Deification of defacation? The inside story of Ba'al Pe'or

The opening portion of yesterday’s Torah reading concluded told of Pinchas’s exploits and reward – the conclusion of the sorry story of Israel’s entrapment in idolatry and immorality. While all idolatry is strictly opposed and prohibited by the Torah, there is something particularly unusual and unsettling about the worship of Ba’al Pe’or which draws the attention of the sages.

On Sanhedrin (60b), we read that the mode of worship of Ba’al Pe’or was defecation in front of it. In Rabbi S. R. Hirsch’s understanding, such a public act which goes against an innate human feeling of dignity and self-respect was deeply symbolic. It was intended to convey and internalize the message that humans are no different to animals – who feel no shame in publicly defecating. The public display of immorality that followed was a similar failing, not only sinning but performing the sin in a way which belied the usual human feelings of shame of committing sexual acts in public.

The philosophy of Pe’or worship in this telling is a complete abandonment of human dignity and shame – what Rav Hirsch called an almost Darwinian declaration that humans are not distinct from the animal kingdom. In keeping with this suggestion, the prophet Hoshea (9:10) described those who worshipped Ba’al Pe’or as having separated themselves for dedication to shame.

Judaism Reclaimed approaches the episode of Bila’am based on a midrashically-enhanced idea that, as representative prophet of the 70 nations, Bila’am sought to have Israel’s special chosen status revoked. Several verses openly state that Israel was not particularly worthy of leaving Egypt, receiving the Torah and entering the Land in their own right – they were mostly riding on the coattails of the Avot.

God clearly rejected Bila’am’s petition and doubled-down on Israel’s continued suitability as chosen nation to represent His word and teachings the world. Bila’am, it would seem, attempted to have the last laugh – seeking to demonstrate that he could lure the Jews to surrender not only their special enhanced status but even their very human dignity and Tzelem Elokim spark.

In light of this explanation we can gain a new appreciation for the verses stated in Devarim 4:3-4:

Your eyes have seen what God did at Baal Peor, for every man who went after Baal Peor, Hashem your God has exterminated from your midst. But you who cleave to Hashem your God are alive, all of you, this day.

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The parashah -- from Bilaam's perspective

The chapter of Judaism Reclaimed that relates to parashat Balak examines Bilaam and Balak’s motive to harm the Jewish people in the context of the broader concept of Jewish ancestral merit.

At the start of the parashah we learn that Bilaam wanted to accept Balak’s request that he curse Israel but that God was unwilling for him to do so. Did Bilaam – who is understood to have possessed a profound understand of divine matters – really believe that he could change God's mind and be granted permission to curse His chosen people? Bilaam knew that God had chosen the Jewish people and performed exceptional miracles for their benefit. If, as Bilaam himself stated, he was aware that he “could not override God's will”, even for a “small matter”, how are we to understand Bilaam’s motivation and intentions in embarking upon such a foolish mission?

Let us try to examine the position of the Jewish people at that time from Bilaam's perspective. Having left Egypt and received the Torah, the Jews became bogged down for the best part of 40 years as a result of repeated sinning against God. God had proposed more than once to Moshe that the Jewish people should be abandoned and rebuilt solely through him, and even Moshe's own negative responses to those proposals did not go so far as to suggest that the Jewish people were indeed worthy.

Furthermore, in the book of Devarim we find that Moshe himself clearly tells the people not to imagine that they are worthy to enter the land. They are only entering the land of Israel because of the wickedness of other nations, and in fulfilment of the covenant God made with Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov.

Perhaps Bilaam is therefore working on a reasonable assumption. He is essentially relying on the proposition that the Jews bear no special qualities in their own right; they are simply hanging on to the meritorious coat-tails of the Avot.

Throughout the parashah we see symbolic allusions between Bilaam and the Avot. To start with, Balak tells Bilaam "Whoever you bless will be blessed, whoever you curse will be cursed", which is exactly what God tells Avraham. Other echoes from the book of Bereishit are Bilaam's saddling his donkey, three appearances of an angel (which Rashi sees as an allusion to the Avot themselves), and most importantly the korbanot through which Bilaam seeks to exceed the Zechut Avot (the benefits to which the Jewish people are entitled by virtue of the meritorious conduct of their forefathers). The Midrash makes this last point crystal clear: Bilaam offered more korbanot than the Avot, the message to God being: "I can offer more korbanot than the Jewish people, and the 70 nations combined can offer more than a single nation".

Bilaam is said to be the representative prophet of the 70 non-Israelite nations. We may view him as being their ambassador, representing their interests here by saying that the 70 nations are no less worthy of His favour than is Israel.

Bilaam is not the only prophet in Tanach who is prepared to initiate a course of action that is not ordered by God. We also see Yonah go beyond the bounds of acceptability, disobeying God out of concern that the contrition of the non-Jews of Nineveh would reflect badly on the unrepentant Jews. Could the conduct of Bilaam and God’s response be seen as some kind of parallel by going too far in order to represent the interests of the 70 nations? In both cases God's primary response is to guide and educate the errant prophet, rather than to punish.

God’s emphatic response to Bilaam’s claims is contained in his subsequent prophecies. The Jews still “dwell apart” and are not “reckoned among the nations” on account of their continuing patriarchal merit. Presumably this means that the Jews are not to be compared with other nations, even when they sin. God is thus telling Bilaam that, despite the Jewish people’s poor recent track record, they are still His chosen people and will remain so. He is also rebutting a claim which would be revisited throughout history – that the Jews had lost their status as chosen nation as a result of sin.

The chapter proceeds with an assessment of the nature and theological legitimacy of national ancestral merit determining the fortunes of later generations.

First posted to Facebook 24 June 2021, here.