The Gaon, zl, m’Vilna, observes that the word machatzis (ha’shekel, the half-shekel coin which all Jews were obligated to give to the Mishkan) is spelled: mem, ches, tzadik, yud, saf. The middle of the five letters is the tzadik. The two letters closest to the tzadik (on its right and left) are the ches and yud – chai. The two outside letters are the mem and saf, spelling the word, meis. The tzadik is the first letter (rosh teivah) of the word tzedakah, charity. This, explains the Gaon, alludes to the maxim tzedakah tatzeil mimaves, charity saves one from death. (The letters mem and saf are on the outside, the letters most distant from the tzadik.) Charity begets life; therefore, the letters ches and yud, which spell chai, are next to the tzadik.
Pinchas manifested the epitome of tzedakah, when heishiv, he returned chamasi, My wrath, mei’al Bnei Yisrael, from Bnei Yisrael. What did he “return”? Chamasi. In the word chamasi, the letters ches and yud, which spell chai, are on the outside, while the mem and saf, spelling meis, are in the center. This alludes to the idea that the nation was destined to die by the plague. Pinchas “returned” chamasi, with his act of tzedakah, transforming – chamasi to machatzis – life.
