21st Century Idol Worship

G-d commands Avrohom – Abraham - the first Jew “Leave your birthplace, land and fathers house to the land that I will show you.” Avrohom was not a youngster anymore he was in his seventies and his wife Sara was in her sixties.

What was Avrohom doing until now?

Avrohom found G-d when he was three years old. He was hidden in a cave to save his life, because of a decree for his death. On the birth date of Avrohom the king’s star gazers predicted that the child born that night will conquer the world. They misunderstood it as a battle for conquest, the reality was he would not battle their bodies but will bring the world to monotheism – a philosophical battle.
On his 3rd birthday he looked outside trying to figure out how everything came about realizing that the sun sets and the moon rises and that every physical creation has a limited life he understood that the creator is not something we can see or hear, touch or feel. It’s a spiritual power.

When Avrohom was 18 he destroyed his father’s idol shop. This was considered a great offence and he was punished by being catapult into a huge outdoor furnace. After coming out alive, the people of that time came to realize that G-d was protecting Avrohom.

At the age of seventy G-d revealed Himself to Avrohom and commanded him to move away from his past completely and this will change his Mazal to finally father children, who will later become the chosen nation of the world. The nation that will bring ethics and values, we will bring an awareness of goodness to the other nations.

Everything in Torah has a lesson for us in every generation. The concept of idol worship – bowing down to a statue – a piece of wood is something that is very primitive and difficult for us in this century to comprehend. However what if I we were to change the physical statue to a commodity, a business or even a Hollywood star this would be a 21st century idol. Thousands of people are “worshipping” blindly other people, money and power.

There are ways of doing business, following people’s views etc. that is part of life without it being “idol worship”. That is the message of this weeks Torah portion. Let’s not “worship” things in our life because that’s what the other guy has, or that’s the “in thing”.

Avrohom faced the world alone! That power is ingrained within every single Jew. That is Jewish pride. To do things that may be different to those around but its still the right thing and that is why we do it.

Rabbi Avrohom Winner
www.ChabadManhattanBeach.com