Yisro-2016

· Aseres Hadibros – 10 Commandments

· First Commandment – I am Hashem, who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage.  Rashi – The act of bringing you out is sufficient to make you subservient to Me.

· In other words, you the Jewish people are in my Reshus, my domain.  I have bailus over you.

· Commandment 2 – You must not have any other gods before Me. You must not make for yourself any carved image or picture of anything that is in the heaven above, or on the earth below, or in the water below the earth.  You must not prostrate yourself to them, and you must not worship them.  For I, Hashem, am a Jealous G-d. 

· Rashi – Hashem is jealous to exact punishment and does not act leniently by forgiving the sin of avodah zara (idolatry)

· Kiddushin 40a –Avodah Zara is an extremely severe avera (sin), and anyone who follows Avodah Zara denies the whole Torah, and one who renounces Avodah Zara is as though he acknowledges the truth of the entire Torah.

· The first commandment establishes that Hashem is our Baal, like a husband to a wife.

· Hashem demands loyalty and avodah to just Him, and worshiping idols is similar to a married woman being promiscuous, betraying her marriage commitment.

· Shemos 32:1 – When the people saw that Moshe was late in coming down from the mountain, they gathered against Aharon and said to him, Arise, make us gods that will lead us, for this Moshe, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what happened to him.

· Gittin36b (Also Shabbos 88b)- ‘Ulla said: Shameless is the bride that acts like a prostitute, while still under her wedding chupah.  – Rashi: Israel betrayed Hashem with the golden calf while the Shechinah still hovered over them at Har Sinai.

· Analogy: Har Sinai was like a Marriage Chupah.

· Tanach is jam packed with people pursuing Avodah Zara. 

· Melachim II Chapter 22, Yoshiyahu was 8 years old when he became king. At 18 he started repairing the Bais Hamikdosh, and found a Torah scroll – it was open to the Tochacha (Chastisements) - and when he heard it read, he tore his clothes.  He destroyed all the Avodah Zara, and led a tremendous national Tshuva movement. 

· 23:4 “He took out of the Temple all the utensils that were made for the Baal and for the asherah, and he burnt them outside Yerushalayim”.

· “But his son Yehoakim was ‘evil in the eyes of Hashem like all his forefathers had done.”

· Sanhendrin 102b – King Menashe came to Rav Ashi in a dream, and explained some complex hallachas. Rav Ashi asked him; “If you are so wise, why did you worship idols?" Menashe answered, “If you had been living at that time, you would have lifted up your garment to run after them to worship them!"

· Rashi – The desire to worship idols at that time was so strong that had you lived then, you would have rushed headlong to the place of avodah zarah.

· Yuma 9b - Why was the first Bais Hamikdosh destroyed? Because of three evil things which prevailed there: Avodah Zara (idolatry), Gilui Arayos (sexual immorality), and Shvichus Damim (murder).

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· Yuma 69b – (When Ezra and Nechemia returned to Eretz Yisroel from Golus Bavel, and rebuilt the Bais Hamikdosh) They cried out to Hashem concerning the Yetzer Hara for Avodah Zara. Woe, Woe.  It is this yetzer that destroyed the First Bais Hamikdosh, and burned the Sanctuary, and all the killed Tzadikim as a result of that destruction, and exiled the Jews from their land, and yet it still dances among us.

· Yuma 69b (cont.) - You challenge us with Avodah Zara so that we can receive reward for overcoming it.  We do not want it, and we don’t want the reward for overcoming it.  A note fell down towards them from Shamayim, and written on it was the word “Emes (truth)”. (Rashi – Hashem approved of their intention to eliminate the Yetzer Hara for Avodah Zara). 

· Yuma 69b (cont.) They fasted for three days and three nights.  The likeness of a fiery lion cub emerged from the Kodosh Kedoshim.  The prophet there said, This is the Yetzer Hara for Avodah Zarah.  As they seized it, a hair was torn from its fur and the fiery cub raised its voice in a mighty roar. They said to the prophet, what should we do?  Perhaps Hashem will have mercy on it (because of its cries).  The prophet replied, Cast the fiery cub into the lead cauldron (to destroy it) and cover the opening with lead, for lead absorbs sound.

· Interestingly, after destroying Avodah Zara, Navua (prophecy) also ended.  This is because of Ze Leumit Ze – there’s a balance of good and bad in the word.

· Questions:

o What is the great attraction of Avodah Zara?

o Since Ezra & Nechemia destroyed the Yetzer Hara for Avodah Zara, is it still around?

· First question: What was the great attraction of Avodah Zara?

· The Rambam explains that it began with an intellectual error. 

· Rambam, Mishneh Torah Hilkhot Avodah zarah 1:1 At the time of Enosh, people made a great mistake. They said, being that Hashem created the stars and spheres to run the world, it is therefore appropriate to praise them and treat them with dignity, just as the king wants us to dignify his servants. Once this idea took root they started building temples to the stars. As time went by, the name of Hashem was forgotten. The masses knew only the shape of wood or stone that they were taught from childhood to prostrate themselves in front of, worshipping them.

· But does this explain the extreme Yetzer Hara, mad desire, for Avodah Zarah?

· Perhaps a clue to the answer is in how they rose up early with excitement to worship the Egel Hazahav, the Golden Calf.

· Shemos 32:6 – They arose early the next morning…and got up Letzachek –to have fun..  Rashi – The word Letzachek implies sexual immorality.

· Perhaps the attraction of Avodah Zara is that:

o It’s an excuse to act with abandon and without restraint.

o It enables a person to lose his individuality and sense of responsibility by following the crowd.

· Gustave Le Bon, 1896, The Crowd – The Study of the Popular Mind –

o The individual forming part of a crowd yields to instincts which, had he been alone, he would have kept under restraint, and the feeling of responsibility disappears entirely.

o The crowd is not prepared to admit that anything can come between its desire and the realization of its desire.

o The disappearance of conscious personality is a primary characteristic of a crowd.

o A throng knows neither doubt nor uncertainty.

o Crowds are too impulsive to be moral.

· Second question – Since Ezra & Nechemia destroyed the Yetzer Hara for Avodah Zara, is it still around?

· There’s a phenomenon called a Rave Party – where people take drugs and dance in a trance to music. 

· I did a search on Youtube for Rave Parties.  The comment on one video was: “A visit to a rave party somewhere in the woods near the Kinneret. Groups of young Israelis rave to the sounds of psytrance and takes lots of ACID and XTC.”

· I did a Google search for Rave Parties, and found a site that discussed a place in India known for its constant Rave Parties: “They danced away their worries, entranced by the hypnotic music and copious amounts of hallucinogens.   Come summer time, an assorted group of revelers - mostly foreigners, smugglers and locals - join hands to throw night-long spectacles of hedonism; alcohol and narcotics flow in abundance as music sets the mood.”

· Perhaps the  great attraction of Avodah Zara is that it provided an excuse for hedonism in a group - Letzaehck – to have unrestrained ‘fun’, to throw off limits.

· Then I think the answer is Yes, unfortunately the underlying Yetzer Hara for Avodah Zara – though not in its original form, but its underlying motivation - is still alive and well.