Bamidbar 25:1 "Vayeshev Yisrael ba-Shitim va-yachel ha-am liznot el banot Moav" (And Israel stayed in Shittim, and the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab).
Interestingly, none of the commentators I've read brings up the most obvious reason why this was such a profound evil - temple prostitutes.
Religious prostitution was common to a number of traditions in the ancient world. The woman would be dedicated to the service of the temple, often as a harlot, often with some kind of symbolic sexual union with a member of the heathen pantheon as the subtext. Additionally, orgies were part of the ceremonies during certain festivals, participated in by all the devotees.
Right there is the best reason to consider 'harlotry' with the b'not Moab as a far worse offense than it first seems (even taking the complex moral issues of harlotry into account) - effectively those who committed harlotry were serving other gods and the idols of strangers. Hardly the proper behaviour of those dedicated to divine service, and quite the opposite of kiddush Hashem. [Shmos 20:5 "Lo tishtacha ve lahem ve lo ta'avdem... " (You shan't bow down to them, nor serve them...).]
I guess the commentators are not used to thinking about prostitutes much.
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THEIR NATURAL HABITAT
There are more dogs in this neighborhood than children. One very rarely sees people walking their children outside when one is, hypothetical...
7 comments:
Did you read the http://tinyurl.com/4aaljy ?
Judging by the dearth of comments, nobody else thinks much of prostitutes either. You may be the only one.
Lev
Lev, you seem to have your own thing going there, and it may overlap with prostitutes.
Or prostitots. We don't know. Don't tell us.
---Grant Patel
The Sea
(1)
The Sea! the Sea! the open Sea!
The blue, the fresh, the ever free!
Without a mark, without a bound,
It runneth the earth's wide regions 'round;
It plays with the clouds; it mocks the skies;
Or like a cradled creature lies.
(2)
I'm on the Sea! I'm on the Sea!
I am where I would ever be;
With the blue above, and the blue below,
And silence wheresoe'er I go;
If a storm should come and awake the deep,
What matter? I shall ride and sleep.
(3)
I love (oh! how I love) to ride
On the fierce foaming bursting tide,
When every mad wave drowns the moon,
Or whistles aloft his tempest tune,
And tells how goes the world below,
And why the south-west blasts do blow.
(4)
I never was on the dull tame shore
but I lov'd the great Sea more and more,
And backwards flew to her billowy breast,
Like a bird that seeketh its mother's nest;
And mother she was, and is to me;
For I was born on the open Sea!
~~~by aoc powerlevewling
Rebecca seems to have a bee in her bonnet. Or a poem up her gand. Whichever. Dreary damn bollocks.
---Grant Patel
I can recognize prostitutes and I have been accosted by them and by "boys" but when it comes down to the basics - "akar satan" or not..
It is extremely sad that young people live by prostitution and that there are always "johns" who pay to do the nasty stuff.
I feel that it's wiser & better to elevate than to degenerate.
Graham
Prostitutes are always very friendly towards me, I can't think why.
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