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Jews Stand Apa
To Fight Paganism
RABBI IRWIN GRONER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
I
oday's sedrah introduces us
to the figure of Abraham,
the founder of the Hebrew
people, whose career and
achievements became the foun-
dation for the 4,000 year old his-
tory of the Jewish people.
When we teach young children
of the greatness of Abraham, we
tell them a story that comes from
the Midrash, which speaks not
only to the young, but also to the
mature.
Abraham's father, Terach, sold
idols. Once, he had to leave the
shop for business; and he left
Abraham in charge. Abraham
took a large stick, broke all the
idols and placed the stick in the
hands of the largest among them.
When his father returned, he de-
manded to know who was re-
sponsible for the destruction of
all this valued merchandise.
Abraham said, "A woman carry-
ing a plate of flour came and told
me to offer it to them. When I did
so, each idol insisted that it must
eat first, and fighting broke out
among them. The idols started
destroying each other. Finally,
the largest idol rose up, took a
stick, and broke all the others.
There, you see the stick in his
hand.”
Terach cried out to his son,
"Why do you mock me? Do idols
have any knowledge? Can they
speak or walk or raise their
arms? Can they struggle with
each other?"
Abraham retorted, "If they
cannot speak, or move, or un-
derstand, then why do people
bow down to them? Why do we
traffick in idols? Let your own
ears hear the words that your lips
have spoken."
Abraham did not hesitate to
challenge the idols worshiped by
others as God. He was the first
iconoclast, the first smasher of
idols. He had the courage of his
convictions. The fact that, in his
civilization, everyone worshipped
these symbols of the deity did not
deter him from revealing their
importance.
The Jewish people are the seed
of Abraham. If we are to be true
to the great heritage which our
forefathers granted to us, we
must accept the challenge of re-
jecting the paganism of our time.
This is our destiny.
What forms of paganism per-
sist in a society that has moved
so far beyond the Sumerian cul-
ture in which Abraham lived and
traveled? The idols of the 9th
decade of the 20 century are not
crude images; instead, they are
ideas and principles so univer-.
r
i
sally accepted that they are
rarely questioned and hardly re-
sisted. They are such a familiar
part of our social landscape that
few of us have ever rejected their
claim upon our lives.
One of the most pernicious
idolatries of our time is the se-
duction of following the majori-
ty, sometimes worshiped as
"everyone is doing it."
We have come to rationalize
and justify behavior that is im-
moral or repugnant by believing
that it reflects current trends and
expresses current practice. But
truth and morality are not de-
termined by opinion polls. They
are discovered by the geniuses of
the human spirit; they are vali-
dated by the experience of count-
less generations; they are
confirmed by the highest vision
of man and God.
Shabbat Lech Lecha:
Genesis 12:1-17:27
Isaiah 40:27-41:16.
As Jews, we were never im-
pressed with majorities. We de-
fied Pharaoh; we challenged the
Greeks; we fought the Romans;
we preserved our separateness
in the midst of Catholic Europe.
No one could persuade us, as a
people, the "everyone is doing it"
is a moral argument.
There is a great deal wrong in
American culture. One sees a
decadent streak in American life
that spews forth pornography,
drug abuse, and depravity. Some-
times one sees these pernicious
practices justified on the grounds
that they are legal or, if not, they
are so widespread they are no
longer considered objectionable.
Parents of teen-age youngsters
confront these questions in a very
intense way. Young people point
to the use of illegal drugs or al-
cohol or cigarette smoking or sex-
ual promiscuity by their
contemporaries and, indeed by
many adults, and question the
validity of the rules and restric-
tions that they are asked to ac-
cept. What do we say to those
who argue: "That's the temper of
our time" or "Everybody's doing
it."
We dare not bow down to this
idol. To be a Jew is to be a sepa-
ratist, to stand apart from, and
then to elevate the society in
which he or she lives. We stand
apart to be reminded of the val-
ues of our heritage, to be renewed
by Judaism's high sense of what