Pinchas: Sin and Sword as Enemies
"Harass the Midianites and smite them. For they harass you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor." [Bamidbar 25/17-18]
"Rabbi Shimon said: "From where do we know that one who leads another to sin [is worse] than one who kills? A murderer kills in this world, but [the one murdered] has a portion in the World to Come" "An enticer, however. kills both in this world and the next. Two nations greeted Israel with the sword and two with sin. The Egyptians and the Edomites approached with the sword... And the two [that approached] with sin were the Moabites and the Amonites. Of those who approached with the sword it is written (Devarim 23.4): "An Amonite or Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of G-d, even the tenth generation shall not enter the assembly of G-d forever." [Bamidbar Rabbah 21.4]
As Jews living in Zion we have always been anxious about our internal security. The threat of terrorism and war are constant unsettling factors in our daily lives. We often see public service messages veering the slogan "Open eyes prevent a tragedy." The Sages however, come to caution us against an even greater threat to our continued existence--the disregard for basic morality. Although this lack of morality poses a danger to the very fabric of our society, we rarely shield ourselves or our children from this danger. Is the slogan "Open eyes prevent a tragedy" any less relevant to the elements which threaten our spiritual existence than it is to our physical survival? Permissiveness and promiscuity subvert the moral foundations of society, and in the long term damage both body and soul. 
Our real enemy is not the Egyptian nor the Edomite, but rather the Amonite and Moabite. Even a Jew who leads others to sin is considered an Amonite and Moabite, as in the case of Zimri ben Saluh. How true the words of Rav Kook zt"l who contrasted the physical dangers that face us with our power of spiritual preservation {Sefer Orot): "The world's structure crumbles at the terrible storms of swords drenched in blood, man's spirit is weakened, and the hour has arrived, light ascends, G-d's true light, the light of the G-d of Israel, being revealed by our nation, by miracles, it must be revealed with consciousness, and the consciousness must be internalized within the nation... to recognize that G-d dwells among them."
When we come to recognize that the enemy that undermines us morally poses a greater threat than the enemy that seeks to erase us physically, we will know to protect ourselves spiritually as well--to protect our souls as well as our bodies, and to become truly united and truly whole.
