The narrative concerning the fall of Zimri - the prince of his tribe and 24000 others began towards the end of parashat Balak. It apparently ends here - as our parasha fills in some of the missing details. The grandfather of the חיד״א  the author of חסד לאברהם -  R. Avraham Azulai asserts that the story actually began at least three centuries earlier and would not come to a close until at best a Millenium and a half later. In Sefer Beresheet we are told that שכם בן חמור and his clan performed ברית מילה - as per the request of שמעון ולוי - apparently done with the proper intention to convert. 

This request was apparently a guise concocted by Shimon (and Levi) in order to weaken and kill שכם בן חמור and the 24000 with him. The Sages in the Talmud (San 82) teach that זמרי was synonymous with שאול בן הכנענית - who was the son (See Rashi) from the union of שמעון and דינה. Our Sages teach that Dina refused to leave the house of שכם until שמעון agreed to marry her.

At this juncture the soul of שכם attaches itself to שמעון - So Zimri's father שמעון was thereby connected to this tainted soul from the בני כנען -  Evidently at the incident with כזבי בת צור - Zimri had not shaken the promiscuity associated withכנען - (Pes 113) or the negative spirituality of שכם that was attached to his father. He took כזבי בת צור as will see below in an attempt to effectuate a certain Tikun - He was however unsuccessful and hence killed by פינחס - while his 24000 associates evidently died in aמגיפה or plague.

These 24000 then returned as the עורבים - the ravens who fed Eliyahu in Melakhim I 17:4. Finally זמרי and these 24000 souls returned as ר׳ עקיבא and his students - These תלמידים also die in a מגיפה - as in an earlier incarnation.

The Attempt of Zimri - What Went Wrong

I am sure that I was not alone in wondering how the prince of the tribe of Shimon - can do such a degrading act as cohabiting with a Moabite - Midianite princess in public. The narrative of the event is recorded in Balak and expanded in the Talmud (San 82). It includes the fact that Zimri went to Cozbi convincing her that he was more worthy or honored than any leader from the tribe of Levi. He preceded to bring her into his tent.

Pinhas reaches the tribe of Shimon and says "Where do we find that the tribe of Levi is greater than Shimon? They thereby allowed him to enter the confines - and claimed - that even those who originally rejected the permissibility of this act have now more than allowed it. Zimri was the son of דינה and the half brother of אסנת. Hence it is apparent that he like his mother was endowed with the spiritual DNA associated with  משיח בן יוסף - He also stemmed spiritually from שמעון who thru the act of killing שכם בן חמור - had a spark of the slain's soul.

The latter performed ברית מילה - and was slain by שמעון ולוי for the sole reason that he had made Shimon's sister Dinah as a זונה - Apparently the union was only rejected in how it was performed not in its concept. If it was done properly - it might have been accepted. We must keep in mind that Yoseph will union with אסנת the daughter of שכם to father אפרים who is the ascendent of משיח בן יוסף - The אור החיים cites a Midrash (Tanhuma Matot 4) that צור the father of כזבי is synonymous with בלק - Apparently as a result of their failure to garnish results in cursing Israel - בלק was demoted as מלך מואב - returning to מדין as indicated in 24:25 "Balak also went on his way" - In our parasha we are told that כזבי was the daughter of צור ראש בית אב במדין הוא - Namely he בלקcould now be found במדין - in Midyan. כזבי was evidently known by זמרי who was particular in wanting to cohabit with her and not another - As the Torah calls her המדינית with a definitive article ה׳ - With this introduction we must admit that זמרי is called איש ישראל - A Man of Israel - even after the blemish.

I would suggest that that the following might have been his intention. As בני ישראל were standing at שטים which is the entrance to the land - it now became necessary to redeem the sparks of משיח בן יוסף that might have been dormant within זמרי - along with the spark of משיח בן דוד that was within כזבי the daughter of Balak - King of Moav.

The people from the tribe of שמעון acknowledged that even Pinhas could have been properly prepared to do this. He of course being a descendent of Levi who participated in killing שכם and hence might have received a spark of his soul. (This might also be a reason that Moshe of the house of Levi carries the bones of Yosef with him). That one who slays another might receive an aspect of his victims soul is apparent from the law of an accidental murderer.

The Torah permits the גואל הדם the relative to redeem the soul or blood of the victim from its attachment to the murderer. This can be accomplishment by killing the accidental murderer while outside of an עיר מקלט - The problem of Zimri might have been two fold - the first the Talmud hints that he was tainted with some lust - the second that he should have removed her first from the קליפה of Moav and only then release the holy soul from within her. This was later realized in the person of רות המואביה - and her union with בעז -

R. Akiva Rectifies the Failing of Zimri

The Talmud expounds on a verse from Mishle 30:31 as it relates to Zimri. זרזיר מתנים או תיש ומלך אלקום עמו - translated according to our interpretation - A זרזיר which the Talmud in another place associates with Ravens with a strong waist תשש has weakened thereby the spark of the king (Mashiah) preventing him from rising.

The Talmud calls out that the numerical value of זרזיר related to זמרי is 424 in which he improperly used his waist - to cohabit with כזבי - The באתי לארמוני points out that it is also numerically equal to משיח בן דוד - R. Shimshon Astropoli (Likute Shoshanim) reveals that the three letters כד״ת which is also 424 is found on the forehead of the משיח - It was in the power of Zimri to extract these holy souls via cohabitation with כזבי but he failed by focusing on his waist or תאוה - Hence the 24000 associates of זמרי returned as the עורבים or ravens who took food from the table of the kings of Yisrael and Yehuda and fed it to אליהו - This I believe is a hint that the food or the sparks within it - relate to the messianic kings of Yosef (Yisrael) and Yehuda (David) that have been transferred by the Ravens (Zimri and the students) to Pinhas (Eliyahu).

This soul returns in the form of ר עקיבא who as an עם הארץ recalled (Pes 49) his connection to שכם בן חמור - Who would bite a scholar like a חמור -In Sefer Gilgulim it teaches that R. Akiva would come to rectify the soul of Zimri and via his students death - the 24000 who died in a plague and returned as Ravens. The Talmud (Nedarim 50) explains - that the wife of Turnosporus attempts to cause R. Akiva to sin. He saw that their union would be a reenactment of that of Zimri with Kozbi. This time however in holiness. The nature of ravens as is known is not to honor one another - Hence the students of R. Akiva - again 24000 in all - die in a plague as in an earlier incarnation - This came also as a result from an infraction in a prior Gilgul of not honoring one another. 

Pinhas is Eliyahu Ushers in the Mashiah

Zimri approached Moshe comparing his desire to take כזבי as Moshe had taken his wife from Midyan. His intent might have been - to assert that it is also befitting him to now release the sparks of the משיחים - We know that upon entry into the land the people are required to establish a kingdom (San 20) - Bil'am's prophecy in parashat Balak includes that דרך כוכב מיעקב - a star rises from Jacob.

The Targums (Onk & Yon) understand this to be the Messianic King - At the cusp of entering the land - the בני ישראל - find themselves inשטים a former territory of מואב wrested away by Sihon and Israel. Surely Zimri saw this as an opportunity to raise the star of Jacob from the קליפה of מואב - But it was not to be. The Talmud Yerushalmi (Taanit 68) teaches that it was R. Akiva who recognized Ben Cozba as the King Mashiah referring to him as בר כוכבא The descendent of the Star. But again it was not to be. We must wait for Pinhas who is Eliyahu (BB 114) to herald in the Mashiah! Why?

I believe that he holds the holy sparks that were transferred to him by the Ravens. Due to the blemish of תאוה - this was never realized in the person of Zimri. We know that the redemption is destined to come in the month of Nisan. The first national Misva is curiously החדש הזה לכם - This month will be for you the revelation of לכם or forming the letters מלך the King Mashiah - (likute Shoshanim) - the numerical value of these words are also 424 - This is the code in understanding the narrative in the Talmud (Shabbat 147) where we are taught that R. Eleazar ben Arakh forgot his learning and read the verse החרש היה לבם - The Rabbi's prayed that the Torah be returned to him - so he can reread these words properly as החדש הזה לכם - namely that the aspiration of the Torah which is the redemption of Israel - is found within these three words - numerically 424.

Eliyahu holds for us and will recall our forgetfulness -It is only he who consumed the food of the זרזיר or ravens - and will recognize and then lead us towards the forehead of משיח upon whom it is found כד״ת 424 - He might bring us a bit closer until we recognize the roots of the soul - the spark of the זרזיר 424 who Zimri attempted but failed to bring forth.

Victor Bibi