Of all the moral and ethical infractions that remain on our radar, idolatry is not one that anyone seems too concerned about. Any rigorous yeshiva student will tell you that the Gemara affirms that the evil inclination for idolatry was deactivated in the ancient days of the Sages. I have recently developed further insight into those words of our Sages.
Any observant Jew would attest to the eternity of the Torah. How could the Torah discuss a sin as severe as idol worship, which we are commanded to give up our lives for, if today it is seemingly no longer relevant? The truth is, they are extremely relevant, and we have to attune our level of vigilance in regard to the threat that it poses on us individually and collectively.
Certainly, there are specific scenarios in which the Gemara identifies the seemingly alien practice of idol worship. For instance, the Gemara asserts that one who rends his garment in his wrath is like one who committed idol worship. Furthermore, our Sages write, one who is arrogant is like one who has served a foreign force or deity. The Gemara in Kesubos, towards the end, states, “Anyone who lives in Chutz La’aretz, it is as if they have no G‑d or as if they have worshipped idols.” I imagine there are many more such instances. So while we don’t have to grapple with the urge to leave our homes and houses of worship to follow a different religion or philosophy in life, there may be certain weaknesses of character that we do endure from time to time, and a failure to nip it in the bud will result in an infraction similar to idol worship.
Perhaps we could develop the comprehensiveness of this point further based on another axiom of our sages. The Gemara asserts that a sinful act, done repeatedly, becomes permitted in the eyes of the guilty party. Obviously, a sin remains a sin notwithstanding the regularity with which it is performed. However, the Gemara is imparting to us an important bit of psychology, which is the more we become habitually used to doing something prohibited, the less it weighs down on our conscience and the easier time we have coming to terms with it as a new, permissive reality.
Perhaps when the Gemara tells us that the Sages did away with the evil inclination, they didn’t mean that idol worship is passé or irrelevant. Rather, in its modern application, while not necessarily bowing down to a foreign god we could be guilty of idol worship without feeling the guilt or heavy conscience that it used to be associated with. I would say this is something that we have to be even more vigilant about than other sins which everyone is cognizant of.
On that note, on the heels of Parashas Yisro, the question virtually asks itself, why is this parashah named for someone who served every idol known to mankind before joining the Jewish nation? After a life of serving every hewn stone and molten image, Yisro realized that there is only one G‑d in this world.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, as quoted in the introduction of the Gutnick Chumash to Parashas Yisro, teaches that if our performance of mitzvos is inspired by the way our fellow performs it, while we may be credited with doing the mitzvah, it carries with it an element of idolatry. If we buy a nicer esrog to mimic our neighbor in shul or lengthen our Kriyas Shema, intensify our kavanah, or learn with greater dedication as a result of someone else looking on from the outside, that is not service of G‑d but worship of a flesh and blood, which is idol worship.
Furthermore, the Baal HaTanya writes, one who learns for the sake of honor is not even credited for the lower level of shelo lishmah and is in fact guilty of using the Torah for his own egotistical, self-serving purposes. This is perhaps why the mishnah in Avos warns against using the Torah as a profession through which one earns his or her livelihood, since doing so refocuses the Torah from being the wisdom of G‑d to the vehicle responsible for one’s livelihood and notoriety in life.
The Gemara cites that if one merits it, his Torah learning serves as an elixir of life, and if not, that very same Torah could be a poisonous mixture. It all depends on what the nature and intent of our learning is. If we are striving to develop a closer relationship with Hashem, then it adds to our life. If, however, our learning is to improve our self-image and to put others down and make them feel inferior, then that is antithetical to why the Torah was given in the first place! The Torah was given to bring peace and brotherhood into the world. Yet, here comes someone devoting his every waking moment to sow hatred and dissent between Jews! What do we suppose such a Torah should result in?
The Torah is not merely a refined subject. It is the tool through which G‑d created the world. If you want to know the purpose we were put here for, go and delve into the Torah. If you are a source of peace and appreciated by your peers, it is an indication that you have discovered the purpose for which we have been created.
Perhaps this could explain the Gemara regarding Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai. Exiting a cave after 12 years in hiding, he set ablaze everything that his eyes deemed unholy or antithetical to our purpose here. The heavenly voice declared, “Who gave you permission to destroy My world? Go back for another year of hiding.” Only after emerging the second time did he begin to appreciate the simple Jew and discover the redeeming factor within each of them. This demonstrates the double-edged sword of the Torah and how the same Torah could have an adverse effect.
In a more modern light, if it’s possible for supposedly devout Jews, no matter the considerations or circumstances, to spit at and curse a little Jewish girl and to pit one Jew against the next, it is clear that their Torah is being learned with ulterior motives. Torah shows us how we should live our lives. If you use the Torah to obscure your true identity and lead people to think that everything you do is based on what’s written in the Book, then you’re no better than the pig who proudly sticks out its split hooves to show everyone that it is kosher. Every half-educated Jew knows that there is more to kosher than what is on the outside.
A Jew, more than the way he looks on the outside, needs a strong foundation, a strong neshamah, otherwise he is no different from a pig. If a terrorist could dress up in Chassidic garb to carry out his mission, then a Jew could dress up in the very same clothes and use the Torah to further fool his neighbors into thinking that he is righteous. The Rebbe Rashab, Reb Shalom DovBer of Lubavitch, once quipped that the Satan could come to us wearing a silk kapote. This is the point that I have been trying to convey.
The Gemara in Sanhedrin says, “Rachmana liba ba’ee.” More than anything, Hashem wants us, the people who learn the Torah, to have a heart and a soul and to unite rather than divide the Jewish people. If there is someone who devotes his time to learning, performing mitzvos, and tending to the needs of his or her community faithfully but at the same time he or she carries a grudge or longs to take revenge on others, that Torah, those mitzvos and good deeds, is idol worship and not service of G‑d because they represent the opposite of what G‑d truly wants.
Having read Parashas Yisro, we should be cognizant of the fact that avodah zarah exists, and we have to search our collective and individual ways to see that we are serving G‑d and not ourselves or others to whom we look for acknowledgment. We should merit peace in our midst and in the world with the coming of Mashiach soon in our days.