Yisrael settled in Shittim. The people began sinning with the daughters of Moav…Yisrael became attached to Ba’al Pe’or.[2]
Who’s on first? The pesukim shuttle back and forth. First they speak of “Yisrael”. Then of “the people.” Then back to “Yisrael” again.
More specifically, a midrash[3] claims that whenever “the people” is used by the Torah, it implies a lowly cohort of the population, while “Yisrael” indicates a more refined element. Both are used here! (Parenthetically, Chazal[4] offer a back-handed compliment to these “better” Jews who sinned. The Hebrew term for “became attached”/nitzmadim evokes the word for bracelet. Yes, say Chazal. They became attached to Baal Pe’or, but the attachment was not a tight fit. It was loose and wobbly, like a bracelet.)
And then there is the gemara[5] that mitigates the severity of whoever it was who sinned, in that the men were ambushed, in a sense. The women who seduced them demanded that these men first evacuate their bowels in front of an icon of their god. The men saw this is a form of showing contempt for Pe’or, and therefore not related at all to idol worship. To the contrary – they were desecrating that god! What could be so bad? Little did they realize that this degrading procedure was actually the prescribed form of Pe’or’s service – which is prohibited no matter what the intention!
A further complication is the approach of the Zohar,[6] which claims that it was only the Erev Rav who sinned. Full stop.
Unraveling all of this begins with a gemara[7] about R. Chanina and R. Yonoson, who were faced with a travel dilemma. There were two roads that would get them to their destination. One would take them past a place of idolatry; the other past a red-light district. They decided on the latter, which would give them an opportunity to challenge the strong yetzer hora that would confront them. They would be rewarded for overcoming it. Their decision was not such a terrible one. They passed the test with flying colors.
The Baal Pe’or debacle began with similar thinking by the more refined elements of the Bnei Yisrael, premised on a bit of gaavah. They saw through the trap that had been prepared for them. Or so they thought. They would take on the yetzer hora directly, and emerge victorious.
They didn’t. The entire smug attitude was wrong. The two Amoraim had to take one road; the issue was the lesser of two evils. What business did the Bnei Yisrael, living a charmed life protected by the ananei ha-kavod, have in going head-to-head with the yetzer hora?
Things went downhill after they encountered the women. “So they are willing to send their daughters to seduce us, and get us involved in some longer relationships. We’ll show them. A quick encounter of no consequence, whereby we play along for the moment, and extricate ourselves in time. We all take off the next day. Their women are left debased, and we smirk at them from the distance.”
But it did not work out that way. While they did not sin, the baser elements among the people – the am – did. Those encounters were a horrible desecration of kedushah, and led directly to overt service of the Pe’or god. Although, if must be noted, that no one’s attachment was one of resolute conviction, but a loose, wobbly kind. Like a bracelet.
Choosing to take on the yetzer hora is just not a good idea – and is sourced in the gaavah of people who think too highly of themselves.
- Adapted from Be’er Moshe, by the Ozherover Rebbe zt”l ↑
- Bamidbar 25:1,3 ↑
- Bamidbar Rabbah 20:23 ↑
- Sanhedrin 64a ↑
- Sanhedrin 106a ↑
- Zohar3 237a-b ↑
- Avodah Zarah 17b ↑