The Nature and Psychology of Idol Worship

Full Summary

Rabbi Zweig presents a sophisticated psychological analysis of idol worship based on Rashi (רש"י)'s commentary on the prohibition of 'Elohim acherim.' He begins by examining Rashi's two explanations: that 'other gods' means gods that others have made for themselves (not actual gods), and that these are gods estranged from their worshippers who don't answer prayers. This raises fundamental questions: if idols have no power and don't help people, why have humans worshipped them for millennia? Rabbi Zweig argues that people aren't foolish - idol worship must provide something powerful. The key insight is that idol worship does work, but not because external powers help. Rather, humans have tremendous internal power through free will and their spiritual connection to God (chelek Elokai mimaal). The problem arises when people attribute their self-transformation not to personal responsibility under God's command, but to divine connection that makes them feel godlike. Instead of recognizing God as infinite and themselves as finite and dependent, idol worshippers reverse the relationship. Through physical idols that they can see and control (sholat ba'ayin - the eye controls what it sees), they gain dominion over 'God' rather than submitting to God's dominion over them. This gives them the ultimate pleasure - feeling infinite and godlike themselves. Rabbi Zweig explains the Midrash about Jews in Egypt preferring slavery with idol worship to freedom without it: the feeling of being God provides greater satisfaction than even children or freedom, because it offers immediate infinity rather than the delayed continuity children represent. He connects this to modern cults, where people abandon education, family, and wealth for the intoxicating feeling of divine connection. The analysis extends to why anger contains elements of idol worship - it represents the feeling that one is inviolable and everything revolves around oneself. This sophisticated treatment shows idol worship not as primitive superstition but as the ultimate expression of human ego - the desire to be God rather than serve God.