By Rabbi Royi Shaffin
Zimri starred out at the starry sky waiting for her to come toward him. There, as the sun set and a sliver of the moon was barely visible, his desert flower appeared out of a cloud of mystical dust.
They ran toward one another, embraced and kissed passionately as tears of joy came down the eyes of Cozbi, the Midianite princess dressed in red and green and black and blue, gold and silver, bronze, tachash, and shoham stones. Her hair was braided and decorated with semi-precious stones and she exuded a fragrance of myrrh and aloe with a tiny scent of date honey and citrus. Her hair was still wet from bathing in water from the desert spring.
Her dark complexion and bright blue eyes were intoxicating for Zimri who could not take his eyes off her. As a prince of his Israelite tribe, Shimon, he wore the emblems of the tribe and the armor of a warrior. He had served in Moses’ and Joshua’s army and had fought valiantly in the war against the Amalekites but now he was at odds with the administration.
Pinchas, the priest had gone to the highest level in his rampage against intermarriage. All those who had married or cohabited with Midianite women are traitors, he claimed. They need to be excommunicated and thrown out of the camp. Zimri thought this was ridiculous, especially since Moses himself was married to Tziporah, the daughter of the Midianite priest, Jethro.
Pinchas went before Moses and Aaron and claimed that the Midianites would lure Israelites to abandon God and worship foreign gods. Among the accused was Zimri. “I haven’t done any such thing,” Zimri had countered during his trial.
Pinchas frightened the judges, ” The sickness plaguing our people is punishment for our relationships with Midianite women.” “If that is the case,” Zimri countered, “I ask again, what about Moses and Tziporah? Why is Moses unaffected?” Silence fell upon the court both because there was no answer to the question and because the fear of God came upon them. Miriam had already been punished severely for speaking against the divinely appointed leader.
Zimri was free to go, but Pinchas looked at him with a red face full of rage as they left the courtroom.
Thoughts of that dreadful day in court faded as Zimri and Cozbi walked together in the now moonlit night sky and Cozbi came unto Zimri in his tent. They fell into each other’s arms as the passion between them increased …
Lying next to him, still breathing heavily, Cozbi asked, “Zimri, do you really think this is going to work? We are so different.”
“Are we?” he responded.
“You are an Israelite and I am a Midianite,” Cozbi cried.
“What’s in a name?” he said.
“We are of different tribes and they don’t like each other,” she said sadly.
“Are we not both of the tribe of Abraham?”
“Zimri, you know what I mean.”
“Yes, and I know that we are making too many enemies. We cannot be a nation that dwells apart all the time. Besides, how can we be a light unto the nations and who will see how beautiful the tents of Jacob are, if we close ourselves off to everyone else? And why should the children of Abraham be enemies? That really makes no sense.”
“You are right of course, but Pinchas is pointing to our worship of other gods. Maybe that is why Tziporah is accepted. She worships your God and your God alone.”
“Yes, your tribe has also always worshipped the God of Abraham. You just added other gods as well.”
“Yes. But we never took those other gods seriously. Do you think they will leave us alone if I officially go before Moses and Aaron and tell them that I vow to worship the God of Abraham and no other?”
“Maybe.”
“Then tomorrow morning, I’m going to get up and make an appointment to go before the court…Do you like crimson?”
“What?”
“Crimson?”
“Sure. Why do you ask?”
“I was thinking of our wedding. We should have crimson tablecl….”
A sharp stomach pain interrupted her thought….
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