HaRav Shmuel Eliyahuis Chief Rabbi of Tzfat
In Parashat Ekev, as the Children of Israel enter the Promised Land, they are reminded of the prohibition of idolatry (Devarim, 7:225-26). In the book of Devarim, Moses warns the people about the sin of idolatry more than 25 times - more than in all the other four books of the Torah combined.
The reason for this is that the Land of Israel is a holy land, and idolatry is filled with impurity (Shabbat 82a). As the Prophet says: “And I said to them: Each man, cast away the detestable things of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God” (Ezekiel 20). Therefore, in the Land of Israel one must beware of even the slightest trace of idolatrous impurity.
This is why Yaacov warned his sons against possessing any and all idolatry when they were entering the Land of Israel. He said to his sons: “Remove the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments” (Devarim 35:2). Nachmanides (Ramban on Vayikra 18:25) explains that it is forbidden anywhere to carry foreign gods, even without worshipping them.
But in the Land of Israel, it is forbidden to possess them at all, even without attributing to them any value because of the great holiness of the Land.
Thus, a fundamental reason for special vigilance against idolatry in the Land of Israel is its exceptional holiness. Sometimes, precisely because of its holiness, the leaders of Israel may err in their leadership. As our Sages said, “Whoever is greater than his fellow,his evil inclination is greater than his fellow’s.” We see this in the sin of the Golden Calf, after which God said to Moses: “Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they” (Devarim 9).
The sin of the Golden Calf arose out of great spiritual power and exaltation: it occurred while Israel was at Mount Sinai, a place where the Divine Presence rested, where the Tabernacle was constructed, and while Moses was receiving the Tablets meant to be placed in the heart of the Mishkan. In that very holy place and time, Israel sinned, showing that such a sin can emerge from immense spiritual energy that is misdirected.
When Moses broke the Tablets, his action lowered the people from their elevated level, and at that moment, the inclination toward idolatry left them. Nadav and Avihu also sinned from their stature of great holiness, and King Solomon took Pharaoh’s daughter on the very day he inaugurated the Temple - the same Pharaoh’s daughter who later led him into idolatry, along with his many foreign wives when his heart was lifted up by his immense stature (see Rashi on Psalms 127).
In the Book of Vayikra, the Torah warns against idolatry at moments of special sanctity. This prohibition is stated after the sin of Nadav and Avihu, who did not realize that great holiness requires extra caution and who erred in offering incense at the inauguration of the Mishkan, paying with their lives. After their sin, Moses warned the people not to fall into idolatry during times of heightened sanctity. Similarly, most of the prohibitions regarding Molech, sorcery, and divination appear in the Torah portions of Acharei Mot and Kedoshim.
For this reason, Jewish idolatry is worse than that of a non-Jew. “Idolatry of gentiles that they nullified before it came into the hands of a Jew is permitted (to the gentile) for benefit, as it says: ‘You shall burn the graven images of their gods in fire.’” But Jewish idolatry can never be nullified (Rambam, Hilchot Avodah Zarah 8). A Jew has greater holiness than a non-Jew, and if he turns away from his soul and follows other gods, he falls into a much deeper spiritual impurity.
As the prophet says: “For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew out for themselves cisterns - broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Yirmiyahu 2:13). Because of this double sin, Jerusalem suffered double punishment: “For she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:2). Therefore, she will also have double comfort: “Comfort, comfort My people, says your God” (Yishiyahu 40:1).
The Torah also describes another form of idolatry which almost led to the annihilation of the Jewish People just before their entry into the Land. By that time, all those destined to die in the wilderness were gone (Bamidbar 20:1); they were free of the sin of the Spies, had defeated Sihon and Og, and all of Balaam’s curses had been turned into blessings. At this peak moment, the daughters of Midian and Moab enticed Israel into idolatry as a means of permitting sexual immorality - just as in the wilderness they had sinned through idolatry to permit themselves sexual transgressions.
As it says: “And Moses heard the people weeping family by family”—our Sages explained: “over family matters, over forbidden sexual relations” (Sifrei). They permitted themselves immorality through the “playfulness” of the Golden Calf. When idolatry lures a person through desire every immorality becomes permitted in his eyes.
Special Caution against Idolatry in the Land of Israel
Just as Jewish idolatry is more severe than gentile idolatry, so idolatry in the Land of Israel is more severe than idolatry outside the Land. The Ramban (Vayikra 18:25) explains that the Samaritans were punished in the Land of Israel because “they did not know the law of the God of the Land. He sent lions among them which killed them because they did not know the law of the God of the land.”
In their own land, the Samaritans were not punished for idolatry, but when they came into the Lord’s holy Land and continued their idolatry, lions came and killed them, because the Land of Israel is “the Lord’s inheritance, set apart for His Name.” As it says in Sifra (Kedoshim 11:14), the Land of Israel is not like other lands; it does not tolerate those who commit transgressions.
Anyone Living Outside the Land Is Considered as If He Worships Idolatry
To illustrate the connection between the Land of Israel and the prohibition of idolatry, Ramban cites the Talmud, which states that living outside the Land is akin to idolatry. That is why the Samaritans were not punished for their idolatry while abroad.
“Our Rabbis taught: A person should always live in the Land of Israel, even in a city mostly inhabited by idol worshippers, and not live outside the Land, even in a city mostly inhabited by Jews, for anyone who lives in the Land of Israel is like one who has a God, while anyone who lives outside the Land is like one who has no God. As it says (Vayikra 25): ‘To give you the land of Canaan, to be your God.’ Does this mean that anyone not living in the Land has no God? Rather, it means to tell you: anyone living outside the Land is as if he worships idols.
“Thus David said: ‘For they have driven me out this day from being joined to the inheritance of the Lord, saying: Go, serve other gods’ (I Shmuel 26). Did anyone actually tell David to serve other gods? Rather, this teaches that anyone who lives outside the Land is as if he serves idols” (Ketubot 110b).
Ramban also cites the Tosefta (Avodah Zarah 5:5): “And I will return in peace to my father’s house, and the Lord shall be my God” (Bereshit 28:21), and it says: “To give you the land of Canaan”—as long as you are in the land of Canaan, I am your God; if you are not in the land of Canaan, it is as if I am not your God.
The Essence of All Commandments Is for Those Who Dwell in the Land of the Lord
Ramban further cites the Sifrei (Ekev 43), which states that the primary fulfillment of the commandments is in the Land of Israel. Observance of the commandments outside the Land is only to keep the exiled Jews accustomed to them, “so that when you return, they will not be new to you.”
Even commandments not dependent on the land, such as tefillin and mezuzah, are primarily for those dwelling in the Land of Israel, “for the essence of all the commandments is for those who dwell in the Land of the Lord.” Therefore, the Sifrei (Re’eh 80) says: “Dwelling in the Land of Israel is equivalent to all the commandments in the Torah.” Ramban concludes: “This matter appears in many places in Scripture, and you will see it explicitly once I have opened your eyes to it.”
May the day be soon when we all will see the exalted wonders of our cherished Land and thus merit to dwell here in peace.