A Hasidic View of Lust

“Our sin was with the wanton flesh,” he said,
“but we did not obey its every whim,
repenting in time to seek God’s mercy.
Now we walk here, and in the flames we sing,
to burn away the dross of our past lives,
“Our sin was with our flesh,” he said,
“We did not always yield to fleshly wanton,
But turned in time to seek God’s grace instead.

These lines are taken from The Divine Comedy, the poem written by Dante Alighieri in the early years of the 14th century.

As written in the quote, today is all about flesh, or more precisely, the lust for flesh. In Hebrew תאוות בשרים - Ta’avat Besarim.

In Dante’s poem lust, is one of the seven sins which bring people to the Inferno (hell) and to purgatory. 

Interestingly in our portion this week Beha'alotcha, according to some interpretations, the lust for flesh is actually viewed as a positive thing.

"וְהָֽאסַפְסֻף֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּקִרְבּ֔וֹ הִתְאַוּ֖וּ תַּאֲוָ֑ה וַיָּשֻׁ֣בוּ וַיִּבְכּ֗וּ גַּ֚ם בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ מִ֥י יַאֲכִלֵ֖נוּ בָּשָֽׂר׃

The riffraff in their midst felt a gluttonous craving; and then the Israelites wept and said, “If only we had meat to eat!"

Here, in this verse, the Israelites are feeling “gluttonous craving” (according to this translation, the word for craving “Taava” can be translated to lust.) They are asking for meat. 

Rashi asks, simply put: How come they ask for meat? It is clearly stated that in the Exodus they left Egypt with enough cattle to be able to consume meat,  so this must stand for something else..

Ramban (Nachmanides) answers that they did have meat, but could only consume it on special occasions and with a little work which involved sacrifices, and what they in fact wanted was to eat the meat “Hinam” (for free) meaning, without the sacrificial works which was involved with it.

But 19th century rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (aka Sefat Emet) offers a hasidic interpretation and takes us Rashi on his challenge.

ברש"י מי יאכילנו בשר והלא הי' להם מקנה רב רק שמבקשין עלילה. וקשה מאי עלילה יש מאחר שהי' להם. אך י"ל דכתיב התאוו תאוה. ומשמע שלא הי' להם תאוה. שהיו למעלה מהטבע. חירות מיצה"ר. 
 

In Rashi: "who will feed us meat" and did they not have much cattle? Do they ask falsely? It's difficult for us to say that they were asking falsely, since they had cattle. But 13:1 says, "They desired lust." And it means that they did not have lust. They were above nature. Free from the Evil Inclination. 

What Sefat Emet suggests here, was that the Isaelites by eating the Manna and wandering in the desert were “not of this world” they did not have any desire good or bad. They were numb. As they began approaching the promised land, the place where they would connect to their earthly sells, they began to feel the need for desire, for wanting things, for feeling powerfully and wholeheartedly. 

Our portion continues with the following verses.

זָכַ֙רְנוּ֙ אֶת־הַדָּגָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־נֹאכַ֥ל בְּמִצְרַ֖יִם חִנָּ֑ם אֵ֣ת הַקִּשֻּׁאִ֗ים וְאֵת֙ הָֽאֲבַטִּחִ֔ים וְאֶת־הֶחָצִ֥יר וְאֶת־הַבְּצָלִ֖ים וְאֶת־הַשּׁוּמִֽים׃

We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.

וְעַתָּ֛ה נַפְשֵׁ֥נוּ יְבֵשָׁ֖ה אֵ֣ין כֹּ֑ל בִּלְתִּ֖י אֶל־הַמָּ֥ן עֵינֵֽינוּ׃

"Now our gullets are shriveled. There is nothing at all! Nothing but this manna to look to!”

The phrase here Nafsheynu Yevesha (our gullets are shriveled) can also be translated to “our souls have dried.”

To that the Sefat Emet says:

ולכך הי' נראה להם שנכון שיהי' להם תאוה ושיזכו לעשות נחת רוח להשי"ת על ידי שיאכלו בקדושה אף בשר גשמי. וז"ש נפשנו יבשה כו' שלא קיימו בכל נפשכם.

“And therefore it seemed to them that it was right for them to have a desire and that they would be able to bring satisfaction to the Lord by eating even physical meat in holiness. And this is what our soul is thirsty for, because they did not fulfill it with all their soul.”

The Sefat Emet suggests that the Israelites wished to have desire not so they could commit sins of adultery and gluttony, but rather so that they could worship God with “all of their souls” (V’ahavta- B’chol Nafshecha).

A complete soul, one that is not dried, a soul which can feel love and hate, a soul which wants, is a soul which is put to the test of overcoming desire. Without desire, there is nothing to overcome, and without overcoming there is no meaning to worship.

I think that it is fascinating to juxtapose our Torah and Medieval Christian thought and poetry such as Dante to see how lust can have two completely opposite views.

Here is Dante:

“And so that you may understand me clearly,
I’ll tell you why this terrace tries us so,
and what the fire means that we walk through.
This place corrects the misdirected love
that turned to earth what should be turned to Heaven”

“This place” in this passage means Purgatory, and interestingly enough here there is also the idea of lust which could be directed to heaven but was instead committed to sin.

I think that the Hasidic Hiddush here, is that one must have earthly lust in order to direct it to the divine, and for that one should not be punished.

The word Basar (flesh) בשר carries with it the root B.S.R which is the root for Besora בשורה - which means “news” or deliverance. It also holds the letters in שבר Shever or Mashber משבר which means a crack or a crisis.

The Hebrew letters here tell us that we need our yearning for flesh brings with it the news of true life, life of breakdown and crises, life which we were meant to overcome — and every time we do, we might feel that we are a tiny step closer to the Divine.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ye'ela Rosenfeld