Rabbi Lawrence will deliver this message from this week’s Parashah Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1). This parashah commends Pinchas, a righteous and zealous priest who acted to defend God’s holiness. How does his zeal differ from the religious fanaticism that plagues our world today? A key verse is, “So now say: See, I am making with him a covenant of shalom! It will be for him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood—because he was zealous for his God and atoned for Bnei-Yisrael.”” (Numbers 25:12–13, TLV)