Rosh Chodesh essay: Avoda Zara in our time
Rosh Chodesh essay: Avoda Zara in our time


In contemporary times none of us bow down to Ashera trees or offer animal sacrifices to Ba’al. Nevertheless, since avoda zarah (idol worship) was the primary sin throughout biblical history, it stands to reason that while the medium for idolatry has changed, human nature’s desire for it has not.

It’s painful to realize that avodah zarah is as alive and well today as it was in ancient times, just in another form. If we analyze two examples in the Jewish people’s history where idolatry was a problem, we’ll see that unfortunately, these stories aren’t as foreign to our reality as they seem. Understanding our people’s inclinations towards avodah zarah in the past can help us understand our own potential for worship of  Hashem today.

The most important aspect about avodah zarah is that it has never been an isolated sin. It is not coincidental that avoda zarah is consistently accompanied by an overall corrupt society. A paradigmatic example of a time in Jewish history when the cycle of idolatry, and thereby corruption, spirals out of control is in Sefer Shoftim. Right in the center of the book, we meet the Shofet Gideon who ultimately rises to the challenge of uprooting the idolatrous shrines in his community (Shoftim, Judges 6:25-32). His community is so corrupt that their response to his destroying avodah zarah is to attempt to kill him.


Rav Yaakov Medan points out the striking parallels between the story of Gideon's army and that of the Jewish people in the Book of Maccabees, Sefer HaMaccabim. Sefer HaMaccabim describes, “... A Jewish man came, in the sight of all, to sacrifice on the altar which was at Modi'in, according to the King's command. And Matityahu saw this, and he was filled with zeal, and his reins trembled, and he cast forth his rage according to judgment, and he ran and slew him upon the altar. And also the King's commissioner, who was compelling [Jews] to sacrifice – he killed him too, at that time, and he pulled down the altar.” (I Maccabim 2:23-27)


This story mirrors Gideon's destruction of the idols of his parents. In both cases, we see the fervor with which one man breaks free from society’s attachment to avodah zarah, and the furious response it elicits from the Jews who are in denial of their own wrongdoings. The people are so frustrated with the “disrespect” given to their idolatrous places that they become delusional; they are in complete denial of their own immorality.

There is yet another thematic connection between these two stories: both are victories of the “few” against the “many”. Gideon musters up an army, which God narrows down to just 300 men, which is a tiny army compared to the 135,000 Midianites. Yehuda HaMaccabee’s army too is inconsequential against the tremendous army of the Greeks. His soldiers say to him, "How shall we, being few in number, be able to fight against this strong multitude?" (I Maccabim 3:17). Their question is a legitimate one.

Having a small army meant that these wars were never about physical strength. It was not a physical battle but a religious one against idolatry and the corruption it brought along with it.

This can further be seen in how both Gideon and Matityahu selected their armies. In reducing Gideon's army, Hashem tests the soldiers by asking them to drink water from a river. Rashi explains that those who drank in a way that showed they had tendencies towards avodah zarah were not chosen to fight. Those who were scared were asked to go home. Similarly, in the Chanukah story, it was clear to everyone that the Greeks were the stronger force. But Matityahu famously proclaims, "Whoever is zealous for the Torah, and maintains the covenant – let him follow me!" (I Maccabim 2:23-27). On the surface, these wars seem like battles of the Jews against their oppressors. But on a deeper level, the the true oppressors were themselves, as they continued to do avoda zarah. It was about people’s neglect of the Torah’s moral code.


The “few against the many” message is clear: the wars were fought and won only because there were those who realized that it was through adherence to God and His Torah that they would be victorious. Those putting their faith in other gods were not able to be part of the miracle because they could not grasp the message. They were the exact reason the Jewish people were being oppressed in the first place. They were precisely the ones committed to things other than upholding the Torah’s morality.

Gideon may have defeated the Midianites, and the Maccabim may have fended off the Greeks, but the larger mission of abolishing idolatrous thoughts from the people proved to be much harder to do. While Gideon and the Maccabim both won the “battle” against the enemy, they certainly did not win the “war” of bringing the people from avoda zarah to Avodat Hashem. In the same vein, while they may have temporarily uprooted avodah zarah, the seeds of corruption were still planted.

After Gideon, the Book of Shoftim is one of increasing moral decline until its end with stories like Pilegesh Bagivah, which resulted in a civil war. This continuation of avoda zarah brought with it a complete deterioration of Torah values. The Greeks and their idolatrous ways were technically, but the corrupt values continued to creep into the worship of the Jewish people until the Beit Hamikdash was ultimately destroyed for a second time.

If in both stories the people never really internalized the religious message, why did He give the people such a superficial sense of victory? , Why did God help them win the war in the first place? Perhaps this is because the struggle of truly separating ourselves from avodah zarah is very real and immensely difficult, and God recognizes that.

The Maccabim were only continuing the struggle that Gideon faced. They too fought a physical war in the fight against avoda zarah that was really just a reflection of all of the religious struggles of their time.

If in the Tanach, avoda zarah continuously represents corrupt values, it’s our religious duty to find out the avoda zarah of our time. It’s possible it takes the form of distractions from doing what we know is right. It’s whenever we want to be praying, learning, doing something value, but we instead prioritize something that is valueless. It could be, as 21s​ t​ century people, in the form of addiction to social media, or whatever is convincing us to spend time away from our Avodat HaShem. We get pulled into these distractions and they come between us and our relationship with God, often without our even consciously realizing it. To my mind that is avodah zarah.

My brachah is that while we gaze at those beautiful Hanukah flames this month, we’re able to be honest with ourselves, so that we can identify those parts of our lives that we need to re-prioritize. If our struggle is real, then just like for Gideon and the Maccabbim, Hashem will be guiding us every step of the way.

Margot (Reinstein) Botwinick earned a B.A. in Jewish Education as a Legacy Heritage Scholar at Yeshiva University, and an M.A. in Jewish Education from Hebrew University. She has taught Tanakh, Talmud and Jewish Thought at the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School.
This year Margot is a fellow in Matan's new Bellows Educators Institute for Tanakh and Jewish Studies. She also teaches Tanakh and serves as Sgan Mashgicha Ruchanit at Midreshet Torah V'Avodah.