“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: If the wife of any man will stray and commit a trespass against him” (Numbers 5:12). “If the wife of any man will stray…” – that is what is written: “You neglected the Rock that begot you…” (Deuteronomy 32:18). “The Rock that begot you” – that is what is written: “The eye of the adulterer awaits the night, [saying: No eye will behold me]” (Job 24:15).
The adulterer says: No person knows of me, because all of his actions are exclusively in the dark. Likewise it says: “Who passes in the street near her corner, and on the way to her house he treads, in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the dead of night and blackness” (Proverbs 7:8–9). He believes that because he performs his actions in the darkness that the Holy One blessed be He does not know of him.
Likewise, it says: “Woe, those who go deep from the Lord to conceal a scheme, and their actions are in the dark, and they say: Who sees us and who knows of us?” (Isaiah 29:15). As, this is the way of all performers of transgressions; they think that the Holy One blessed be He will not see their actions. And it says: “Is God not at the apex of heaven? See the height of the stars, how lofty they are.
You say: What does God know?… Clouds obscure for Him and He does not see.… Will you keep the old path [upon which men of evil have trodden]?” (Job 22:12–15). Likewise it says: “The eye of the adulterer awaits the night, saying: No eye will behold me” – neither an eye below nor an eye above. What is, “and he masks [yasim] his face [panim] clandestinely” (Job 24:15)? The Holy One blessed be He, who dwells clandestinely [seter], will place [yasim] the face [panim] of the adulterer on that fetus, as the adulterer and the adulteress want that she not conceive, but that they merely satisfy their lust.
But the Holy One blessed be He publicizes them in the world, so that people will know and say: The face of this one is the face of the adulterer, as He shapes the features of the fetus in the image of the adulterer. That is, “veseter panim yasim.”1“Veseter panim yasim” can mean, “He will place the clandestine face.” That is why it is called lewdness [zima], because they both deny it and say: We performed no transgression.
But the people say: If so, what is this [ze mahu]? Do not say it is only when she is impregnated by the adulterer that in that instance the features of the child are similar to the features of the adulterer. But even if she is pregnant from her husband and the adulterer consorts with her, the Holy One blessed be He transforms the features of the child to the features of the adulterer. Likewise it says: “You neglected the Rock that begot you” (Deuteronomy 32:18) – Rabbi Yitzḥak said: This adulterer weakens, as it were, the power of the Divine Presence.
How so? The fetus with which she is impregnated by her husband, He shapes its features within forty days. After forty days, the adulterer consorts with her and the Holy One blessed be He stands, wonders, and says: With whose shall I form him, with the features of the husband or the features of the adulterer? It is, as it were, “you neglected [teshi] the Rock that begot you.”
The yod of teshi, in miniature:2This yod is miniature in some versions of the Bible. The hand of the Designer weakened [tash]. Rabbi Abbahu said: To what is the matter comparable? It is to a painter who was painting a portrait of the king.
He came to complete his face, they said to him: The king died and another took his place. When the artist heard this, his hands weakened. He began saying: What shall I do with these paints? Shall I form it with the features of the first king or with the features of the second king?
He began wondering. So, the husband engages in relations, the Holy One blessed be He shapes the features of the fetus in the image of his father. The adulterer then consorts with her – the paints were intermingled. That is what is written: “Cursing, lying, murder, theft, and adultery have broken out, and blood touches blood” (Hosea 4:5).
What does the Holy One blessed be He do? As it were, He then transforms the features that he formed initially in the image of the husband, to the image of the adulterer, to realize what is stated: “Veseter panim yasim.” That is, “you neglected the Rock that begot you, and forgot God your Originator” (Deuteronomy 32:18). This is analogous to the chief architect – tax collector of a certain province.
The residents of the province began hiding their silver and gold in hiding places. The architect said to them: I built the province and I crafted the hiding places; are you hiding it from me? So, the Holy One blessed be He said to the adulterers: Is it from Me that you are hiding yourselves? Is it not I who created the hearts?
That is what is written: “I, the Lord, probe the heart, examine kidneys…” (Jeremiah 17:10). That is why it is stated: “And forgot God your Originator [meḥolelekha]” (Deuteronomy 32:18). I created you and crafted you cavities upon cavities [meḥilim meḥilim] – these are the hearts and the kidneys; but you forget Me and lie in My regard that I do not see and do not know your actions. Likewise, Moses alluded to this matter in the portion of the sota. That is what is written: “If the wife of any man [ish ish] will stray…”