Pinchas zealously punished the prince of Shimon for cohabiting with a non-Jewish woman. Pinchas’ actions are reckoned as being “zealous for his G-d”; as paraphrased by Rashi, G-d rewards Pinchas for “avenging My vengeance, by releasing the wrath that I should have released.”
What makes this sin a more direct offense to G-d that any other? “There are three partners in the creation of a human,” says the Talmud (Niddah 31a), “a father, mother, and G-d;” for the ability to reproduce and cause the continuous regeneration of the species is an expression of G-d’s infinity.
When sinning with a non-Jewish woman, the Jew’s infinite G-dly power of reproduction is being tapped, invested and committed to that which is the opposite of its G-dly purpose. When a Jew transgresses, G-d forbid, on any of G-d’s commandments, he consciously tears himself away from G-d momentarily – but he remains a Jew. Even when one has an illegitimate child, giving the sinful act a long-term presence in this world, yet that child is a Jew. A child born from a non-Jewish woman, however, is not a Jew.
With this sin, the natural border which G-d created between Jew and non-Jew is breached. The G-dly reproductive abilities of a Jew are being converted and recast as a non-Jewish body. In light of the above, Pinchas’ reward of kehunah can also be explained.
Kohen status is a non-transferable reality, compared elsewhere in the words of Rashi (Bamidbar 16:5) to the difference between day and night. For avenging G-d’s vengeance at the prohibited transfer of the G-dly power of reproduction, for decrying that unlawful breach in the borders of nature, nature was breached for Pinchas too and he was rewarded with kehunah for him and his future descendants.
—Likutei Sichos vol. 8, pp. 153-156
Thanks for your enlightening post.
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