השמירה על גדרי הקדושה
Guarding the boundaries of Kedusha
וְלֹא תָבִיא תוֹעֵבָה אֶל בֵיתֶךָ וְהָיִיתָ חֵרֶם כָמֹהוּ שַׁקֵץ תְשַׁקְצֶנּוּ וְתַׁעֵב תְתַׁעֲבֶנּוּ כִי חֵרֶם הוּא: (ז:כו)
And you shall not bring an abomination into your home and become banned like it, you shall surely loathe it and surely abominate it, for it is banned. (7:26)
This posuk arouses an apparent question, the posuk before it warns that 'פסילי אלהיהם תשרפון באש' – ‘the carved images of their gods you shall burn in the fire’, the Torah even warns us not to benefit from even the secondary objects as it states 'לא תחמוד כס ף וזהב עליהם' – ‘you shall not covet the silver and gold that is on them’. Even though the silver and gold themselves are not worshipped and are only decorative, still, the Torah is concerned that one might stumble because of them, and after an extra warning such as this, we are warned to not bring an idol into our home.
We can say by way of musar, that this is what the Torah wanted to reveal to us, that the yetzer for idolatry is very determined. Even after the Torah warns about burning the carved images, there were still those who not only did not burn them properly, but they even wanted to keep them around. However, initially, they did not intend to worship them, since it is not possible for the yetzer to tempt the person who believes in Hashem to rebel against his G-d. It knows that a Jewish person will not listen to it to do this. Therefore, it tempts the person to keep the carved images for some other purpose, not idolatry, which is not prohibited, and this nullifies it from being idolatry.
The Torah warns against this ‘you shall not bring an abomination into your home’, for even if it seems to you now that it will cause no harm, be strong in your emunah that HaKadosh Baruch Hu runs His world, and all idols are but wood and stone, and you mock those who worship them. You should know that your view will not prevail if you keep idols in your house since the yetzer for idolatry is very determined, and just when you are distant from it you do not comprehend how you will be attracted to it. But if you are near them or more so if you bring them home, then the yetzer will challenge you, and without understanding why they worship them, you will stumble Rachmana litzlan, and you will literally come to a point of ‘and become banned like it’, and just as they are obligated to remove the carved image, they are obligated to remove you as well for worshipping their gods. Therefore, you must know from the outset that you stand to lose much from their use, and ‘you shall surely loathe it’, completely, ‘for it is banned’.
These words are incomprehensible in our times, for nowadays we have clear thought and we cannot understand how they are able to bow down to wood and stone. We clearly see that they are inanimate and cannot do anything. However, we must understand that times of challenge are different, and in earlier years when the yetzer for idolatry was in force, many were drawn after it. Even the kings of Israel were not able to control themselves, and they also stumbled in this severe sin. That is, the urge was so strong from the other side [sitra achra], the yetzer had the power to draw after it, even the young of the nation, even without them knowing how or why they were drawn after it.
All this was and will no longer be, for Chazal tell us (Yoma 69b) that ultimately, when the Anshei Keneses Hagedolah saw that that yetzer hara was too difficult to bear, they asked for mercy [rachamim] and also sat fasting until it was given over to them and they killed it, that is, from then on they could not understand why there was such an urge for something so abominable as this. Since we have a general principle that the Torah is eternal, people of our times must understand what the Torah wants to teach us. We do not have to be warned against the pitfall of carved images, for there is no one who loves them either directly or indirectly.
However, if we investigate what Chazal tell us (there) in the matter of killing the yetzer hara of idolatry, we see that even the yetzer hara for illicit relationships is on the same level as the yetzer hara of idolatry, as the Gemara relates there. Once the Anshei Keneses Hagedolah succeeded in losing the yetzer for idolatry, they also requested the ability to kill the yetzer for illicit relations, and why specifically for that yetzer hara? Because even this yetzer challenges the person and tries to make him sin without the person knowing how or why he wants this. You must understand that the yetzer has the ability to tempt something that has no explanation, it is incumbent on it to challenge him with this temptation. The Anshei Keneses Hagedolah saw that this challenge was also too difficult to bear, for at times it is really similar to the yetzer of idolatry that the person cannot withstand. Therefore, they wanted to nullify this as well, but it became clear to them when they imprisoned it for three days. Then they saw that without this yetzer, no one had any urge for this, since this is something that has no understanding or rationality, and it was only because they were concerned for the existence of the world that they were forced to leave it be, and they just weakened its strength by blinding it.
In light of what was said, we can say that nowadays the intent of the Torah with this posuk is to arouse within us that the yetzer for illicit relations is in the same category as the yetzer for idolatry. Nowadays we see that the yetzer has found a new way to challenge the person to stumble in a pitfall, the contaminated [tamei] ‘internet’, and every upright person hears that we are referring to something that wants to consume his soul, understands that he must distance himself from this contamination and not touch it or be harmed. Therefore, the yetzer is wise and tempts the person to use the internet for other things, and it mainly tempts him by telling him how much he can benefit from it, and it tells the person to only look at the good things and guard his eyes from seeing bad things, and he steels himself to only use it for his livelihood. This is how many innocent people are enticed, and they bring the abomination into their homes. Many people literally hold this tumah in their arms. Ultimately, the challenge shows that everyone who use the internet cannot control themselves and are drawn after the abominable part of it. Even though initially, he had good intentions, and he would not be drawn to see what he should not. In the end he sees that the spirit of nonsense draws him to the bad and he literally ‘become banned like it’ without understanding how or why.
Therefore, we must listen to the warning of the Torah: ‘you shall surely loathe it and surely abominate it’, entirely, ‘for it is banned’ from any angle.
Hashem Yisbarach should spread over us a spirit of purity [ruach taharah] and free us from this urge and fulfill with us the posuk (Yoel 2:20), 'ואת הצפוני ארחיק מעליכם' – ‘I will distance the northern one [the locust swarm (Radak)] from you, speedily in our time, amein.
