Pinchas' gift

B"H

Bamidbar (Numbers) Ch. 25:11,13 reads:
פינחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן השיב את חמתי מעל בני ישראל בקנאו את קנאתי בתוכם ולא כליתי את בני ישראל בקנאתי
והיתה לו ולזרעו אחריו ברית כהנת עולם

Loosely translated:
Pinchas son of El'azar son of Aaron the Kohen (i.e., priest) has turned away my wrath from the Jewish people in his act of zealousness for Me, and I shall therefore not annihilate the Jewish people in my jealousy... And it shall be to him an eternal covenant of priesthood.

Two questions pop out immediately:
1) Why does the Torah find it necessary to list the entire lineage of Pinchas back to Aaron the Kohen.
2) Why was to covenant of priesthood bestowed upon Pinchas, for priesthood is not something that's transferable, purchasable or giftable -- it's can only be hereditaraly given from father to son. Nowhere else in scripture such an unusual gift can be found.

An explanation, but first some background:
Rashi on 25:11 writes:
The tribes were disapproving of Pinchas' actions saying: have you seen the son of Puti, whose mother's father has fattened calves for idol-worship. This person (=Pinchas) has murdered an prince of a tribe of the Jewish nation. Therefore scripture has traces his linage to Aaron the High-Priest.

Why did Rashi uses the long winded "whose mother's father fattened calves for idol-worship" where it could more simply stated "whose grandfather fattened..."?

Yitro (Pinchas' maternal grandfather) was the high-priest of Midian. In his capacity as high-priest he would take calves and feed them to satiation but he wouldn't stop there. After the calves were satiated he continued to stuff them with food until they could hardly function, and then he stuffed them with more food still. The sole purpose of this exercise was to really fatten the calves. But for what purpose, you might ask... Answer: for the sole purpose of bringing a delicious, fat dribbling, juicy sacrifice to idols.

Essentially, Yitro was performing acts of cruelty to animals just for the loathsome activity of idol-worship. Indeed he embodied the attribute of cruelty. (This, of course, was before he turned away from idol-worship and in fact converted to the Jewish belief.)

There's a known principle (need citation) that a father's character traits are inherited by his daughters, while a mother's character traits are inherited by her sons.

So, in saying "whose mother's father fattened calves for idol-worship", the tribes were claiming that Yitro has given his character trait of cruelty to his daughter and she has given it, in turn, to Pinchas. Indeed, with this line of thought, they reasoned that Pinchas has killed Zimri, the prince of the tribe of Shimon, not out of zealousness to G-d, but rather out of cruelty!!! They were prepared to kill him for that....

To settle the matter, the Torah writes "Pinchas, son of El'azar, son of Aaron the Koeh". This is to say, don't look at Pinchas' pedigree on his mother's side, but rather on his father's side. Who's his father? El'azar son of Aharon the Kohen. About Aharon the Kohen it is stated in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) Ch. 1:12:
אהרון - אוהב שלום ורודף שלום אוהב את הברייות ומקרבן לתורה

Loosely transslated:
Aaron (the Kohen) -- loves peace, chases after peace, loves all creatures and draws them closer to the creator.

So, we find that Aaron's attribute is that of love. Since Aaron is the prototype and first Kohen, we must conclude that this attribute of love is inherited by all priests, since priesthood is modeled after Aaron.

So, the Torah is telling us: one might conclude that Pinchas killed Zimri out of cruelty, but know this: Pinchas has done so only out of love for the Jewish nation, in order to stop the plague that was ravaging the Jewish nation at the time -- his turned away G-d wrath.

This then explains why priesthood was gifted to Pinchas: he always had that attribute of love for the Jewish people, though up to this point it was buried and concealed within him -- it did not manifest in the open. But now, that he has demonstrated his love for the Jewish nation, in the most grandiose way, he essentially taken that attribute of love and pulled it out from obscurity and into plain sight. The most appropriate gift to give him, then, is to officially brand him a Kohen -- "loves peace, chases after pease, loves all creatures...."

Dermatology in scripture???

B"H

Rosh Chodes Eeyar.

Vaikra (Leviticus) Ch. 14:2 reads:
זֹאת תִּהְיֶה תּוֹרַת הַמְּצֹרָע בּיוֹם טָהֳרָתוֹ וְהוּבָא אֶל הַכֹּהֵן.

Loosely translated:
These shall be the laws of the metzorah on the day he shall be purified: he shall be brought to the Cohen...

The Torah details a long list of laws pertaining to צרעת (pron. tzaraas or tzaraat) -- a skin decease, a form of a physical manifestation of a spiritual ailment caused by לשון הרע (=defamation and other "evil language".) It manifested first as spots on the skin with hair color-changes, then as spots on clothing and finally on the walls of the inflicted person's home. The inflicted person is labeled metzorah (הַמְּצֹרָע).

Note: the English translations of Torah often mistranslate tzaraas as leprosy and subsequently metzorah is also mistranslated as leper.

The interesting thing about tzaraas is the form of treatment: it must be a Cohen (הַכֹּהֵן -- a person from the priestly clan) who diagnoses the ailment, and proceeds to treat the person inflicted by it. No one else can do it. (Even if the Cohen is not an expert in the field, he must consult an expert (who is not necessarily a Cohen himself), who will assist him making the diagnosis, but ultimately, it must be the Cohen himself who makes the final call and gives treatment.)

This is all a bit odd, at first, for aren't the priests busy? They're working in the Holy Temple and taking care of the whole nation's needs. Surely they're too busy for this type of stuff, especially since it involves a lowly slanderer.

So, why does the Torah require a Cohen to handle this? There appears to be a a good reason for this: The Cohen is a decedent of Aaron, the high-priest.

And here's the explanation:
Aaron was אוהב שלום ורודף שלום, אוהב את הבריות ומקרבן לתורה (i.e., brining harmony to people using pleasant methods etc..) A trait inherited by his descendants for generations to come.

Furthermore, the morning blessings include the following: אלה דברים שאדם אוכל פרותיהם... והבאת שלום בין אדם לתבירו. ("These are the things whose dividents a person enjoys in this world and whose principle is reserved for him in the world to come:... creating peace between a person and his fellow...")

This is where Aaron and his descendants excel: making peace between jews by brining harmony in pleasant ways (ומקרבן לתורה -- דרכיה דרכי נועם וכל נתיבותיה שלום.) Since tzaraas was an infliction caused by לשון הרע which cases פירוד לבבות (slander which causes disunion between jews) therefore it must be specifically a Cohen who takes the roll of treating and handling it, comforting and guiding the inflicted, etc...

The more severe the ailment is (לשון הרע) the more specialized the doctor has to be (אוהב שלום ורדף שלום).

May this new month אייר (Pron. Eeyar) which is an acronym for "אני השם רופאך" (I am the L-rd your healer) be a month of much healing to the entire Jewish community and the world at-large, both physically and more importantly spiritually!