SKG Articles: Av - Pinchas & the Three Weeks

In 2005, something significant happened. The Shabbat of Pinchas fell before the period known
as the Three Weeks, an extremely negative time of the year. In the past 100 years, Pinchas
has only occurred before the Three Weeks around five times. The last time was over 20 years
ago. I thought I would share some insights I picked up on Pinchas during Shabbat Pinchas this
year.

Pinchas brought healing into the world, and stopped a plague that was killing the Israelites in
the desert. Pinchas lived after the event at Mt. Sinai and the giving of the Torah, but before the
Israelites entered the "Promised Land."

Because of his actions, it is said that death had no power of him. Pinchas could still be alive!
Symbolically, this is interesting
because we are still in the desert! We have been given the Torah (the tools of kabbalah) to
assist us, yet we have not entered the Promise Land where all joy, peace, and fulfillment is
manifest and death is destroyed. The healing Pinchas made available is still out there in the
desert (where we are) if we want to tap into it.

Now, we are told that Pinchas is a reincarnation of the prophet Elijah. Here's a problem....
Pinchas lives while the Israelites were in the desert.... Elijah lives hundreds of years later after
the kingdom of Israel was established in the Promised Land, so it seems it should be that Elijah
was a reincarnation of Pinchas, but we are told Pinchas is a reincarnation of Elijah.

Now this Shabbat Pinchas (7/23/05) was a significant Pinchas... why? Well usually, Pinchas is
read during the Three Weeks. Due to the way the calendar falls this year, Pinchas falls before
theThree Weeks, and because of this, at Shabbat, we read a haftarah (reading after the Torah
reading) about Elijah overcoming the power of the Satan. The haftarah is almost never read
because Pinchas almost never happens before Pinchas and there are different haftorah that is
read during the Three Weeks.

Okay, so back to this, Pinchas is a reincarnation of Elijah... Since on the surface, this is clearly
impossible since Pinchas came before Elijah... Let's suppose that what this is saying is that the
CONDITION or SYMBOLISM of Pinchas and Elijah are on in the same. We are told that Elijah
carries the energy of Messiah.... the energy of peace, joy, fulfillment... the end of sickness,
chaos and death.

So... Pinchas is a reincarnation of Elijah... He's carrying this same energy. And THIS YEAR...
Pinchas has occurred before the THREE WEEKS... a time of negativity and trial.

To summarize, this brings us to another kabbalistic saying: BEFORE ANY ILLNESS, THE
CURE ALREADY EXISTS. Here, we have Pinchas/Elijah/Energy of Messiah - the cure - existing
before the illness/the darkness of the Three Weeks. It is not impossible for us to overcome the
negativity. The energy of transformation has already been provided. All we have to do it put
forth an effort to connect to it and then we transform our entire experience of the Three Weeks.

"From the greatest darkness comes the greatest light"

Hopefully that's insightful.

Nicholas