As we continue with the topic we have been discussing for the past two weeks, I would like to start with a statement from the Gemara (Shabbat 147b).
ִשְׂרָאֵל.ָּא דִדְ יוֹמְסֵת קִיפְּחוּ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַשְּׁבָטִים מִיּחַמְרָא דִּפְרוֹגִיתָא וּמַי The wine of Perugaita and the water of the Deyomset deprived Israel of the ten lost tribes.
Because the members of these tribes were attracted to the pleasures of wine and bathing, and did not occupy themselves with Torah, they went astray and were lost to Am Yisrael. And here the Gemara tells a story, one of the most shocking stories in the Gemara.
רַ בִּ י אֶ לְ עָזָר בֶּ ן עֲרָ ך אִ יקְּ לַע לְ הָ תָ ם, אִ ימְּ שׁ ִ יך בָּ תְ רַ יְ יהוּ אִ יעַקַּ ר תַּ לְ מוּדֵ יהּ . כִּי הֲדַר אֲתָא, קָם לְמִיקְרֵי בְּסִפְרָא, בְּעָא לְמִקְרֵי ״הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם״, אָמַר ״הַחֵרֵשׁ הָיָה לִבָּם״. בְּעוֹ רַבָּנַן רַחֲמֵי עֲלֵיהּ וַהֲדַ ר תַּ לְ מוּדֵ יהּ .
Rabbi Elazar ben Arach happened to come to Perugaita and Deyomset; he was drawn by the pleasures of the fine wine and bathing in the river. As a result, his learning was uprooted and forgotten. When he returned, he stood to read from the Torah, and wished to read the Pasuk הַחֹדֶ שׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם; but instead, he erred and said הַחֵרֵ שׁ הָיָה לִבָּם – Have their hearts become deaf? Understanding that his learning was forgotten, the sages prayed for mercy on him from heaven, and his learning returned to him. Anyone who reads this Gemara immediately asks themselves – why specifically here did he make a mistake? Why specifically in the Pasuk that symbolizes Yetziat Mitzrayim, in the first mitzvah that Bnei Yisrael were commanded?
