잠언 6:26의 Musar

The first Rabbi quoted makes it plain that he speaks of a person who seeks such a position for his personal gratification. He views it as his due for having studied a great deal of Torah. The objection to the appointment of such a person is that it is forbidden to seek personal gratification and advantage from words of Torah. We are told in Sotah 4 in the name of Rabbi Chiyah bar Abba in reference to Proverbs 6,26, that "a married woman can ensnare even a prestigious man," that a haughty person will sooner or later commit the sin of adultery. Haughtiness could be the result of someone having studied Torah. The reason that one must not become boastful even if one has studied a great deal of Torah, is that we are told in Avot 2,8, that "if you have studied much Torah do not take credit for this, for after all you have only done what you have been created for." If not for Torah, man would have been no better than the smelly drop of semen which is his origin. Torah converts this smelly drop into a waterproof cistern which does not lose anything that is put into it. Under such conditions the words of Torah have a chance to increase and multiply. This is why we have a tradition that words of Torah are compared to seedlings. Just as seedlings increase and multiply, so do words of Torah multiply. Torah has been called אשה, "wife," as we know from Deut. 33,4, where the expression מורשה קהלת יעקב, is also interpreted as מאורסה, i.e. she is Israel's "betrothed." When one uses one's Torah knowledge to boast, then this "betrothed" is considered as an alien woman (compare Pessachim 49). Such a woman is like a vessel full of excrement, though everybody runs after her. Hence the drop of semen becomes an evil smelling drop.

Many men are guilty of chasing after strange women. You must know that a man who imbibes yein nessech in the taverns of the gentiles will inevitably be drawn after strange women as well, because one sin leads to another (Pirkei Avos 4:6). Thus he violates the injunction against multiplying women. At the same time, he disperses his seed like a horse, for the horse is the symbol of profligacy, as can be seen from the verse in Yechezkeil, “Their stream is like the stream of horses” (23:20). Such behavior is associated with animals. That is why a straying wife was required to bring an offering of barley flour, for barley is used for animal fodder. It turns out, then, that the word nessech contains the important hint that one who partakes of yein nessech will also be guilty of multiplying women, hence multiplying his seed like that of horses. In consequence he will descend into such poverty and indigence that he will want for a loaf of bread. As Scripture warns, “For the sake of a harlot a man will come to a loaf of bread” (Mishlei 6:26). In this way he fulfills the third injunction, “He shall not multiply money.” This is why nessech is an acronym for women [nashim], horses [sussim] and money [kessef]. Therefore let a man stay far from this iniquity.