ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף יואל 4:18

A Midrashic interpretation based on Tanchuma Balak 17: The words “Israel settled in Shittim” indicate that there was a fountain at Shittim which caused people who drank from it to develop into adulterers, just as we know that there are fountains the waters of which cause the people drinking it either to become physically strong or weak, or to influence their characters in various ways. The waters of that well were the ones the people of Sodom had been drinking from (in former times). This is the meaning of Genesis 19,5: “Where are the men who came to you this night, take them out to us so that we can indulge our libido with them.” Seeing that this fountain had such spiritually negative effects on the people drinking from it, G’d cursed it and made it stop flowing. We know from the prophecy in Yoel 4,18 that in the future this fountain will re-emerge: “On that day the mountains shall drip with wine, the hills shall flow with milk; and all the watercourses of Yehudah shall flow with water; a spring shall issue forth from the House of the Lord and shall water the wadi of Shittim.”

spring water shall come forth from Jerusalem and flow to the east by way of the crevice to... the eastern sea which is to the east of the world; and half of it will turn to the west, to the western sea. This is the spring concerning which Joel (4:18) prophesied: “And a spring shall emanate from the house of the Lord.” That is the spring concerning which Ezekiel (47:3) prophesied: “And he measured a thousand cubits and he made me pass through the water.”

And according to the Sages (ibid. 2), that anyone who sees a wayward woman in her disgrace should abstain from wine, the term tisteh [stray/be unfaithful] is used because wine confuses a person’s intellect, as it is written Promiscuity, wine, and new wine take away the heart (Hosea 4:11). And from the fact that they are placed adjacent to each other, we learn that wine accustoms one to immorality. Therefore, it is stated in Joel (4:18), The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, etc., and adjacent to it [is written], A spring shall issue from the House of the Lord and shall water the Valley of Shittim. This is because the Sages said (Bamidbar Rabbah 20:22) that the spring of Shittim grows adulterers, as it is said Israel settled in Shittim, and the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab (Numbers 25:1). Since it says the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, meaning an abundance of wine, it needed to assure them that the abundance of wine would not harm them and would not bring them to habitual sin, because a spring shall issue from the House of the Lord and shall water the Valley of Shittim. For wherever you find a fence against immorality, there you find holiness. Therefore, the spring comes out from a holy place and heals the Valley of Shittim so that it will not bring them to habitual sin — it and its partner, namely, wine. For the Valley of Shittim is the source of Samael [Satan], which is a partner to the letters of “anavim” [grapes] in the Aleph-Bet [the letters of the second come after each letter of the first].

But there ‘But’ refers back to ‘whose pegs shall never be moved,’ and ‘shall not be torn.’ The evil shall not be, only the good. There the Lord shall be mighty for us, and the city shall be a place of rivers and streams, in the manner it is said in Ezekiel (47:4f.): “And He measured a thousand (cubits), and He led me...a stream that I could not cross.” And so did Joel prophesy (4:18) “And a spring shall emanate from the house of the Lord,” that it shall become progressively stronger.