Pinchus killed Zimri and Kozbi with a passion of zealousness .בקנאו את קנאתי He took a spear רמח and killed them both during their act of Chillul Hashem. Why did the Torah deem it so significant to relate to us the weapon through which they were killed? And if it was a sword would it have made any difference? The sefarim explain that the word רמח does not only mean a spear but its gematriah 248 conveys to us an incredible insight. It is as if the passuk was relating that Pinchus took his 248 limbs in his body and with them he killed the sinners. In other words all his limbs were "on board" willing to be sacrificed in order to eradicate this blasphemous act from Klal Yisrael.
The word קנא is gematria מקוה . It is the mitzvah to completely immerse one's entire body in 40 seah of water, a place where a human being has no existence. If even one strand of hair was protruding out of the water the tevillah is invalid. In order for Pinchus to kill them both halachakly with the concept of ת םיאנק וב םיעגופ it was the utmost necessity for him to be driven as if he was totally immersed and bonded with the kovid of Hashem that he no longer had any reason to live so long as this Chillul Hashem was taking place.
With this understanding we can explain the Zohar which says that at this episode the neshamos of Nadav and Avihu became attached (עיבור) to Pinchus and thereby received a tikkun for their untimely deaths. What is the connection between the two? The Chiddushei Harim explains their aveirah as follows. The passuk says בקרבתם לפני ה' וימותו . That they had such extreme deveikus and unity with Hashem that their neshamos left them because of it. This is ultimate mesiras nefesh when doing a mitzvah. המשנה לכתהלל קה. However the Torah promises that if one can reach such a level of mesiras nefesh during the fulfillment of a mitzvah the zechus of that mitzvah will instantly return his neshamah back into his body. For the Torah says םהב יחו Torah and mitzvos bring life to those who fulfill them. The reason why this did not occur by Nadav and Avihu was because it wasn't a mitzvah that they were commanded to do as the passuk says they brought an שא רשא הרזלא צוה therefore their neshamos which they sacrificed to Hashem through their deveikus םתברקב לפני ה' did not merit to be automatically returned to them because of וחי בהם.
In their case they possessed the mesiras nefesh mamesh but it wasn't the fulfillment of a mitzvah. In contrast with the act of Kiddush Hashem by Pinchus, he had the mesiras nefesh to surrender his neshamah to Hashem which according to the Zohar his neshama also left him, but this time it was a mitzvah of קנאים פוגעים בו. Nadav and Avihu had their fixing through Pinchus.
Now that we are in the three weeks we must make an introspection of how much effort and limbs do we invest in the fulfillment of mitzvos. Dovid Hamelech says .כל עצמותי תאמרנה
That is a very high madraigah far from our present reach. However to have רוב the majority of our limbs totally involved and in focus 51% when I daven is a feasible possibility for everyone of us. It is also not an easy task but it is attainable with toil, a new mindset, and preparation before hand. Don't push starting to reach this goal off to another day as hinted in the word חמר the same letters of מחר. Our own personal history shows that tomorrow is always followed by another tomorrow. According to the Chiddushei Harim Hashem is willing to make a Techiyas Hameisim for those who are all on board. That is how important it is to focus and connect to Hashem during our fulfillment of mitzvos. Live a more spiritual life of quality in mitzvos rather that quantity. It definitely is more challenging but also more rewarding even in this world. The word חמר spells out twice the need for a reset in one's mindset. The first letter ריש hints to ראש the head. The last two letters spell חמ which means brain thinking process intellect. Making the leap to change one must reframe what it means to be a living growing Torah Yid.
