Parshas Re'eh- A Tradition of Truth

In this week’s Parsha, Moshe Rabbeinu continues his last will and testament. Amongst other things, he explains to the people the severity of avodah zarah, idol worship. This is particularly important for the people who are about to enter the Land of Israel. The many nations who currently occupy the land were known to serve countless deities.

Moshe states: “If your brother will attempt to convince you… saying let us go and serve foreign deities that you and your forefather’s don’t know” (13:7). He further explains that you should not listen to his advances, and administer death to him by stoning.

Rashi explains that the pasuk is emphasizing the depth of the sin for “even the idol worshipers do not forsake the traditions of their ancestors and this fellow is telling you to depart from your traditions.”

 It is interesting to note that the world we live in today seems to be antithetical to this Rashi. The entire concept of “cancel culture,” a mentality of erasing everything that is deemed out of date or non-virtuous, seems to disregard the “traditions of their forbearers.” The words of Rashi are eternal. How are we to understand this idea?

The holy prophet Yirmiyahu speaks at length about the severity of the Jewish people’s indulgence in idol worship. “Traverse the isles of the Kittites and observe, send forth unto Kedar and consider deeply- and see whether there has ever been such a thing. Has a nation ever exchanged its gods, though they are not genuine gods? Yet my people has exchanged its Glory for something of no avail… My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the Source of living waters, to dig for themselves broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (2:10-13).

The Gemara (Taanis 5a-5b) explains that the nation of the Kittites serve the water and the Kedar people worship fire. Despite their awareness that water extinguishes fire, they retain their beliefs. The Jewish people are disparaged that the idol worship they perform is doubly evil. Not only do they disregard Hashem the only real Power, but they also attempt to replace His service with that of deities who yield no might.

What would motivate a people to continue to serve a deity in which the fallacy of it is self-evident?

Idol worship is in its very essence self-worship. Being that there is no power outside of Hashem, every other deity is man-made. Fashioning a new deity that will be one’s god allows one to create it in the image that is most pleasing for the servers. All of the deities that were served historically fit this description. It was pleasing for the worshipers on some level to serve that deity as it was fashioned to meet their desires. The Kittite and Kedar people see the fault in their belief system but that is inconsequential. The service of the power they chose is satisfying to them in some way, and therefore they continue its worship. Truth is irrelevant in the face of self-service.

Historically, this tradition has been richly retained. Every few years a person or group decides that they have the solution to the greatest issues facing humanity. They form movements attempting, and often succeeding, to convince others of their importance. They can be very persuasive. It is easier to see the fallacy of their missions and motivations after the fact. Only then does the world realize it was all for selfish reasons, and not seeking any genuine truth. It is true that the slogans and names change, but the underlying motivation is the same as that of their ancestors. It is the tradition of self-worship.

This idea is alive and well more than ever. Movements proclaiming their importance and goodness to the world may be quite convincing. A keen observer will realize that they are all selfishly driven and do not care for others. We, the Jewish people, were granted an eternal gift, the holy Torah. That is our tradition. It guides us to seek what is true and genuine, and not to be blinded by selfishly driven causes. Hashem gave us this great present and it is our foundation and direction in a complicated world. If the rest if the world would prefer to retain their tradition of self-service in the face of truth, how much more so should we retain our rich tradition of following Hashem and His Torah to seek that which is genuine and real!