The Alshich Hakadosh uses the a similar mashel to expain why the Jews violated the greatest aveiros but they did not get punished until they left the learning of the Torah behind.
There was a violinist who offended the king and others but the king protected him because of his music. Once someone got so upset that he cut his hand off. Since the violinist could not entertain the king anymore, the king threw the book at him for all his previous offenses. As long as tbey learned Torah, the Torah protected them, but once they stopped learning, they were punished on everything they did. This is like Rav Itzele’s mashel above.
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