A LONG DISCUSSION OF IDOLATRY

The second class of commandments—those geared towards removing idolatry-- in Maimonides’ categorization is among the most important, since he says that the whole purpose of the Torah and the pole around which it revolves is removing idolatry from people. The problem with that statement is that even in Maimonides’ time there wasn’t (at least apparently) all that much idolatry, so why would it have been so important in his thought? (He did believe, by the way, that Christianity was a form of idolatry because it believes in a multiplicity of God, but he lived his entire in Moslem surroundings, so it is hard to imagine that he saw Christianity as the central threat that he refers to in this chapter).

I have probably mentioned before Prof. Twersky a"h’s suggestion that Rambam only meant to offer an explanation for commandments, not necessarily the unique and single such explanation. Even granting that—and I believe that we will see some examples in this chapter as well—it doesn’t explain Rambam’s emphasis on idolatry. However, by reviewing this chapter we will see that idolatry was for Rambam a much broader category than just the bowing down to idols and the belief that those idols could positively or negatively affect one’s life.

MAGIC—THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING IDOLATRY FOR RAMBAM

Rambam points out the clear connections between idolatry and magic, even saying that magical practices were akin to idolatry. He describes the various practices of magic—doing certain actions, by certain people, at certain times. He notes that by and large these practices were performed by women. Most of all, though, he notes that the common factor between magic and idolatry is the attempt to affect the world by some action that has no natural connection to the goal for which one is striving. In magic, a person would wave a branch, for example, to get rain to come. Since there is no direct natural connection between the branch and rain, Rambam says, that is a prohibited magical practice, one that qualifies as darkei haEmori, the ways of the Emorites, and one that could lead to star-worship, which is idolatry.

Of course, the Talmud permits some practices that seem similar to these, such as amulets to ward off various illnesses. Rambam explains that the ones the Talmud allows were those that were thought to be medicinal at the time. The distinction he seems to be drawing is between those actions that assume to be following the way nature works (although sometimes it’s not clear why it works) and those that are making use of the occult. If I believe, for example, that there is a natural element to placing pigeons on a person afflicted with hepatitis—perhaps that something in the pigeon’s body chemistry draws out the infection—I would be allowed to engage in that practice (since I believe I am acting medicinally, rather than occultly). If, on the other hand, I believe that the spirits who bring hepatitis on a person are appeased by an offering of pigeons and will heal the person, I would be prohibited from doing so.

THE OCCULT AS MODERN IDOLATRY

In Rambam’s explanation, then, the problem with idolatry, magic, and the ways of the Emorites is that it gives the impression that there is a supernatural order to which we can appeal in trying to control events in this world. That belief itself takes us away from God, and is therefore in the category of idolatry. Certainly palm reading and tarot cards would qualify today, but so would any New Age practice that works in anything other than a natural way. (About a year ago, I unknowingly bought a book on Feng Shui, which is supposed to be a way to place the furniture in one’s home so as to maximize energy. It turns out, however, that it is real avodah zarah, the attempt to guide certain spirits into the home, and others out. Anything similar would be a serious problem for Rambam).

I found this part of the chapter particularly interesting because it broadened idolatry into a category that could still be meaningful in Rambam’s times and in our own (when millions of people believe in astrology and other occult practices). I happened to be reading a book about Martin Luther that noted casually (and not in a Jewish context, which is why I mention what it was about) that in all times the masses tend towards polytheism and only the elite fully believe in monotheism. If that were true, the centrality and importance Rambam gives to eradicating idolatry—as he defines it-- would be justified.

DEFEATING THE PURPOSE

Rambam also notes that Scripture informs us that not only won’t these practices produce the desired effect, but that the punishment will be that we get the opposite effect. In other words, the way to wean people off of occult practices is to negatively reinforce them, such that if they produce the opposite of what was sought, people might stop relying on them. This will come up again at the end of the chapter, when we will return to it.

OTHER RELATED LAWS

Rambam then throws in a paragraph or two about not shaving our sideburns or beard or wearing shatnes, since these were the practices of the idolatrous priests. Women wearing men’s armor and men dressing as women were also idolatrous practices, in Rambam’s view. (Rambam also notes the lack of modesty and the debauchery that cross-dressing can lead to.) Of course, we have noted before that this only makes sense if we assume there is something essentially idolatrous about these practices—do priests round the corners of their head and shave their beards as an inherent aspect of idolatry? If not, there is no reason this should be an eternal part of the Torah.

The shatnes garment in particular suggests Rambam had something more in mind, although he does not elaborate. Rambam says that we can’t wear garments of mingled stuff because the priests used to mix animal, vegetable and mineral stuff in their garments. Since our prohibition of shatnes only applies to cotton and flax (or linen), however, the comparison doesn’t make sense. It seems to me, though, that Rambam thought that the priests’ mixing of stuff carried an idolatrous message (such as our ability to mix separate domains), so that shatnes was a reminder not to endorse such messages.

THE PROHIBITION OF PROFIT

Rambam next takes up the question of why items of idol worship should be completely prohibited to gain any profit, even from the destroyed pieces of them, and his answer feeds into the same picture of people who tend to believe in the occult. Rambam says that if a person were to have any remnant of an idol in his possession and from that point on were to succeed in business (or health, or whatever), that person might end up crediting the idol-worship item with having brought about the change in his fortune. To forestall that eventuality, the Torah decreed that the opposite would occur, that anyone who took possession of such items would find his fortune decreasing, so that there would be no chance of crediting the idolatry with producing a good result. (I remember as a child being told a similar reasoning as to why it was necessary to destroy even the animals that belonged to Amalek—if a person took their animals, and developed a big flock, that person would say "these animals from Amalek sure have brought me good fortune!" That reaction is problematic, both in the case of Amalek and of idolatry).