23 Jul PINHAS: SEEING WITH BOTH EYES

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 Pinhas and Eliyahu
have the combined gematria of 260 – which
is twice the gematria of Ayin – “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):
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 tells us, and the second
part of the pasuk is what the yetzer
ha’tov 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 Ayin – 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.