Abraham, Christopher Hitchens, and the Unifying Factor

There is an interesting story recorded in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 102b Yalkut). Rabbi Ashi, one of the two who compiled the entire Babylonian Talmud, was teaching his students about the kings of the First Temple period who, because of their iniquities, were denied a portion in the world to come". At the end of his lesson he told his students “tomorrow we learn about our 'comrade' (chaver) King Manasseh". That night the king appeared to Rabbi Ashi and exclaimed angrily who are you to call me "comrade", do you even know the right place to cut the bread after making a blessing? The Rabbi responded no. The king then told him "it is the place where it finishes baking first" (the ends?). The Rabbi was taken aback, and asked how is it possible that someone as knowledgeable as you worshiped pagan idols? The King responded "had you been in our generation, you would have picked up the bottom of you robes to run there” (i.e. to serve the idols). The next day the Rabbi began the lesson "and now we will learn about our "master" (Rabbenu) King Manasseh.

While one would be hard pressed to find people who worshipped Molech (Middle eastern deity which, as the greatest sacrifice, required that your baby child be placed on the metal hands and the hollow idol would be filled with fire heating the hands until the child was burnt to death, meanwhile the priests would drum to cover up the shrieks of the baby) or Bal (the idol of the Sun), there is certainly pagan worship all around us.

Where? Let me explain.

The underlying difference between polytheism and monotheism:

But first we need to explore how pagan worship differs from monotheistic worship.
The former is premised on the belief that there is no singular force controlling this world. Instead there are a number of governing forces each of which controls elements of our existence. For example "mother nature", human innovation, zodiacs, etc.

Some who believed/believe this, argue that there was One all powerful G-d but that G-d had removed himself after creation, for whatever reason, from day to day administration of this world. The idols where thus deserving of devotion. At the core of this belief is that there is no one unifying force governing existence -polytheism.

On the other side is Monotheism which argues that there is one G-d and nothing else. G-d then created forces of nature that served as mediums for his divine infinite light. This is an analogous to the sun shining through stained glass windows. The same light differs depending on the color of the window. But the color and the window would be meaningless without the singular light shining through. In other words G-d created finite windows -the sun, trees, fire etc.- that color his infinite light in a certain way, heat, food, air etc. so as to allow the existence of the finite, and to provide for the finite. But these colored windows require the constant administration of G-d's light in order for them to fulfill their purpose and to even exist. Thus G-d is intimately involved with every detail of existence, from the leaf falling off the tree to the sinking of the South Korean navy vessel (for more on this please see posts on divine providence and choice, as well as posts concerning the soul).

King Manasseh may have referred to a specific desire that we, like Rav Ashi, cannot comprehend. Still the underlying difference between polytheism and monotheism can be explored in a contemporary light. Just as there exists a contemporary form of polytheism, that you and I may be serving at this very moment.

The point is that that anything that detracts from the belief in G-d's unity and absolute providence is a form of idol, and one who believes in this force can be termed a polytheist.

Money for example, if seen as anything more than a vehicle for divine blessing or tool, can be deemed an idol. Specifically if is seen as a great or the greatest ends to achieving. In other words that money has inherent value and "gives" power (as opposed to out window analogy)). Pride and human innovation, is another common form of polytheism –if one believes that they created or achieved by themselves, they are in essence rejecting that they are in fact a window –a cog, if you will, in the larger organism that we call the universe.

If the belief in the popularity/importance of idols is anything like the belief in the popularity/importance in money today, is it any wonder that King Manasseh was enticed by the pagan idols of his day? This may explain the wise king’s admonition of Rav Ashi.

A common mistake:

If we place pagan worship in this light it seems less insidious. It’s one thing to sacrifice your children to idols of stone and copper, it is another to pursue personal success and fulfillment. In other words it seems that the real evil of idol worship has passed, and plays a more positive role in society -the pursuit of happiness or material possessions. One can go so far and declare that this pagan drive that sees money as a real force, amongst many in this world, is at the heart of capitalism.

True many are discovering that, like the idols of old, money does not have any innate power, and does not bring real happiness -only temporary elation. Non-the-less the mistake of attributing power to money just seems, at worst, greedy and individualistic. So why not pagan worship?

The implications of the above conclusion:

It goes back to Abraham the first monotheist. Abraham, the first Jew, taught not the belief in Judaism, but the belief in one G-d and the 7 Universal laws (AKA, the Seven Noahide laws These laws are do not kill, steal, belief in one G-d, set up courts of justice, do not commit adultery, do not be cruel to animals, and do not use/curse G-d's name). While many may know about these laws, here is an interesting fact. Maimonides, the great philosopher and Rabbi, explains that one can only fulfill the seven universal laws if they accept that they come from G-d.

I hope you are asking,

"why should that matter, who cares as long as they are followed for rational/moral reasons" (as Hitchens and co. would indignantly exclaim)? The answer is clear, if we use rational as the foundation for not killing, then what stops an angry man with a mustache from writing a book rationalizing the murder of millions of Jews and others. In other words by not accepting the belief that the seven laws must be followed without exception, i.e. because an unseen force said so, we leave a proverbial loop hole for the continued murder, war, and depravity (think the man/boy love association of America [NAMBLA], seeking to rationalize then legalize pedophilia).

Abraham introduced the one potential cure for all war and violence, belief in the One immutable power.

This perspective asserts that the danger of polytheism does not lie in a specific kind of worship that can be measured on s subjective scale of good (money) and bad (sacrificing children). Rather it points to the danger of attributing inherent power to any finite creation, because that attribution undermines the belief in the unity of the one higher force. Abraham understood and foresaw the ability of that higher force to be a source for universal laws of good, that are beyond human rational and therefore equally applicable to all, and was/is a prerequisite for world peace.

Monotheism is the foundation of the unifying factor, without it we cannot discover that all of humanity, all of the world, is really one. It is high time that the "kings" amongst us considered this.

PS: I do not refer here to eastern beliefs, 1. because I know very little about them. 2. The little I do know seems to indicate a belief in a underlying cause that affects everything, i.e. providence.