Parshas Balak examines the hatred of the defiled טמא for the pure טהור.
In it the nation of Israel has conquered the lands of Amorite kings, Sichon and
Og, placing them on the border of Moab. Moav reacts with fear and disgust. Rashi
explains that they felt pressured because of Israel’s victory was over two
powerful allies that they relied upon. Moshe Rabenu in his final discourses castigates
Moav because they did not greet Israel with bread and water when they left
Egypt. The implication is that the strong friend of Moav should have been
Israel. Later on Moav sends their women to seduce the Israelite men in an
attempt to cause their downfall through moral corruption. It’s a bold move that
would not be expected from a fearful adversary.
Moav’s concern is not that Israel is simply too powerful
rather that they are a powerful enemy and not a powerful friend. The reason
that Moav views Israel as an enemy is because they view Israel with disgust.
The word used here for disgust (ויקץ)
is the same word used by the Egyptians in regards to the children of Israel (ויקצו), when they enslaved them. This word is
grammatically similar to the word for thorn and Rashi brings here the rabbinic
discourse that they were like thorns in their eyes (see Exodus 1:12), so to
speak eyesores.
Using the same word Rivka, our matriarch, says that she
is disgusted with life because of Esau’s two Canaanite wives (see 27:46). Here
it has connotations of defilement based on sexual misconduct and idolatry. The
commentaries understand the Chumash as saying that all three of them were not
strangers to adultery. In addition one of the reasons given for the blindness
of Yitzchak avinu is the burning of incense to idolatry to idolatry by Esav’s
wives. Similarly the prohibition against passing an infant through fire for the
sake of the idol Molech is listed with the forbidden sexual relationships. What
we see is that the טומא of physical lust goes
hand in hand with the impurity of idolatry.
Just like purity loathes defilement so too defilement
loathes purity. Egypt is described as being steeped in licentiousness and
idolatry while Israel is described as pure and faithful. For this reason Egypt
is disgusted with Israel. The Or HaChaim sermonizes that during the revelation
on Mount Sinai that the Ten Commandments were offered to many nations. When it
was offered to Ammon and Moav they rejected it because of the prohibition
against adultery, saying that for them obscenity was a way of life. In Bilam’s blessings
he praises the physical relationships and the home life of the children of
Israel. He also says that he sees no divination or charms in Israel. For these
reasons Moav loathes Israel.
Part of the struggle between purity and defilement is in
the realm of self-perception. In parshas Shlach the spies in the face of the
impurity of the Canaanites consider themselves to be grasshoppers basically
because of their own purity and faith. The Kli Yakar brings a parallel saying
that Moab viewed themselves as thorns in comparison to the children of Israel;
again playing with the word ויקץ. He then analyzes
Psalm 80:9-10. “A vine from Egypt You fetched, you expelled nations and planted
it. You cleared a place before it and rooted its roots and it filled the
earth”. He observes that it is the way of the world that when the owner of a
field wants to plant a vineyard in field filled with thorns then he uproots the
thorns by the root and throws them away in order to plant in their place a
grapes.
When Moav and Midian fail at cursing Israel they then
embark on an attempt to corrupt them. The plan is first to seduce physically them
then to seduce them to idolatry. The idolatry of Moav was called the Baal Peor,
literally the master of defecation. Its service was to defecate before it or on
it. The intension is to declare absolute hatred of religion. The Chumash writes,
“the people began to prostitute themselves with the daughters of Moav. They
then invited the people to sacrificial dinners of their gods and the people ate
and bowed down to their gods,” (Numbers 25:1-2). The Or HaChaim notes here that
the word began, ויחל, is the language of
profanation חילול.
The Rabenu Bechai comments that they made their sanctity profane. An act of
fanaticism by Pinchas the Cohen ends this episode, but not before a plague from
heaven claims 24,000 of Israel.
The nature of the world is that it is filled with
darkness with a ray of light that expands and grows stronger. The darkness is
tumah (טומא) and the pure ray of
light is Israel. The struggle between the pure and the defiled will continue
until the Messianic era. As it says, “It will be that day declares the Lord of
Hosts that I will cut off the name of the miserables [idols] from the world and
their names will no longer be mentioned nor their prophets, and the spirit of
defilement I will cause to pass from the world,” (Zechariah 13:2).
לע"נ, הדוד ,לייב
הערש בן אהרון ז"ל נלב"ע י"ז תמוז תשל"ב
Acknowledgements to websites:
תורת אמת, וויקיטקסט, http://dictionary.reference.com/,
http://hebrewbooks.org/,
וגם בדואר אלקטרוני
ניתן באתר http://dyschreiber.blogspot.co.il
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