Sefer, Sefer Bamidbar, of קנאה is regarding the Sotah, which appears in פרק ה’. In the Sotah, a man suspects that his wife sinned with a certain man, and specifically warns her in advance not to go near him. There is a trial by ordeal, a trial that is determined decided by a miracle, and if the woman is innocent, she lives, but if found guilty, she dies. We describe the man as ה,(ה:יד) וְעָבַר עָלָיו רֽוּחַ–קִנְאָה וְקִנֵּא אֶת–אִשְׁתּוֹ that a spirit of קנאה came over him. Rashi understands this as, רבותינו פירשוהו לשון התראה, שמתרה בה: אל תסתרי עם איש פלוני, that this particular קנאה means he warns her not to go near a certain person. This, on the surface, might not seem like קנאה, but on a deeper level, קנאה as previously stated is really defined by action, and the action here is in fact the warning. Now, it is evident how this is קנאה, but what is the קנאה for, and where does it rank on our “good to evil” scale? The Sforno says, interestingly enough, that there are two types of possible קנאות here. He says , ועבר עליו רוח קנאה – רוח טהרה להתרות בה, מאחר שידע ששטתה מדרכי צניעות. או עבר עליו רוח קנאה – רוח שטות בלתי סבה ראויה שיקנא. . The first type of קנאה is one done for Hashem’s sake, out of modesty. The second is that there is really no good reason, and the קנאה is motivated by his own foolishness. To resolve all of this קנאה, Hashem created the Sotah, which eliminates the קנאה. The Sotah also highlights our relationship with Hashem, which Yirmiyahu shows with the allegory of a husband and wife. Hashem constantly has קנאה to Bnei Yisrael, yet always forgives them.
Another example of קנאה in what we learned is in the story of Eldad and Meidad. Their story begins with Moshe gathering 72 elders, 6 from each Shevet, to draw lots to see whom out of the 72 will be the 70 Zekeinim. Eldad and Meidad are part of the 72, and were chosen to be Zekeinim. However, Rashi tells us that (26:11) מאותן שנבחרו, אמרו: אין אנו כדיים לגדולה זו, that even though they had been selected, they were so humble that they decided that they were not worthy enough to fill the positions. They then started to have Nevu’ah, and the Ba’al Huturim (11:27), quoting the Gemara, writes, שהיו אומרים – משה מת, יהושוע מכניס את ישראל לארץ (סנהדרין יז.), that Eldad and Meidad prophesised that Moshe would die and that Yehoshua would lead them into Eretz Yisrael. Yehoshua got angry when he found out, and wanted to imprison them, but Moshe calmed him, saying (11:29), הַֽמְקַנֵּא אַתָּה לִי, do you have קנאה for me? The קנאה that Yehoshua has is on a much spiritually lower level than that of Pinchas and Eliyahu, because it is a קנאה for Moshe, a person, and not Hashem. This קנאה is potentially dangerous, I think, so Moshe had to shut it down quickly. Yehoshua’s קנאה is not as bad as the selfish, evil קנאה which we will soon see, but it lies dangerously close. Rashi says on the Passuk that כל לשון קנאה הנותן לב על דבר, whenever the word קנאה appears, it means that a person sets his heart, and feels strongly, on a matter. We see how, in all of the above cases, how this proves to be true.
We now move on, to the evil and dark side of קנאה, jealousy. This is the traditional definition of קנאה that usually comes to mind. Regarding this קנאה, Rabbi Elazar Hakapar tells is in Pirkei Avos (4:21), הַקִּנְאָה וְהַתַּאֲוָה וְהַכָּבוֹד, מוֹצִיאִין אֶת הָאָדָם מִן הָעוֹלָם, that קנאה, along with a few other evil traits, removes a person from this world. Rabbi Elazar is warning us how bad קנאה can be when done improperly, for the wrong reasons. No clearer is this than by Korach, who is swallowed by the ground because of his toxic קנאה, which comes from a place of Ga’ava, haughtiness. He rises up against Moshe and Aharon, saying, ט”ז:ג) רַב–לָכֶם), that Moshe and Aharon take too much of the high positions for themselves, and וּמַדוּעַ תִּֽתְנַשְּׂאוּ עַל–קְהַל ה’, why do they raise themselves above the nation? We can see how Korach passionately feels jealous of Moshe and Aharon. He and his followers do not get away with this, as they later get swallowed up by the ground. Why do they get such a harsh punishment? Perhaps we can see from here how when there is an evil קנאה, the only way to really counter this is with a positive קנאה. Such drastic measures are needed when there is a strong, sinful force of קנאה at work, and we need to have a pure, holy force of קנאה to quench it. This is seen earlier with Pinchas and Eliyahu, who had a defensive קנאה to combat those who went against Hashem. It is now clear how Korach’s story teaches us the dangers of קנאה, how bad it can really be when misused, and how it must be fought in such cases.
Earlier in the Sefer, we also see another example of קנאה with Miriam and Aharon’s Lashon Hara against Moshe. The story starts with י”ב:א)) עַל–אֹדוֹת הָאִשָּׁה הַכֻּשִׁית אֲשֶׁר לָקָח כִּֽי–אִשָּׁה כֻשִׁית לָקָֽח, about the “Kushi” wife that Moshe took for a wife, because he had married a “Kushi” woman. The Ibn Ezra explains how it was really Miriam who did the talking, and Aharon was silent, as he writes, ותדבר מרים – היא דברה, גם אהרן הסכים או החריש, she spoke, and Aharon listened and was compliant. Rashi furthermore tells us that על אודות האשה – על אודות גירושיה, that they were really speaking about how Moshe divorced his wife. The next Passuk tells us that they said, הֲרַק אַךְ–בְּמֹשֶׁה דִּבֶּר ה’ הֲלֹא גַּם–בָּנוּ דִבֵּר, does Hashem just speak to Moshe? he also speaks to us, and we did not divorce our spouses! The Ibn Ezra there says, ויאמרו הרק אך במשה – הביאו ראיה, שלא לקדושת השם עשה זה, they criticized Moshe, saying that what Moshe did was not for Hashem’s sake, but for some other reason. The Sifri adds, יאמרו הרק אך במשה – והלא אף עם אבותינו דבר הקב”ה, ולא פירשו מפריה ורביה: והלא גם בנו דבר. ולא פירשנו מפריה ורביה , that even the Avos spoke to Hashem, and did not have to divorce their wives! We also spoke to Hashem, and did not have to divorce from our spouses! We can see how this is קנאה by the way they criticize Moshe, passionately speaking against him and saying that what he did was wrong. This קנאה does not come from a place of love for Hashem, but stems from an evil place of doubting Moshe and thinking that he is being haughty. Hashem immediately has קנאה for Moshe, as the Rambam says (12:3), והשם קנא לו. He strikes Miriam with Tzara’as immediately. Why did Hashem bypass the regular process of Tzara’as with Miriam, giving he Tzara’s on her skin right away and not first on her clothes and house? I think, perhaps, that the reason has to do with the קנאה involved. As seen with Korach, קנאה has to be counteracted with good קנאה quicky and efficiently, or else it will become rapidly and dangerously worse. Hashem wanted to avoid what would happen with Korach, and so, out of his love for not only Moshe but also Miriam, he had קנאה and gave her Tzara’as right away, making sure that the קנאה is reigned in and does not escalate.
It is now evident how great קנאה can be when used properly, for Hashem’s sake, and how terrible it can be when done for ulterior motives. קנאה is, in a way, like קדושה, another prominent motif in Sefer Bamidbar. We see how special קדושה is, as Rabbi Steinsaltz calls it the state of being with Hashem, where the Ultimate Truth of things is more intensely revealed. We know, however, that Hashem wants קדושה to be treated in a certain way. קדושה, like קנאה, can be very dangerous when misused. We gave the example in class that קדושה is like high voltage electricity; amazing when used constructively and properly, yet deadly when misused. We can see this with the Pelishtim, who captured the ארון, an object with extremely high levels of קדושה, and many died because of it. We can also see this with the Torah telling us that only the Bnei Kehas can move the Mishkan, and not be harmed, but the Passuk tells us (4:15) וְלֹֽא–יִגְּעוּ אֶל–הַקֹּדֶשׁ וָמֵתו, they could not touch it, or else they would die. We also see in פסוק כ’ how וְלֹא–יָבֹאוּ לִרְאוֹת, they cannot even look at it, or else כְּבַלַּע אֶת–הַקֹּדֶשׁ וָמֵֽתוּ, they would get “swallowed” by the קדושה and die.
Now, why is קדושה so highly thought of, when it can be used in such polarized ways, positively or negatively as קנאה? I think, perhaps, that קדושה is something that Hashem wants us all to strive for, and try to connect to Him with, as there are far more positives than negatives, and usually, קדושה is accessible to us all. קנאה, however, seems like something only the greatest, like Pinchas and Eliyahu, can actually do properly, while everyone else we see usually fails with קנאה. קנאה is an emotion, something much harder to regulate than קדושה, which is a state of being. Furthermore, we see that קנאה for Hashem’s sake is usually at a time of great crisis, when there is no alternative, such as the sin of Zimri or the Avodah Zarah of the Ba’al. קדושה, however, is something which we can perfect within ourselves on a daily basis, through our thoughts, speech and actions. We do not need exterior happenstance with קדושה, like קנאה. So, as can be seen, קדושה is great as something we should all strive for, and greater than קנאה, which is sometimes noble although still all too often corrupted, and only really needed in certain cases.
In conclusion, we now have a full scope of קנאה in Sefer Bamidbar. We can see how קנאה has to be only done לשם ה’, purely for Hashem’s sake with the purest intentions, or else it has disastrous and evil results. We have seen good קנאה through the examples of Pinchas and Eliyahu, men of high statures who had קנאה for Hashem, out of love for Hashem and His Torah. We saw the case of the Sotah, with all of its nuances, and how it ranked on our “קנאה’ scale, along with the story of Eldad and Meidad, and the questionable case of קנאה that came along with it. We continued our קנאה analysis with Korach, the most evil and sinister case of קנאה in the entire Sefer, and Miriam’s Lashon Hara and קנאה, and Hashem’s great prevention of things escalating with His קנאה. Lastly, we discussed the differences between קנאה and קדושה, and how we should strive for קדושה to uplift ourselves, and only exhibit קנאה in dire situations. It is my sincere hope that you now understand all of the complexities of קנאה, and approach קנאה with a greater understanding, beyond the realm of simply “jealousy”.
