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From the title above, one might get the impression that we are referring to Bila’am and donkey, with whom he undoubtedly shared countless trysts of cohabitation — Not!
Yehuda Nachshoni’s discussions of our Parsha Balak cites the Ohr HaChaim’s question of “why Pinchas killed the women [Kosbi] when, as a non-Jewess, she was absolved of Jewish law.” (Studies in the Weekly Parsha Bamidbar, pages 1112-1117).
But before listing the citing, it seems important to clarify that the discussion is in the context of Zimri’s distorted perception of acting “for the sake of Shemayim” in preempting Avodah Zora by bringing the cohabitation with Moabite women into the camp so that men would not go looking for it outside where the cohabitation would be enticement to idolatry.
