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<span class="co_VerseText elementToProof">Bamidbar 25:3 <span class="co_VerseNum">
</span><span class="co_VerseText">וַיִּצָּ֥מֶד יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לְבַ֣עַל פְּע֑וֹר </span>
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<span class="co_VerseText elementToProof"><span class="co_VerseNum">3</span><span class="co_VerseText">Israel became attached to Baal Peor, and the anger of the Lord flared against Israel.</span><br>
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The following is from Rav Schwab on Chumash page 468</div>
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In the margin of Rav Schwab's Chumash Devarim, on this pasuk, the
<div>Rav wrote as follows:</div>
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<div>Ba'al Pear is related to the matter of the restriction against</div>
<div>adding mitzvos, because the very desire to denigrate idolatry and to</div>
<div>shame it in a way that has not been commanded by the Torah brings</div>
<div>to avodah zarah and this was the sin of Ba'al Pear. People inherently</div>
<div>possess a yetzer hara to invent new mitzvos that are contrary to the</div>
<div>Torah. Moshe Rabbeinu was buried on Har Neva, opposite the Pear</div>
<div>idol, to atone for this sin of Klal Yisrael's, which was an expression of</div>
<div>this yetzer hara. The "yetzer hara for mitzvos" can destroy the whole</div>
<div>Torah. Such a yetzer hara is the force behind every mashiach sheker,</div>
<div>false messiah. The ma'apilim of the Torah, who wished to force their</div>
<div>way into Eretz Yisrael, held that the mitzvah of settling Eretz Yisrael was</div>
<div>greater than that of listening to Hashem and their Torah teachers.</div>
<div>The Balfour Declaration of 191 7 established the right of Jews to return</div>
<div>to the Holy Land. Some Zionists took this as an impetus to create new</div>
<div>mitzvos, i.e., the settling of Eretz Yisrael above all other mitzvos. This</div>
<div>they did despite Chaza/'s warning of -Don't rebel against</div>
<div>the nations of the world (Kesubos 111 a), trying to force the hand of</div>
<div>Mashiach.</div>
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<div>And the Rav mused: "Is there any lesson to be learned from the</div>
similarity of the words Ba' al Pear and Balfour?"</div>
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I am sure that many will have comments on the last sentence above.</div>
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Yitzchok Levine<br>
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