He (Zimri) grabbed her (Cozbi) by her braided hair and dragged her in front of Moshe. He (Zimri) said to him (Moshe), “Son of Amram, is she prohibited or permitted? If you say that she is prohibited, then who permitted the daughter of Yisro to you?” The halachah—that zealots may kill one who cohabits with an idolatress—temporarily escaped him. The people wept loudly; this is implied by that which is written (Bamidbar 25, 6): “And they were weeping at the entrance to the Ohel Mo’ed.” Then, it is written (ibid. 7): “Pinchas the son of Elazar saw.” What did he see?
Rav said: He saw the incident and he recalled the halachah. He (Pinchas) said to him (Moshe), “Brother of my father’s father, did you not teach me upon your descent from Har Sinai: One who cohabits with a Cuthean woman, zealots may kill him?” He (Moshe) responded to him, “The one who reads the document, deserves to be the one to execute the verdict.”
In other words, Moshe informed Pinchas that since he was the one who remembered the pertinent halachah, it was fitting that he be the agent to execute the halachic ruling. That is precisely what happened. Pinchas rose from among the people and executed Zimri ben Salu.
Now, this particular halachah: הבועל ארמית קנאין פוגעין בו—one who cohabits with an Aramis (a non-Jewish woman), zealots may kill him—is categorized as a halachah that is not necessarily enforced. As we learn in the Gemara (ibid.): אמר רב חסדא, הבא לימלך אין מורין לו. איתמר נמי אמר רבה בר בר חנה אמר רבי יוחנן, הבא לימלך אין מורין לו. Rav Chisda said: If one comes to seek counsel—as to whether or not to carry out this halachah by killing the sinner—they (the judges) do not instruct him to do so. It was also said: Rabbah bar bar Chanah said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: If one comes to seek counsel—regarding this halachah—the judges do not instruct him to do so. Rashi explains that this halachah only applies to a zealot who acts spontaneously and independently without seeking the counsel of Beis Din. But if he hesitates and seeks counsel, he is not instructed to kill the sinner; and if he does, his act is punishable.
We now have cause to rejoice! We have clarified the three facets of this intriguing tikun. Firstly, Nadav and Avihu were willing to sacrifice their lives by offering an unauthorized fire before Hashem that He had not commanded them to bring. They did so, because they mistakenly believed that the time for the tikun of the future geulah was at hand. For, at that time, it will be preferable to perform mitzvos as “eino mitzuveh v’oseh.” Even though they erred, they merited entering Pinchas, who killed Zimri. Pinchas’ zealous act can also be characterized as “eino mitzuveh v’oseh,” since the halachah of הבועל ארמית קנאין פוגעין בו is a halachah that is not explicitly enforced.
Secondly, Pinchas was rewarded as follows: הנני נותן לו את בריתי שלום—he was privileged to become Eliyahu HaNavi, who will announce the arrival of the future geulah to Yisrael. At that time: מצוות בטלות לעתיד לבוא. As the Ritva explains, this is because we will perform all of the mitzvos as “eino mitzuveh v’oseh”—someone who performs the mitzvos of his own volition without being commanded to do so. This was the culmination of the tikun of the neshamos of Nadav and Avihu; for, their entire aim and desire was to hasten the future geulah, so that they could perform all of the mitzvos voluntarily. Thirdly, Eliyahu HaNavi is destined to be the herald of the future geulah, as it is written: הנה אנכי שולח לכם את אליהו הנביא לפני בוא יום ה' הגדול והנורא, והשיב לב אבות על בנים ולב בנים על אבותם. “Behold, I send you Eliyahu HaNavi before the coming of the great and awesome day of Hashem. And he will turn back the hearts of fathers with their sons and the hearts of sons with their fathers.” May this happen swiftly, in our times! Amen.
