Parshat V’etchanan – Tisha B’Av 5759

“The Three Sins”

Rabbi Ari Kahn
(Unedited)

The major message of Parshat V’etchanan is the idea that there is

one G-d. This idea is conveyed both in a positive and in a negative
manner. On the one hand the exalted prayer, the Sh’ma is found in
this Parsha. The Sh’ma may be seen as the pinnacle of man’s
acceptance of One G-d. The Sh’ma however is not an isolated
statement. The idea of one G-d is expressed in a number of places
in the Parsha.

To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is G-d; there is no
other beside him. From heaven he made you hear his voice, that he might
instruct you; and upon earth he showed you his great fire; and you heard his
words out of the midst of the fire. (4:35-36)

Know therefore this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord is G-d in
heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; there is no other. (4:39)

Know therefore that the Lord your G-d, he is G-d, the faithful G-d, which
keeps covenant and mercy with those who love him and keep his
commandments to a thousand generations. (7:9)

I am the Lord your G-d, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the
house of slavery. (5:6)

The last reference is of course the Ten Commandments which are

repeated in V’etchanan. The entire Parsha is a testament of the
importance in the belief in one G-d. On the other hand the Parsha
also stresses the negative – the avoidance of idolatry. This law is
stated clearly in the Ten Commandments, but the Ten
Commandments are not an isolated statement, the polemic against
idolatry is reiterated numerous times throughout the Parsha. (See
4:15-19,23,25,26-28, 6:12,14)

The only action which is mentioned in the Parsha, aside from the
speech of Moshe is the establishment of cites of Refuge. 1

Then Moses set apart three cities on this side of the Jordan toward the rising
sun. That the slayer, who killed his neighbor unintentionally, and did not hate
him in times past, might flee there; and that by fleeing to one of these cities he
might live. Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites;
and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the
1
See the comments of the Ramban, who understands the text as stated above, while the Ibn Ezra
understands that the establishment of the cities of refuge had already taken place.

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 Manassites. And this is the Torah which Moses set before the people of Israel;
4:40-44

There is also a number of references to a particular place where

scandalous behavior took place – Peor.

So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-Peor.3:29,

Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-Peor, to all the men
who followed Baal-Peor; the Lord your G-d has destroyed them from among
you. (4:3)

On this side of the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth-Peor…(4:46)

While Peor was a place where idolatry was practiced, it was also a
place where an outrage of a sexual variety was perpetrated.

It would therefore be fair to state that the major topic of the Parsha
is belief in G-d and avoidance of idolatry, while concern about
bloodshed, and sexual licentiousness also make an appearance.

These three offences could be called the cardinal offences in

Judaism and are the only violations which are better to avoid even
at the pain of death.

R. Yochanan said in the name of R. Shimon b. Yehozadak: By a majority vote,

it was resolved in the upper chambers of the house of Nithza in Lydda that in
every [other] law of the Torah, if a man is commanded: ‘Transgress and suffer
not death’ he may transgress and not suffer death, excepting idolatry, sexual
licentiousness and murder. (Sanhedrin 74a)

Furthermore, these are the three crimes which caused the

destruction of the first Temple:

Why was the first Sanctuary destroyed? Because of three [evil] things which
prevailed there: idolatry, immorality, bloodshed. (Yoma 9b)

In order to understand why these crimes are stressed more than

others we need to analyze some failures from the past, and
understand the implications for the future. The first outrage to take
place in the history of the world was the sin of Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden. While technically one could call the sin thievery;
they took and ate from something which did not belong to them.
The objective of the repast was to become like G-d; this was the
seductive description hissed by the serpent:

For G-d knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened,
and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.(Bereishit 3:5)

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The very thought than man could become like G-d assumes two
major mistakes; one, in order for man to approximate G-d, one must
be guilty of emasculating G-d, of cutting G-d down to a human size.
On the other hand to equate man with G-d one must have an
incredibly inflated perception of man. Therefore the core of the sin
in the Garden was the sin of idolatry. This is the Jewish idea of
“original sin”.

Rav Yehuda also said in Rav's name: Adam was a heretic for it is written, And
the Lord G-d called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? i.e.,
whither has thine heart turned? … R. Nachman said: He denied G-d.
(Sanhedrin 38b)

The second sin in Bereishit is the fratricide committed by Cain. It is

interesting that these two sins, those perpetrated by Adam, Eve and
Cain both resulted in exile.

The next sin came in the generation of the flood. Here a sexual
breakdown is described:

That the sons of the powerful people saw the daughters of men that they were
pretty; and they took as wives all those whom they chose. There were Nefilim
in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of the powerful
people came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the
same became mighty men of old, men of renown. And G-d saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Bereishit 6:3-5)

The earth also was corrupt before G-d, and the earth was filled with violence.
And G-d looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had
corrupted its way upon the earth. (Bereishit 6:11,12)

The Ibn Ezra explains these passages, the violence and corruption
was based on the powerful men taking whichever woman they
chose.

Therefore we can state that three primordial sins committed in the

early chapters of Bereishit were idolatry, bloodshed and sexual
misbehavior.

This cycle is then started again when an attempt to build a tower up

to heaven in order to wage war on G-d is attempted:

And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach
to heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the
face of the whole earth. (Bereishit 11:4)

It is at this juncture that Avraham appears and begins his war on

paganism. A new light shines brightly and new hope for the world is
forged.

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Years later Avraham’s descendants leave Egypt and begun their
march toward destiny. They make a monumental stop at Sinai where
the revelation transpires. Moshe then ascends the mountain, where
he will remain for forty days and nights. The people wait below,
theoretically in great anticipation awaiting the descent of the Torah
with Moshe. Instead they begin to build a Calf of Gold. The tragedy
is enormous, for the moment of accepting the Torah could have
wiped out the negative stain left by the serpent of old. Instead a
new chapter of idolatry is opened. Meanwhile Moshe on his way
down the mount witnesses this great perfidy, the tablets of G-d then
come falling out of his hands.

However the building of the Golden Calf was not simply a question
of idolatry. There were other facets to the debacle.

When the idea of the Calf first arose, the people approached Hur,
and asked him to oversee the building. Hur refused and was
immediately murdered:

Hur arose and rebuked them: ‘you brainless fools! Have you forgotten the
miracles G-d performed for you?’ Whereupon they rose against him and slew
him. (Midrash Rabba Sh’mot 41:7)

When Aharon saw this he said:

R. Benjamin b. Japhet says, reporting R. Eleazar: He saw Hur lying slain

before him and said [to himself]: If I do not obey them, they will now do unto
me as they did unto Hur, and so will be fulfilled [the fear of] the prophet, Shall
the Priest and the Prophet be slain in the Sanctuary of G-d?2 (Sanhedrin 7a)

The sin of the Golden Calf included a third element3. The Torah says:

And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to make merry (32:6)

Rashi (Sh’mot 32:6) cites the Midrash Tanchuma, which explains the
meaning of “making merry” as an expression of sexual activities.

2
The Talmud is referring to the verse from Aicha, which describes the destruction of the Temple:
Aicha 2:20 Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom you have done this. Shall the women eat their
fruit, their cherished babies? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
3
The Midrash Rabba (Sh’mot 41:7) discerns only idolatry.
AND THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND TO DRINK, AND ROSE UP TO MAKE
MERRY (32:6)--that is, with their idolatry. Wherever you find the expression ‘to sit’ (yeshibah), you
will find that some great delinquency occurred there. Thus of the generation of the Tower [of Babel] we
read, And they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt (wayyeshebu) there (Gen. XI, 1).
What delinquency was there there? And they said: Come, let us build us a city, and a tower (ib. 4).
[Another example]: And they sat down to eat bread (ib. XXXVII, 25), after which we read: And they
sold Joseph, etc. ib. 28). And Israel abode (wayyesheb) in Shittim (Num. XXV,1). What was the
delinquency there? And the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab (ib.). What
was the ultimate result? And those that died by the plague were twenty and four thousand (ib. 9). Also
here, the sitting down (yeshibah) refers to idolatry.

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Therefore we see that the sin of the Golden Calf actually contained
all three outrages, idolatry, murder and sexual licentiousness.

The Talmud tells us the significance of this tragedy:

R. Eleazar further stated: What is the purport of the Scriptural text: Graven
upon the tables? If the first tables had not been broken the Torah would never
have been forgotten in Israel. R. Aha b. Jacob said: No nation or tongue
would have had any power over them; for it says: ‘Graven’ read not ‘graven’
but ‘freedom’. (Eruvin 54a)

Now we may begin to understand the severity of this sin. Had the
Jews not built a Golden Calf the Temple would never had been
destroyed. All three sins which caused the destruction of the Temple
were represented at the Golden Calf. The Mishna draws a direct
connection between these events:

Five misfortunes befell our fathers on the Seventeenth of Tammuz ... on the
Seventeenth of Tammuz the tablets [of the law] were shattered, the daily
offering was discontinued, a breach was made in the city and Apostomos
burned the scroll of the law and placed an idol in the temple. (Ta'anith 26b)

The Seventeenth of Tammuz is the beginning of the three weeks

mourning which is undertaken in memory of the destroyed Temple.
The negative spiritual power of the day was unleashed when the
Jews worshipped the Golden Calf. At that moment the Luchot lost
their holiness, and instead of being written with the hand of G-d, the
letters floated back where they had come from – heaven. Now all
that was left in Moshe’s hands was rocks. Rocks devoid of holiness.
Now we understand how years later the walls of the holy city,
Jerusalem could be breached on the same day. Once the people’s
behavior caused the presence of G-d to be expelled, the city had
lost its holiness. Now they were just stones – devoid of Shechina.
The core of something losing its holiness is the shattered Luchot.

Of the three offences, Judaism sees idolatry as certainly the worst

and most destructive. The individual who has no belief may
subjectively create his own worldview, justifying all his desires and
peccadilloes.4 The linchpin of Judaism is belief in G-d. Therefore
Moshe spends the majority of the Parsha discussing the problem of
idolatry and the value of belief. If the Jews will somehow be able to
remain in the land which they are about to enter they will need to
avoid these three offences and work on their belief in G-d. Moshe
repeats the Ten Commandments hoping to instill in the people deep

4
This idea is expressed in a Tosefta (Shavuot 3:6) which asks, "Who is the most dangerous man"? The
Tosefta's answer is that the atheist, even if he is a moral man, is most dangerous because there is no
basis for his morality. In the eyes of the Tosefta, today's moral atheist may be tomorrow’s murderer.
See my discussion in Bichukotai 5758

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profound faith awe and fear of G-d. For if the people retain G-d
within them the Shechina will never be expelled and exiled.

Today we stand thousands of years later; we have the advantage of

the perspective of history. Today we grapple with the question how
to imbue the rocks with their original holiness, and how to assure
that the Shechina returns to the people and land, never to be exiled
again.

© 1999 Rabbi Ari Kahn, All Rights Reserved