Part I
Here and Now
HaRav Eliashiv's ruling about human hair from India being
subject to the prohibition of an offering made to avodoh
zora awakened an interest in the subject that has not yet
died down. It is the first time that many of us have become
aware of the existence of idol worshipers, living and
practicing in our own day and age. The accounts of the
ceremonies that are conducted in India and elsewhere in the
Far East have reminded us that the halochos of
avodoh zora are still of practical relevance.
The fact that hundreds of millions of people prostrate
themselves before idols of one sort or another gives the
rebukes with which our prophets castigated their brethren who
worshiped wooden and stone images a much more contemporary
ring.
Any reasonably intelligent person must wonder what leads
people to devote their lives to such nonsense. How do such
enormous numbers of people come to abandon all reason,
worshiping images fashioned by human hands and placing their
trust in foolish and ridiculous beliefs?
The fact that the topic has aroused such widespread and avid
interest makes this a good opportunity to examine some of the
ideas that surround it. The best place to start is the
Rambam's classic account of the origin and development of
idol worship, from which one of the great contemporary
mussar teachers extracted some lessons that have great
relevance for us.
To Honor the King's Servants
At the beginning of Hilchos Avodoh Zora the Rambam
writes, "In the time of Enosh people made a great mistake,
and wise men of the time gave foolish counsel and Enosh
himself was among the mistaken ones. This was their mistake.
They said, since G-d created these stars and heavenly spheres
to control the world and He set them on high and accorded
them honor, and since they are among the servants that
minister to Him, they deserve to be praised, exalted and
honored. This is the wish of G-d blessed be He -- that we
should accord greatness and honor to those upon whom He has
bestowed greatness and honor, just as a king wishes to honor
those who stand in front of Him. This is the king's honor.
"Once this idea had come to them, they started building
temples to the stars and offering them sacrifices, praising
and glorifying them verbally and bowing down to them in order
to gain the Creator's favor through their evil ideas. This
was the basis of the worship of the celestial bodies and this
was what those who served them who knew its basis said. Not
that they imagined that there was no G- d besides [the stars
etc. but they thought it proper to serve certain of G-d's
creations as a way of serving Him] . . . (Halochoh
1).
"A long time later, false prophets arose among the people and
said that G-d had instructed and told them, `Serve this
individual star or all the stars. Offer it such-and-such
sacrifices and libations. Build it a temple and fashion its
form for all the people, women, children and other ignoramii,
to bow down to.' He would tell them a form that he had
imagined by himself and say that it was the form of the
particular star that he had been shown in his prophecy. In
this way, they started making forms in the temples,
underneath the trees and atop the mountains and hills. They
would gather together and bow down to them and tell all the
people that this form had the power to benefit or harm them
and that they ought to serve it and fear it. The priests told
them that by doing this service they would increase and
succeed and that they should do such and such and not do such
and such. Other charlatans then began to arise and saying
that the star itself, or the sphere or the angel had spoken
to them and told them, `Serve me in this way' and had told
them how it was to be served, `Do this and don't do that.'
A World Adrift
"This practice of serving these forms in different ways and
sacrificing and bowing down to them spread throughout the
world. After a long time had passed, the honored and fearsome
Name [of Hashem] was forgotten from the lips and minds of all
who existed, and they didn't know Him. All the common folk,
women and children recognized only the wooden or stone form
and the stone temple, to which they had been raised to bow,
to serve and in whose name to swear. The wise men among them,
such as their priests and the like, imagined that there was
no G-d besides the stars and the spheres for whom and in
whose likeness these forms had been made. As to the Rock of
the Worlds, nobody recognized Him or knew Him beyond a few
individuals such as Chanoch, Mesushelach, Noach, Shem and
Ever. The world carried on like this until the birth of the
world's [supporting] pillar, namely, Avrohom Ovinu
(Halochoh 2).
From an early age, Avrohom Ovinu thought about the world and
understood that it must have a Controller. " . . .His mind
was roving and comprehending until he arrived at the path of
truth and understood the right approach, through his correct
way of understanding. He knew that there is . . . a single G-
d and that He controls the spheres and created everything and
that there is no other G-d in existence besides Him. He knew
that the whole world was mistaken and what had led them to
their mistake was that they served stars and forms until the
truth had gone out of their minds . . . He smashed the idols
and started telling the people that it was not right to serve
anything besides the G-d of the world; that it was proper to
bow down to Him, to offer sacrifices and libations, so that
all future creations should recognize Him; that it was right
to destroy and smash all the forms so that the people
wouldn't go astray after them . . . He started getting up and
loudly calling to everyone, telling them that the entire
world has a single G-d, and it is He who should be served. He
travelled from city to city, calling and gathering the people
. . . " (Halochoh 3)
A Contemporary Message
In an essay entitled The Yetzer Hora For Avodoh Zora
(Michtav Mei'Eliyahu vol. IV), HaRav Dessler quotes the
Rambam's account and derives a lesson from it that is
relevant in all times. While Torah observant Jews are
certainly far from idol worship and anything associated with
it, the mistakes of earlier generations demonstrate just how
far it is possible to stray when focusing on ways and means,
instead of on the ultimate aim.
"The Torah forbids making forms," writes Rav Dessler, "except
to a very limited extent -- for example, the Keruvim
in the Kodesh Hakodoshim which served as a means of
our contemplating Hashem's traits and the way He directs the
world such as, `see how you are loved by Hashem' (Yoma
54), and also the images that the prophets saw, like the
Ma'aseh Merkovoh (Yechezkel chap. 1). These are all
parables though, so that we can gain some idea of Hashem's
glory.
"We serve Him and fulfill His mitzvos wholly for His sake and
direct our prayers to Him -- to Hashem Himself, without any
intermediaries. It is forbidden to make any form or to
compose any image, even in our imagination, in order to
contemplate His Being. This is the meaning of the
posuk, `And you did not see any image' (Devorim
4:15). At matan Torah, He did not show them any
picture or likeness by which to appreciate His actual Being,
not even through prophecy and certainly not through any
comparison that we ourselves make."
All this teaches us an important lesson, lack of clarity in
which leads to serious misjudgement. Chazal observe, "How
foolish people are -- they stand up for a sefer Torah
but they don't stand up for a great man!" (Makkos 22).
Rav Dessler explains what prompts people to honor a sefer
Torah while they scorn Torah scholars in their hearts:
"This tendency still exists today. At first, a person uses a
particular approach or method as an instrument, as a way of
getting to know the inner content of the discipline that he
wants to study. He accords the instrument respect on account
of the inner teaching that it enables him to reach.
Ultimately though, he comes to see the instrument as the
object of veneration and completely forgets the inner
content. The sefer Torah is the instrument that serves
as a means of learning what Hashem wants from men. It is
something tangible, which people can see and they thus honor
it. However, the Torah's inner content that crystallizes
within the great man is neither seen nor honored.
"In the same way, we ourselves see people who honor the means
of performing a mitzva, for example, buying a costly silver
menorah while it doesn't occur to them to think about the
Chanukah miracle and use it to strengthen their faith and the
like. They neglect the inner spiritual lesson and delude
themselves by valuing the outward means of fulfilling the
mitzvah. [There is of course an obligation to beautify the
mitzvos we do but it is intended to enhance the mitzvah's
spiritual essence, not supplant it by leading us to focus on
outward trappings.]
"The yetzer hora of idolatry draws upon this very
tendency. A person feels the urge to employ a physical form
to facilitate the consideration of an abstract idea, but
ultimately he is just left with the form because it is
something tangible and he loses the proper perspective of
faith. Inner content tends to be displaced by the instrument
that was to have led one to it."
End of Part I
