#750: Sinful Thoughts
R. Elimelekh of Lizhensk on Parashat Pinhas, Bamidbar/Numbers 25:17-18
צָר֖וֹר אֶת־הַמִּדְיָנִ֑ים וְהִכִּיתֶ֖ם אוֹתָֽם׃ כִּ֣י צֹרְרִ֥ים הֵם֙ לָכֶ֔ם בְּנִכְלֵיהֶ֛ם אֲשֶׁר־נִכְּל֥וּ לָכֶ֖ם עַל־דְּבַר־פְּע֑וֹר וְעַל־דְּבַ֞ר כׇּזְבִּ֨י בַת־נְשִׂ֤יא מִדְיָן֙ אֲחֹתָ֔ם הַמֻּכָּ֥ה בְיוֹם־הַמַּגֵּפָ֖ה עַל־דְּבַר־פְּעֽוֹר׃
“Assail the Midianites and defeat them—for they assailed you by the trickery they practiced against you—because of the affair of Peor and because of the affair of their kinswoman Cozbi, daughter of the Midianite chieftain, who was killed at the time of the plague on account of Peor.”
Gimme Some Torah #750
Welcome to new subscriber Gloria!
I’ve always thought and taught that Judaism puts more value on actions than on feelings and emotions. Sinful thoughts, I was always led to believe, are not such a big deal. Sinful actions, however, are what bring us great pain.
When Jimmy Carter confessed to committing adultery in his heart, many Jews sniffed, “Well, there is no such thing as adultery in one’s heart. Only an actual act of adultery is a sin.” That’s an opinion that didn’t age well; the internet has proven President Carter right!
Practically speaking, I still believe actions count for more. But I was surprised to learn that the Jewish tradition presents another, equally valid opinion on the matter that comes to a conclusion much like President Carter’s:
The Tsaddik Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk would say, “The gravest wickedness of the Midianites were (as the Torah says in Num. 24:17-18) their schemes that they plotted.”
Their schemes were the sinful and impure thoughts that they attached themselves to and that they passed on to their children. In so doing, these outsiders became grieveous enemies to Israel. As our Sages say (B. Yoma 29a),
“Thoughts of transgression are worse than transgression itself, and your mnemonic is the odor of meat. (That is, the smell of roasting meat is more appetizing than actually eating the meat.)”
This general rule is valid in every tie and place. If a Jew is seduced into committing an act of sin and wickedness, he can fix the sitution through repentance and the performance of good deeds.
But someone who is attached to false ideas and impure beliefs, for him there is no corrective action available. Scripture says about such a person: “All who go to her cannot return…” (Prov. 2:19). (See Parpera’ot LaTorah, Menahem Becker, ed. (Jerusalem: Omen Publishing, 1986), vol. 4, p. 203, translation mine).
I get what Rebbe Elimelekh of Lizhensk is saying, but it’s important not to take him literally. He is not saying that thoughts about sins are actually worse than real world transgressions. What he’s saying is that our sinful thoughts play on a torturous, mind-scrambling loop, constantly bothering us and begging us to stray.
Separating ourselves from these impure thoughts is more difficult than repenting after the commission of a sinful act. Often, ridding oursleves of these obsessive thoughts requires some combination of prayer, meditation, therapy, physical exercise, and maybe even medication in some cases.
To be truly good on the outside, we have to be good on the inside as well. If we perform good deeds publicly while harboring hateful, twisted thoughts on the inside, that’s not good enough. Eventually, the muck on the inside will come out and pollute the goodness on the outside.
As Rabban Gamliel would proclaim and say: Any student whose inside, his thoughts and feelings, are not like his outside, i.e., his conduct and his character traits are lacking, will not enter the study hall (B. Berakhot 28a).
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I am the rabbi of Temple Beth El in Somerset, New Jersey, and the author of The JPS Jewish Heritage Torah Commentary.
Sh’koyekh!