Parashat Balak is such a mysterious Parashah, with prophecy mixing with curse mixing with blessing. Of all this mystery, one of the most enigmatic events of the Parashah is Cheit Baal Peor, what Wikipedia terms “The Heresy of Peor.” While the editors of Wikipedia jump to define the Cheit as heresy, it was actually more complex than that. Cheit Baal Peor was not a single sin, but a confluence of sins significant against the backdrop of Kenisat Eretz Yisrael.
One of the most surprising things about this scene is the sequence of sin and punishment. Let’s examine it:
Bnei Yisrael settle in Shittim.
They then begin to participate in Zenut with Benot Moav.
Benot Moav invite them to partake in their sacrifices,
Resulting in Bnei Yisrael becoming attached to Baal Peor.
Hashem rages at them, sending a Mageifah.
Hashem instructs Moshe to hang the ringleaders before the sun in order to stop the Mageifah.
A Jewish man brings a Midianite woman into his tent before all of Bnei Yisrael, who are crying.
Pinechas stabs both the man and the woman, ending the Mageifah.
By the time the Mageifah started, Bnei Yisrael had already been sinning with Benot Moav; Hashem is angry only when they start worshipping Baal Peor. Yet the Mageifah does not end with an end to the Avodah Zarah, but with the killing of those who committed Znut. (Presumably, Bnei Yisrael had already stopped sinning, since they were crying when the Jewish man brought the Midianite woman into his tent. This man was the final sinner, and the only Aveirah mentioned by him is relations with a Midianite.) So what is the sin with which Hashem is angry? Is it Znut, or is it Avodah Zarah?
I suggest that it is both, not in the sense of “the sins of Znut and Avodah Zarah,” but in the sense of “the sin of Znut-Avodah Zarah.” In a way, intimately related to settling in Eretz Yisrael, these are one and the same thing. After presenting Moshe with the 13 Midot HaRachamim, Hashem warns him of the dangers presented by settling in Eretz Yisrael:
“Shemor Lecha Eit Asher Anochi Metzavecha HaYom Hineni Goreish MiPanecha Et Ha’Emori HaKenaani HaChitti VeHaPerizzi VeHachivi VeHaYevusi. Hishamer Lecha Pen Tichrot Berit LeYosheiv Ha’Aretz VeZanu Acharei Eloheihem VeZavechu LeEloheihem VeKara Lecha Ve’Achalta MiZivcho. VeLekachta MiBenotav LeVanecha VeZanu Benotav Acharei Eloheihen VeHiznu Et Banecha Acharei Eloheihen,” “Mark well what I command you this day. I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Beware of making a covenant with the inhabitants of the land against which you are advancing, lest they be a snare in your midst. No, you must tear down their altars, smash their pillars, and cut down their sacred posts; for you must not worship any other god, because the LORD, whose name is Impassioned, is an impassioned God. You must not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for they will lust after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and invite you, and you will eat of their sacrifices. And when you take wives from among their daughters for your sons, their daughters will lust after their gods and will cause your sons to lust after their gods” (Shemot 34:11-16).
Parashat Ki Tissa outlines a likely pitfall of life in Eretz Yisrael. If Bnei Yisrael do not fully remove the land of idolaters, they will be tempted to commit Avodah Zarah and intermarry. Although the order is slightly different in our Parashah, the concept is the same. It is not a coincidence that the Torah describes Bnei Yisrael as “settling” in Shittim; this sin was the very same sin that they would fall prey to in Eretz Yisrael. They settled in the land, intermingled with the native population, and ultimately committed Avodah Zarah.
There are a number of similarities between our passage in Parashat Balak and Ki Tissa which connect these two sins even further. The most glaring, I think, is the importance of Achilat Zevachim to both. In both, Bnei Yisrael commit Avodah Zarah only after they eat the Korban the non-Jews have just sacrificed. This points to Baal Peor being a proto-Eretz Yisrael type of sin, as opposed to Bnei Yisrael’s previous sins in the Midbar. Before, the sins were caused by cowardice or lack of faith in Hashem; now they are caused by the human impulse, represented by both the Zenut and the Achilah, of a nation in its land.
The second similarity concerns the use of Zenut as descriptors for the sins. In Balak, Zenut means what it says: illicit relations with foreign women. In Parashat Ki Tissa, however, Znut refers to straying after foreign gods . This is not by accident: in Eretz Yisrael, these sins are identical. As proclaimed in Ki Tissa (and numerous other places in the Torah), and evidenced in Parashat Balak, Zenut (actual Zenut) inevitably results in Zenut (Avodah Zarah).
With this, we can answer our original question. Why does the Mageifah begin with one sin, I asked, but end with another? The answer, I hope, is clear. The Mageifah started and ended with the same sin. Since Avodah Zarah was the only possible conclusion of Zenut, Avodah Zarah could not fully be wiped out until Zenut was first wiped out. The sin was Zenut the entire time, in both senses of the term.
Shimmy Greengart wisely comments that Avodah Zarah is Zenut in the sense of casting aside those to whom we owe faithfulness. Both sins are thematically similar in that respect. But why does one Znut inevitably lead to the other? I think the answer lies in just that: those who have no respect for commitments or relationships will not keep them, whether on a personal scale or on a religious scale. The Gemara in Pesachim 25b derives the commandment to give up our lives rather than commit Avodah Zarah from the Pasuk, “VeAhavta Et Hashem Elohecha,” “And you shall love Hashem your God” (Devarim 6:4). This is no coincidence: just like faithlessness to Hashem is akin to marital faithlessness, so too is love of Hashem.