Class Five. Page 101-2. The הפטורה של אלי’ בהר הכרמל ומשפטו הידוע: עד מית אתם פוסחים על שתי הסעיפים. Why being on both sides of the fence פוסח על שתי הסעיפים maybe worse than being a strict עובד עבודה זרה? עבודה זרה means that there is a lack of Achdus, and one honors the intermediates.
Class Six. Page 102-4. For several reasons sitting on the fence is worse than being a strict עובד עבודה זרה. A) One who worships idols knows that the sole reason for the exercise is some material benefit he can derive; but there is no altruism; while a fence sitter is unsure about that. B) The possibility for תשובה is clear in an עובד עבודה זרה; while he who fence sits always says that what he did isn’t so bad. C) An עובד עבודה זרה has a (skewed) sense of spirituality while the fence sitter has nothing.
