472. Rabbi Elazar said, Father, WHAT YOU HAVE SAID would have been most beautiful if there had not been an internal contradiction. He said to him, My son, please tell me. And he replied, It is written: "And Yisrael joined himself to Baal Pe'or" (Bemidbar 25:3), and we have learnt that Yisrael were joined to Baal Pe'or as a bracelet is joined to a bejeweled person. THAT IS: YISRAEL ALSO SINNED, AND NOT ONLY THE MIXED MULTITUDE. He said to him: So it is indeed, Elazar, that "Yisrael joined himself to Baal Pe'or," but I did not say that Yisrael were innocent of that sin. All I said was that they were cleared of death, that death did not rest on them.

473. He said to him: But it is also written: "Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them" (Ibid. 4), WHICH MEANS THEY WERE OF YISRAEL. He said to him, It does indeed specifically say "the chiefs of the people," NAMELY THE MIXED MULTITUDE WHO ARE CALLED 'PEOPLE' WITHOUT FURTHER EPITHET. IT DOES not SAY 'the chiefs of the children of Yisrael'. And from the use of the term "the people" we can learn THAT WHEREVER SCRIPTURE USES "THE PEOPLE" THE REFERENCE IS TO THE MIXED MULTITUDE. In this verse it is written "the people," and elsewhere it is written: "And when the people saw that Moses delayed" (Shemot 32:1) and: "the people gathered themselves together" (Ibid.), and: "And there fell of the people..." (Ibid. 28). IN ALL THESE CASES, "THE PEOPLE" MEANS THE MIXED MULTITUDE. But come and see: All that is written is "And Yisrael joined himself to Baal Pe'or" (Bemidbar 25:3). It does not say that they worshipped, as understood from the end of the verse, as is written: "and the people ate, and bowed down to their Elohim" (Ibid. 2). Scripture does not say that Yisrael ate and bowed down, but IT IS WRITTEN, "the people." And since it is written "And Yisrael joined...," what is the meaning of "and the people ate"? SCRIPTURE SHOULD HAVE SAID: 'AND YISRAEL ATE'. However, it was that bad stock, NAMELY THE MIXED MULTITUDE WHO MARRIED WOMEN OF YISRAEL, which was the sin of Yisrael.

474. ANOTHER COMMENT. Take the verse: "And Yisrael joined himself to Baal Pe'or." Come and see: 'And Yisrael joined himself within Baal Pe'or' is not written, but rather "to Baal Pe'or." This is so because they gave ONLY embellishment and strength to Baal Pe'or, without awareness, because the worship of Pe'or consisted of uncovering oneself and depositing in front of him hot feces, which worship used to give him pleasure and Baal Pe'or grew strong from it. Yisrael, when they saw this, thought that they were thereby scorning him and disgracing him, for about idolatry it is written: "You shall say to it: Get you hence (Heb. tze)" (Yeshayah 30:22), AND THE WORD FOR FECES (HEB. TZO'AH) COMES FROM THE SAME ROOT. So they, YISRAEL, uncovered themselves in order to deride the idolatry, without awareness. And it was for these that Pinchas made atonement and stopped the plague FROM THEM, as it is written: "And he made atonement over the children of Yisrael" (Bemidbar 25:13).