(Bamidbar 25:1) "And Israel sat in Shittim, and the people began to stray after the daughters of Moav. "sitting" in all places connotes subversion (of morality), as in (Shemot 32:6) [in connection with the golden calf] "And the people sat down to eat and to drink," and (Bereshit 37:25) [in connection with the selling of Joseph] "And they sat down to eat bread." R. Akiva says: Every section (in the Torah) which is juxtaposed with another is meant to be learned from. It is written above (Bamidbar 24:14) "Come, I (Bilam) will counsel you" (how to undo Moav). He said to them: The G-d of this people hates harlotry, and they lust after flaxen garments. Come and I will counsel you. Put up tents for them, and seat old women outside and a young girl inside, and let them sell them flaxen garments, etc." Rebbi says: There are many adjoining sections n the Torah which are as far from each other as east from west. To wit (Shemot 6:12) "Behold, the children of Israel have not listened to me, etc." — (Shemot 6:13) "And the L-rd spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and He commanded them unto the children of Israel." What does one verse have to do with the other? What did He command them? What He had already told them, viz. (Shemot 3:18) "And they will listen to you, etc." Similarly, (Vayikra 21:9) "And the daughter of a man who is a Cohein, if she profane herself by harlotry" — (Vayikra 21:10) "And the Cohein who is exalted over his brothers." What does one verse have to do with the other? An analogy: A centurion served his term but failed to enter his primipilate (a high office) and fled. The king sent and had him returned and sentenced to decapitation. Before his execution the king says: Bring a heap of golden dinars before him and tell him: If you had done as your fellows did, you would have been granted this heap and your life. Now, you have lost both your life and your money. Likewise, the daughter of a Cohein who played the harlot. The high-priest goes out before her and says to her: If you had conducted yourself as your elders did, you would have merited bearing a high-priest such as I. Now you have lost both yourself and your honor. This is the intent of "And the daughter of a man who is a Cohein, etc." and "And the Cohein who is exalted over his brothers, etc." Similarly, (Hoshea 1:9) "You are not my people" — (Hoshea 2:1) "And the number of the people of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted, and in place of their being told 'You are not My people,' etc." What does one verse have to do with the other? An analogy: A king gets angry with his wife and sends for a scribe to write her a divorce. But before the scribe arrives, the king is reconciled with his wife, whereupon the king says: "Shall the scribe leave here empty-handed? Tell him to come and write that I am doubling her kethubah." This is the intent of "for you are not My people, etc." and "And the number of the people of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, etc." Similarly, (Hoshea 14:1) "Shomron shall bear her guilt, for she has defied her G-d" — (Ibid. 2) "Return, O Israel to the L-rd your G-d." What does one verse have to do with the other? An analogy: A province rebels against the king, who sends for a general and orders him to devastate it. The general, being wise and seasoned tells them: "Put together something for me to relay to the king, or I will do to you what I did to this and this province." This is the intent of "Shomron shall bear her guilt for she has defied her G-d" and "Return, O Israel, etc." Variantly: "And Israel sat in Shittim": in the place of sitoth ("straying" [from the L-rd]). When Israel were in the desert, a place devoid of seed, figs, wine, and pomegranates, they came and waged war against Sichon and Og, who fell into their hands, and they took all that was theirs. That kinG-dom was proud and haughty, though they had only four provinces worthy of the name — Asia, Alexandria, Carthaginia, and Antiochia, while these (Sichon and Og) had sixty cities, all worthy of "kingdom," viz. (Devarim 3:4) "… sixty cities, the entire province of the palace, the kingdom of Og in the Bashan." Israel came and waged war against them and they fell into their (Israel's) hands. But when Israel was surfeited with the spoils, they began "spoiling" the spoils — they tore apart garments and cast them away and tore apart beasts and cast them away — for they sought only vessels of silver and gold, viz. (Devarim 3:7) "and every beast and the spoil of the cities we 'spoiled' unto ourselves." "They came and sat in Shittim," in the place of sitoth. At that time Ammonim and Moavim arose and built markets for themselves from Beth Hayeshimoth until Har Hashaleg, where they installed harlots, old ones outside and young ones within, who sold flaxen garments. When an Israelite would eat and drink and make merry and go out to promenade and to buy something from the old one, she would offer it to him at cost, whereupon the young one would call out to him from within, saying "Come and buy it for less," and he did so. The same, the next day and the day after. The third day she would say to him "Come inside and pick for yourself — you're like one of the family." He obliged. The pitcher near her was full of Ammoni wine, the wine of idolators having not yet been forbidden to Israelites. She: "Would you like to drink some wine?" He obliged, and when the wine burned in him he said to her "Consent to me," at which she took an image of Peor from under her breast-band and said to him: "My master, if you want me to consent to you, bow down to this." He: "Can I bow down to idolatry?" She: "What difference does it make to you? I am only asking that you bare yourself before him." (The sages ruled that baring oneself to Peor is its mode of worship.) The wine burned in him and he said "Consent to me." She: "If you want me to consent to you, 'veer off' from the Torah of Moses." And he did so, as it is written (Hoshea 10:10) "They veered off to shame (i.e., to idolatry); and they became detestable (to Me) in loving (the daughters of Moav)." In the end, they reverted to (their practice of) making idolatrous banquets for them to which they invited them, as it is written (Bamidbar 25:2) "And they (the Moavite women) called the people to the sacrifices of their gods, etc." R. Elazar b. Shamua says: Just as a nail cannot be removed from a door without wood (attached), so, an Israel cannot leave Peor without souls (i.e., without adhesions thereof). Once, Pinchas from the district of Ariach was rolling (wine-) jars, when the spirit of Peor assaulted him, whereupon he brandished the spit against it and it fled. It returned to him the second night, saying "Why did you curse me." Pinchas: "I won't do it again." Once, Sabbatia of Ullas hired out his donkey to a gentile woman. When she came to the outskirts of the province, she said to him: "Wait until I bare myself in her temple." After she left, he said to her "Wait for me until I go in and do as you did." She: "But you are a Jew!" He: "What difference does it make to you?" He went in, (did his "devotions,") and wiped himself on the nose of Peor — whereupon the gentiles praised him, saying "No one ever equaled you in this (worship)." Once, a governor came from abroad to bow down to Peor. When he said to them "Bring a bullock or a ram, which we sacrifice to it," they said to him "We don't worship him in that manner. All you have to do is bare yourself before it" — whereupon he loosed his cohorts upon them, who split their skulls, (the governor) saying "Woe unto you and to your error!" Not so, (i.e., not as the governor) the Israelites, of whom it is written (Bamidbar 25:3) "And Israel attached itself to Ba'al Peor (at that time) and the L-rd was wroth with Israel." (4) "And the L-rd said to Moses: Take all the heads (i.e., judges of the people, and hang them (the Peor worshippers) up … in the face of the sun." (5) "And Moses said to the judges of Israel: Slay each (of you) his (two) men that have joined themselves to Ba'al Peor." The tribe of Shimon came to Zimri: "You are sitting in peace while we are being slaughtered!" — whereupon he gathered 24,000 of his tribe, came to Kozbi, and said to her: "Consent to me." She: I will consent only to the greatest of you, (someone) like Moses your master." He: "I, too, am the chief of a tribe. And, what is more, I am greater than he, (Shimon) being second (of the womb of Leah), while he (Levi) is (only) third," saying which he seized her and stood her in the midst of all of Israel, viz. (Ibid. 6) "And, behold, a man of the children of Israel came, and he brought near to his brothers the Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the entire congregation of the children of Israel, and they wept at the door of the tent of meeting." At that time Pinchas cried out "Is there no one here who is ready to kill and to be killed! Where are the lions?" (Bereshit 48:9) "A lion's whelp is Judah," (Devarim 33:32) "Dan is a lion's whelp" — whereupon he began to shout. Seeing that all remained silent, he arose from his sanhedrin, took out his spear and placed it (i.e., the blade) in his (hollow) belt, supported himself on its haft, and left. (Seeing him about to enter her tent,) they called out to him "Pinchas, where are you going?" He replied: "Is Levi always to be greater than Shimon?" ("Zimri can do it, so can I,") — at which they said "Let him go in" — whereupon the perushim (the "devout" among them) permitted the thing. Once he entered, the L-rd performed six miracles: the first: Normally they would have separated (upon his entrance), but the angel kept them joined. The second: The angel sealed their mouths so that they could not cry out. The third: He transfixed them (with the spear) in their (conjoined) genitals, for the "benefit" of the skeptics, so that they not deny their cohabitation and maintain that he had gone in for the same purpose. The fourth: They did not slide off from the spear but remained in their places. The fifth: The angel lifted the lintel so that they both could appear to all slung from his shoulders. The sixth: When he left, the men of his (Zimri's) tribe, rose up to kill him, and the angel fought them off. When Pinchas saw that too much havoc was being wrought by the angel, he cast them to the ground and stood up and intervened, viz. (Psalms 106:30-31) "And Pinchas arose and intervened, and the plague ceased, and it was reckoned to his merit." And six more miracles were performed for him: The seventh: The blade of the spear was lengthened until it transfixed both bodies and projected upwards. The eighth: The arm of Pinchas was strengthened (to support such a burden). The ninth: The haft did not break. The tenth: Their blood did not descend on Pinchas so that he not become tamei. The eleventh: The Holy One Blessed be He kept them alive so that they not die and cause Pinchas to become tamei. The twelfth: The uppermost (to be thrust through) is the lower on the spear (when it is lifted), but in this instance, Zimri was overturned upon Kozbi, as in the act, so that all of Israel could see that their death was ordained. The tribe of Shimon contended against the tribe of Levi: "Would the son (Pinchas) of the daughter of this "fattener" (Yithro , who fattened calves for idolatry) seek to uproot an entire tribe (Shimon) from Israel! Don't we know whose son he is?" When the L-rd saw them cheapening him thus, He began tracing his illustrious lineage, viz. (Bamidbar 25:11) "Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aaron the Cohein turned My wrath away from the children of Israel" — a Cohein, the son of a Cohein; a zealot, the son of a zealot (Levi, viz. Bereshit 34:25); turner away of wrath, the son of a turner away of wrath (Aaron, viz. Bamidbar 17:13) turned My wrath away from the children of Israel." (Bamidbar 25:12) "Therefore, say: Behold, I give to him My covenant to be to him a covenant of peace": … whereby we are apprised that there descended from him twelve high-priests in the first Temple, whereby in the second Temple there were eighty high-priests, whose lives began to be shortened because they sold the high-priesthood for money. Once, a man sent by his son two urns of silver rimmed with silver (as a bribe), and another, two urns of gold rimmed with gold" — whereupon they said "The foal has outweighed the menorah." (Bamidbar 25:13) "And it shall be unto him and to his seed after him a covenant of eternal priesthood": This refers to the twenty-four priestly gifts bestowed upon the Cohanim. (Ibid.) "because he was wroth for his G-d": because he was ready to give his life. (Ibid.) "and he will atone for the children of Israel": It is not written "to atone for the children of Israel," but "and he will atone for the children of Israel." Until now he has not stirred (from his place), but he stands and atones until the revival of the dead.
Sifrei Bamidbar 131
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