Mas'ei

[cellio]

I read torah (and thus gave a short d'var) the Shabbat before last, but I didn't get a chance to post this before leaving town. So, here it is a little late and a little less polished than when I gave it.

The associate rabbi had, unknowingly, set this up somewhat with the question of the week, by asking what idols we saw in our own lives. (A little heavy for the Shabbat morning question, but people always have the option to pass.)

Parshat Mas'ei instructs the Israelites concerning their entry into the promised land. Among things, they are to strike down all the idols of the people they've driven out, as if wiping the slate clean. This doesn't tend to fit too well with a pluralistic, multi-cultural outlook; we would hardly destroy the crosses on the church next door, would we? This sounds kind of like the Taliban destroying the 2500-year-old statues in Afghanistan. We don't sanction that; we cringe. For many of us, this text doesn't resonate.

The context the torah describes is different from modern-day America. Israel is not a melting-pot of cultures; it is one people. Non-Israelites must follow the same laws as Israel if they want to come along. This is not a case of "your religion for you, my religion for me"; the torah commands Israel to destroy the idols in their midst, and it makes this command to people who bowed down to idols not that long ago.

But let us not dismiss the text as "that was for them, not us". There are lessons for us in this text too. There are idols in our midst. What are they?

Let us not talk about all of American culture; that's too broad. Let's narrow the focus. What idols are there within our Jewish community?

When we mark a simcha such as a bar mitzvah by focusing on the party and not the religious milepost, we worship the idol of conspicuous consumption. Come the high holy days, when we worry more about attending a beautiful performance and less about letting the services touch our souls and move us, we worship at the altar of superficiality. When we focus in our congregations on some demographics and not others, we risk the sin of exclusion, of giving the impression that some people just don't matter. But let's narrow the foucs: what idols lurk in our homes?

When we scatter to our various activities instead of sitting down to dinner as a family, we worship the idol of disdain or dismissiveness. When we would rather watch TV or surf the web than spend time really talking with our spouses, we worship at the altar of uncaring. When we focus on children's grades and not on their learning, we commit the sin of short-sightedness. But let's narrow the focus: what idols are present in ourselves?

When we focus on the goal of success at any cost, we worship the idol of vanity. When we do what we want, or what is convenient, at the cost of helping others, we worship at the altar of selfishness. And when we do what is easy instead of what is right, we commit the sin of denying our principles.

At its simplest, an idol is anything we value above God. Idols are not just golden calves and statues of Ba'al in the ancient world; they are also misplaced priorities and values in the modern world. Instead of dismissing this torah passage, let us learn from it: we risk idols in our midst, in our communities, in our homes, and in our selves. What can we do to strike them down?

(Aside: that Shabbat we read the second of the three haftarot of rebuke in the weeks leading up to Tisha b'Av. That almost certainly influenced me, at least a little. But actually, I was a little hesitant to do this one, as I am not a prophet, a rabbi, or someone in a real position of authority.)

Comments

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Very nice, and quite thoughtful.

[cellio]

Thank you.