Smack in the middle of the prohibition of all these sexual immoralities in Perek 18, we get Passuk 21. The previous passuk said not to have sexual relations with the wife of your friend, and the one before said that you're not allowed to have relations with a woman when she's getting her period. And then comes passuk 21:
"And thou shalt not give any of thy seed to set them apart to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy G-d: I am HaShem"
Isn't this a little weird? Here we are, minding our business, finally thinking that this is an order that makes total sense (color coded: pink= people who are related to you, no reason given because it's universally wrong. blue= dependent upon culture. all of them are sexual immoralities) and then this passuk comes along! Oh, lovely complications!
Or is it...?
Mrs. Perl had a wonderful answer to this puzzle that she came up with by herself (with the help of ____ (insert author of that book that I forgot the name of here) ) and I think it is just perfect!
When I usually thought of Avodah Zarah I would just think ... I don't know. A bunch of statues and people bowing to them? It's a bit fuzzy. But never when I thought of Avodah Zarah did I think of what it actually was: a sexual immorality.
That's right, my classmates. We all saw this coming- avodah zarah was basically one big practice of celebrating the physical self. Man was the center of their focus. There is this physical and social element in avodah zarah that is also present in passing your child through a fire for fertility.
So ,"my dear fellow classmates"- what is the consensus?
Don't you guys agree with this? Avodah zarah is linked to sexual immorality! This isn't so random after all! What are your comments?
Also, what did/do you think about Avodah Zarah? What is it you picture/think when someone says "Avodah Zarah"?
I agree with the book, that avoda zara is about sexual immorality. Much of the paganistic practices had practices that revolved around sexual rituals and everything. People were very focused on these pleasures.
ReplyDeleteUsually when i think avoda zara my mind is blank. I just don't know what it is, to do avoda zara like they did back then.
Don't you ever wonder where this stuff came from? As you know i am fascinated with greek mythology... and so don't you ever wonder who decided zeus ruled the sky, etc etc? Did a group of people come together and make it all up out of the blue? Or did one random guy? Or a guy pretending to be a priest and knew of these gods?
how did they just make it up?!!?!?
i posted this link for sharon but if one reads the speech and then the footnotes, it talks about how judaism was so different because it was the first to desexualize G-d, and that alone changed religions forever. As you said- it used to be that avoda zara was linked to sexual behaviors.
ReplyDeletewoops- heres the link
ReplyDeletehttp://judaism.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=judaism&cdn=religion&tm=4&f=10&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&st=11&zu=http%3A//www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/homosexuality-and-judaism.htm
I agree with what we learned very much. Adovah Zara always seemed to be about celebrating God but when it comes down to it, it seems like it is all about one's physical desires to please God..or so they think! This whole concept it a perfect example of how we should NOT act because we celebrate God in a way that is beneficial to us as well. It helps us recognize all that He does for us and God would never want us to do such terrible things, such as sacrificing our own children for Him. This is why we have korbanot. I think that sometimes the sexual acts that are forbidden might be hard for people to understand (maybe more so in those days) but this example could help us further understand why we do not do these acts and assist us when making decisions about what we choose to do when having a physical reationship.
ReplyDelete