“When you will beget children, and children’s children, and you will have been long in the land, and you will act corruptly and craft an idol, the image of anything, and you will perform evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, to anger Him” (Deuteronomy 4:25). “When you will beget children” – halakha: Is it permitted for a person of Israel to round the corners of his head? So taught the Sages: These are the matters that are prohibited due to the ways of the Amorite: One who cuts [his hair] in the komi style and one who grows a forelock.
What is cutting [one’s hair] in the komi style? This is one who cuts the corners of his head and leaves a handle of locks.35The haircut being described here is one in which the sides of the head are shaved and hair is left growing in the middle. This is described as a “handle of locks” of hair. Alternatively, some translate the word kurtzin here to mean “ears” and explain that the absence of hair near the ears makes them look like handles (Etz Yosef).
For what is he liable? He incurs forty lashes. But one who grows a forelock grows it only for the sake of idol worship, and there is no punishment harsher than that for idol worship, as the Holy One blessed be He is zealous only in its regard. From where is this derived?
As it is stated: “You shall have no other gods before Me…” (Exodus 20:3).36And it says in the continuation of this passage: “Because I am the Lord your God, a zealous God” (Exodus 20:5). And it is written: “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a zealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:24). The Rabbis said: Since there is no substance to idols, why does it call them deities? Rabbi Pinḥas bar Ḥama said: In order to give a reward to everyone who forsakes it.
The Holy One blessed be He said: Even though it has no substance, since a person forsakes it, I ascribe to him as though he had been worshipping something that had substance and came to Me. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: The Holy One blessed be He said: Since the punishment for idol worship is that harsh, I must caution them about it, so they will not say: Had He cautioned us we would have forsaken it.
The Holy One blessed be He said to Isaiah: ‘Do not think that perhaps I did not caution them against idol worship. Initially, before they came to Sinai to receive the Torah, I cautioned them against idol worship.’ From where is this derived? It is written as follows: “I told you beforehand; before you came, I announced it to you” (Isaiah 48:5) – before you came to Sinai I announced blessings and curses to you.
Why? “Lest you say: My graven image made them; my idol and my cast image commanded them” (Isaiah 48:5) – that is why I cautioned them about it. Through whom did I caution them? Through Moses My servant.
From where is this derived? It is from what we read regarding the matter: “When you will beget children, and children’s children.”