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Sins of the Jewish People
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A
So Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—
You grew fat and gross and coarse —
They forsook the God who made them
And spurned the Rock of their support.
Deuteronomy 32:15
יהוה said to Moses: You are soon to lie with your ancestors. This people will thereupon go astray after the alien gods in their midst, in the land that they are about to enter; they will forsake Me and break My covenant that I made with them. Then My anger will flare up against them, and I will abandon them and hide My countenance from them. They shall be ready prey; and many evils and troubles shall befall them. And they shall say on that day, “Surely it is because our God is not in our midst that these evils have befallen us.”…
Deuteronomy 31:16-21
Well I know how defiant and stiffnecked you are: even now, while I am still alive in your midst, you have been defiant toward יהוה; how much more, then, when I am dead! Gather to me all the elders of your tribes and your officials, that I may speak all these words to them and that I may call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that, when I am dead, you will act wickedly and turn away from the path that I enjoined upon you, and that in time to come misfortune will befall you for having done evil in the sight of יהוה, whom you vexed by your deeds.
Deuteronomy 31:27-29
The students of Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai asked him: For what
reason
were the enemies of Jewish people,
a euphemism for the Jewish people themselves when exhibiting behavior that is not in their best interests,
in that generation deserving of annihilation? He,
Rabbi Shimon,
said to them: Say
the answer to your question
yourselves. They said to him: It is because they partook of the feast of that wicked one,
Ahasuerus, and they partook there of forbidden foods. Rabbi Shimon responded:
If so, those in Shushan should have been killed
as punishment…
Megillah 12a:9-10
I am dark, but comely,
O daughters of Jerusalem—
Like the tents of Kedar,
Like the pavilions of Solomon.
Song of Songs 1:5
And if you wish, say
instead that it is derived
from here: “And Jeshurun grew fat and kicked”
(Deuteronomy 32:15).
Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said
that
Rabbi Yonatan said: From where
in the Torah is it derived that
the Holy One, Blessed be He, ultimately conceded to Moses
that the reason for the sin of the Golden Calf was indeed the riches lavished upon Israel?
As it is stated: “And I gave them an abundance of silver and gold, which they used for the Ba’al”
(Hosea 2:10).
Berakhot 32a:13
לא הביט און ביעקב
, "He has not seen iniquity in Jacob, etc."
We must try and understand this by reference to a part of the
Zohar
called
Raaye Mehemenuta
volume 3 page 265 where we are told that when man sins, the sin leaves a physical impression on the part of his body with which he committed the sin. Our sages consider such parts of the body as being blemished. The meaning of the word
און
is the name of the physical blemish which results from the commission of a sin…
Or HaChaim on Numbers 23:21:1-2
(Devarim,
Ibid
. 15) "Take heed unto yourselves lest your hearts be enticed, etc.": He said to them: Take care that you do not rebel against the Holy One Blessed be He. For one rebels against Him only in the midst of satiety, as it is written (
Ibid
. 8:12-13) "Lest you eat and be sated, and you build and inhabit good houses, and your flocks increase for you, (and whatever you have increase.") What follows? (14) "and your heart be lifted and you forget the L-rd your G-d." Similarly, (
Ibid
…
Sifrei Devarim 43:7
(Devarim 32:15) "And Yeshurun grew fat and it kicked": Satiety breeds rebellion. And thus we find with the men of the generation of the flood — that they rebelled against the L-rd only from (a superabundance of) food and drink and tranquility. What is written of them? (Iyyov 21:9) "Their houses are at peace, without fear. The rod of G-d is not upon them." (see #43 above). And thus we find with the men of the generation of the desert, that they rebelled against the L-rd only from (a superabundance of) food and drink, viz. (Shemoth 32:6) "and the people sat down to eat and drink…
Sifrei Devarim 318:1-14
בתועבות יכעיסוהו, causing the benevolent presence of G’d to forsake the people of Israel so that they would no longer enjoy an advantage over the gentile nations.
Sforno on Deuteronomy 32:16:1
And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says: The Jewish people fashioned the
Golden
Calf
(see Exodus, chapter 32)
only to give a claim to penitents, as it is stated
after the revelation at Sinai:
“Who would give that they had such a heart as this always, to fear Me,
and keep all My commandments, that it might be good for them, and with their children
forever”
(Deuteronomy 5:26). If the nation was truly at such a lofty spiritual state, how could they worship the Golden Calf? Rather, their sin occurred so that it would be made clear that one can repent for any sin…
Avodah Zarah 4b:17
Elijah
said to
the child:
From which family are you?
The child
said to him: I am from such and such family.
Elijah
said to him: Isn’t
there anyone
left from that family?
The child
said to him: No
one is left
besides me.
Elijah
said to him: If I teach you something through which you will live, will you learn
it? The child
said to him: Yes.
Elijah
said to him: Say every day “Listen Israel, the Lord is our God; the Lord is One”
(Deuteronomy 6:4). The child
said to him:
Sanhedrin 63b:23
And it was appropriate
that He should do it with Israel when they left Egypt for the sake of Avraham, since the subjugation of Egypt was very similar to the reality of Avraham; and his children inherited the actions of their father, Avraham. And the Ramban, may his memory be blessed, already wrote at length in his commentary on the Torah to Parashat Lech Lecha (Ramban on Genesis 12:10), that Avraham was a signpost for [what would occur to] his children. And just like the Holy One, blessed be He, took him out of Ur Kasdim after he was pursued by Nimrod…
Derekh Chayyim 5:4:7
§ The Gemara cites another derivation from this verse.
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says:
The first
destruction
of
Eretz Yisrael did not
occur
until seven
dynasties and their
courts committed idol worship in it, and they are these: Jeroboam, son of Nevat; and Baasa, son of Ahijah; and Ahab, son of Omri; and Jehu, son of Nimshi; and Pekah, son of Remaliah; and Menahem, son of Gadi; and Hoshea, son of Elah, as it is stated: “She who has given birth to seven languishes; her spirit droops…
Gittin 88a:16-19
A Psalm of David: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. This is what the Scripture says: 'My beloved is mine and I am his' (Song of Solomon 2:16). The Assembly of Israel said before the Lord, 'Master of the Universe, You are my God and I am Your nation.' He is my God, as it says, 'I am the Lord your God' (Exodus 20:2), and I am His nation, as it says, 'Listen to Me, My nation; and My people, give ear to Me' (Isaiah 51:4)…
Midrash Tehillim 23:1
He who walks uprightly and works righteousness. He who walks uprightly is the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is said, "The Rock, His work is perfect" (Deuteronomy 32:4). And he who works righteousness is the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is said, "For the Lord is righteous; He loves righteous deeds" (Psalms 11:7). And he who speaks truth is the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is said, "But the Lord is the true God" (Jeremiah 10:10). He who does not wrong his fellow is the Holy One, Blessed be He, who did not wrong Israel at the time of the Golden Calf, as it is written…
Midrash Tehillim 15:3
שחת לו לא בניו מומם
, "Its corruption caused them no longer to be His fit children due to their blemish."
When they become corrupt they cause harm to themselves. They are no longer called the children of the living G'd as our sages have said in
Baba Batra
10: "as long as the children of Israel follow the path of G'd they are called "children;" if they stray, they are called "slaves." Moses mentions that if Israel becomes corrupt vis-a-vis G'd they are no longer His children…
Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy 32:5:1
§
Rav Yehuda says
that
Rav says: The Jewish people knew that idol worship is of no substance;
they did not actually believe in it.
And they worshipped idols only
in order
to permit themselves
to engage in
forbidden sexual relations in public,
since most rituals of idol worship would include public displays of forbidden sexual intercourse.
Rav Mesharshiyya raises an objection
to this statement from the following verse:
“Like the memory of their sons are their altars,
and their Asherim are by the leafy trees, upon the high hills” (Jeremiah 17:2)…
Sanhedrin 63b:19-21
Another thing is a Psalm for the dedication song. This is what the scripture says (Psalm 32:13): "The Lord's unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him." Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Nehemiah said that the measure of punishment is primary, and it does not yield good fruit, while the measure of good produces good fruit, as it says (Hosea 10:12): "Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love." What does God do? He collects a person's sins and then gives them their reward. The rabbis said that even if God does not immediately collect a person's sins…
Midrash Tehillim 30:4
The second verse is analyzed in light of the first verse, which states that Pelatiah ben Benaiah was among the twenty-five people:
From the
fact that
it is stated: “And their faces toward the east,” don’t I know that their backs were toward the west,
where the Temple was?
What
is the meaning when
the verse states: “Their backs toward the Temple of the Lord”?
These words hint at another matter, as the verse
teaches that they exposed themselves
from behind
and discharged
excrement
toward
the One
above,
in the direction of the Temple…
Kiddushin 72b:7
Related
ראו גם
Punishment of the Jewish People
Sins
Jewish People
Sin During the Days of the First Temple
Golden Calf
Sheets
דפי מקורות
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