With God’s help, 15 Av 5782

In the Wikipedia entry “Baal Peor,” it is suggested that “Baal Peor” is connected to the idol “Mot,” who opens his mouth and draws his sacrifices into the depths of the netherworld.

Perhaps the idol worshippers assumed that the idol of death loves decay and stench, since that is the condition the dead eventually reach, and so they offer him excrement as a kind of “substitute” that will satisfy his craving for rot and foul smell. If the idol of death is sated by the excrement, perhaps he will find satisfaction and leave the living alone.

Best regards, Ochs und Fuchs

Or perhaps the special quality of relieving oneself is the body’s release from the distress of holding back. There is in that a symbol of a person’s release from every limitation that forces him not to bring his desires out into the open. The “product” is not especially respectable or social, but so what? After all, this is my authentic expression, this is my natural product—accept it 🙂

Perhaps opposite this reckless concept of freedom, Moses our Teacher had to find his rest facing the center that radiated to the world a notion of freedom without limits. Moses conveys to the world that there is no “freedom” without responsibility, and it is not enough simply to bring out into the public domain everything you have, but rather only that which is fit to find favor in the eyes of God and man.

Best regards, Hillel Feiner-Gluskinos

Paragraph 2, line 2
… facing the center that radiates to the world…

There, line 3
… and it is not fitting that you should bring out…