Musar for Pesachim 220:15

אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל כל המזוג מצטרף

R'Joseph said: Two [cups] of wine and one of beer do not combine; two of beer and one of wine combine, and your token [is this]: 'This is the general principle: Whatever is joined thereto of a material more stringent than itself is unclean; of a material more lenient than itself, is clean.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Materials, to become unclean, must be of a certain minimum size, which varies according to the value of the material: the greater the value, the more stringent it is, i.e., the smaller its minimum. If the material is less than the minimum and a piece of another material is joined to it, making it up to the minimum, the rule is as stated. Thus here too, wine, being more valuable than beer, combines with it; beer being less valuable than wine, it is disregarded.');">17 R'Nahman said in Rab's name: Two [cups] before the meal18 and one during the meal combine; one before the meal and two during the meal do not combine. R'Mesharsheya demurred: Do we then desire to effect a remedy for the meal: we desire to effect a remedy for the person, and surely the person stands remedied!19 Yet all agree that two during the meal and one after the meal do not combine, in accordance with the story of Rabbah B'Nahmani.20 Rab Judah said in Samuel's name: All mixed drinks combine,21

Shenei Luchot HaBerit

There follows פרשת קדושים which deals with how to sanctify oneself, how to get rid of the residual pollutant of the serpent. The very purpose of the legislation in this פרשה is alluded to in 19,26: לא תנחשו, "do not indulge in practices reminiscent of the נחש, the serpent." The Rekanati comments on this verse as follows: "Do not commit the error of following the path of the original serpent which is known as the spirit of impurity, whose actions are known as ניחוש. We know about this from Bileam of whom the Torah reports in Numbers 24,1 that he discontinued consulting נחשים as had been his practice. Such consultations involved calling upon the assistance of impure spirits by swearing some kind of allegiance to them. These spirits are presumed not only to know the future but also to be able to reveal it to man. Anyone who prefers to rely on these spirits will find that G–d withdraws from him, and delivers him up to the mercy of those spirits. This is the meaning of Pessachim 110: כל דקפיד קפדינן בהדיה, "The more one is worried [about the influence of negative forces, מזיקים, Ed.] the more power these forces will have over such a person. When such a person dies, the aforementioned forces will accompany his body in accordance with the statement of our sages: בדרך שאדם רוצה לילך בה מוליכין אותו, "One leads man along the path he has chosen for himself" (Makkot 10). There are other commentators who see a warning in the verse exhorting us not to be מנחש, not to do something similar to what the serpent did when it upset the equilibrium of the Celestial equivalent of Eve by seducing Eve on earth.

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