Maimonides on ‘aboda zara (1:2): From God to idol worshipping

Of its 613 Mitzvot (commandments) the Tora dedicates 51 to the prohibition of idol worshiping or ‘aboda zara. In His book Mishne Tora Maimonides devotes twelve chapters to the Laws of idol worshiping. 

He begins (Hilkhot ‘abodat kokhabim 1:1) by explaining that idolatry owes its origins to a collective human error.  People thought that since God created so many servants to sustain life in this planet, worshiping those servants would please the Creator in the same way that a King would be pleased if his ministers are respected and praised. 

Maimonides emphasizes that at first people did not deny God’s existence: they were convinced that they were worshiping the sun, for example, as a means to worship God.  

In Halakha 1:2 Maimonides explains the evolution (or decline) of this idea. First, there were false prophets (nebi-e sheqer). They would claim that God told them to serve His ministers, and He had ordered to build for them a temple or a shrine, and that it should be worshipped in this way, etc.  People, innocently, would follow these false prophets’ instructions and worship the sun, the moon and the constellations “as if that was God’s will”. Next, these corrupt prophets designed images, idols and rituals and they told people that this idol will bring them success and that by doing such and such ritual they will be cured of their illness, etc.   

Soon, a different type of demagogues appeared: the kozebim, or deceivers. Unlike the false prophets the kozebim did not argue that “God” talked to them. They claimed that the sun or the moon or an angel sent by them revealed to them that they wished to be served by this or that ritual and by the offering of this or that sacrifice.  

Thus –with the exception of a few individuals who still preserved the idea of a one, invisible and Almighty God (Noah, Shem, Eber, etc.)– humanity, led by opportunistic liars, lost track of the real God-Creator.    

The world would have to wait until Abraham Abinu to retrieve the true belief in God. 



            Why Europe has a problem with Israel?

                by Danel Gordis, from www.Prageruniversity.com



Maimonides on ‘aboda zara: Unintentional idolatry

Last week we explained that according to Maimonides the origins of idol worshipping were related to a mistake in the identification of “God’s agents” (what God created to physically run our planet, i.e., the sun, the moon, stars, etc. ) with God Himself. In antiquity people innocently believed that by adoring these God-created natural powers they were actually worshipping God himself (see this).
Before we continue reviewing the following halakhot of ‘aboda zara I would like to reflect on the fact that ‘aboda zara (which literally means “a way of worshipping God other than the way prescribed by the Tora”) is still considered a great sin despite our naive intentions (or our ignorance). Many times we definitely don’t mean to offend God, but we are. 
One example: a few years go I received a chain email, asking to be forwarded to other 18 people.  Like everyone else I’m used to see all kind of massive emails, some very important and some really silly. What caught my attention was that this particular email was sent to and came from people who I know, are really truly observant Jews.   
The email had attached the (photoshopped!) picture of the Helix nebula and encouraged the readers to pray for the fulfillment of their wishes while looking at the image of the Helix nebula, which looks like a “big eye”… 
This is the original email.
Subject: “May your wishes come true”    
 “You are one of my 18(chai). This e-mail came from  Israel. This photo was taken with the aid of NASA telescope, and it only happens every 3000 years. It is called the Eye of God. A lot of miracles happened to those that have gazed upon this, so make 7 wishes, even if you do not believe in it, and see what happens, what changes in your life. Send this to 18 (Chai) people on whom you would like to bestow well wishes. Do not keep it to yourself.”
This was my response to the sender: 
Dear X:
“This picture is amazing and it inspires us to admire HaShem’s Almighty power, and all the beautiful things He created. However, with all due respect, “to make a wish or seven wishes” to a star, or even if the intention of this email is to say that we should ask HaShem to fulfill our wishes while looking at a star or a constellation is considered ‘aboda Sara: idol worshiping. The worst offense in the Tora.  Which by the way in Hebrew is called ‘abodat kokhabim umazalot (worshipping of stars and constellations, the most ancient form of idol worshipping!). Despite your innocent or good intentions you should completely disregard these misleading suggestions. We, descendants of Abraham Abinu, pray directly to HaShem, never to a star, or other idols and obviously, without looking at any images.  Please send this basic information to all those who might have been mislead into committing a serious sin by that email“
As you can see, good intentions aside, we might be mistakenly mislead into ‘aboda zara, even in our modern days!    
(From Sao Pablo, BRAZIL)
                            
        √    The picture sent in the email     
  
 √  Read more about this 
astronomical hoax here



MAIMONIDES on ‘aboda zara. The evolution of a mistake

Of its 613 Mitzvot (commandments) the Tora dedicates 51 to the banning of idol worshiping or ‘aboda zara. In His book Mishne Tora Maimonides devotes twelve chapters to the Laws of idolatry. 
He begins by explaining (Hilkhot ‘abodat kokhabim 1:1) that idol worshiping owes its origins to a collective human error. A tragic misunderstanding.  In the times of Enoch  , the grandson of Adam, people thought that since God created so many servants for the sake of humanity, worshiping those servants would please the Creator, in the same way that a King would be pleased if his ministers are respected and praised. 
Take for example the most important and visible of God’s “servants” in this world, which by the way, it was adored by virtually every ancient civilization: the sun.  Without the sun life could not exist in our planet. In the Intelligently Designed food chain sunlight is the first link, allowing plants to make their own food and replenishing free oxygen in the world (photosynthesis). Sunlight triggers the process of rain.  The sun “naturally” desalinates the ocean water transforming it into freshwater. Life in our planet depends on the sun. Now, the people at the time of Enoch probably did not know all the amazing properties of the sun. What they saw is that the sun is the source of light and heat. And that was enough for them to consider that the sun was worthy of being worshipped as one of God’s servants.   
Evolution did the rest. Maimonides says that:  “Once this idea came to their hearts, they began to build sanctuaries to the stars and offer sacrifices to them…”. Again, not as a rebellion against the Creator but “…thinking that by doing so, they were fulfilling the will of the Creator. This was the root (origins) of idol worshipping”. 
(to be continued)
WATCH
         
  The Middle East Report – by Dr Mordechai Kedar