Adam Ha-Rishon and The Origin of Pagan Traditions

After Adam Ha-Rishon was expelled from Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden), he saw how each day was becoming shorter than the next. Adam assumed that the world return to its dark, empty state. Once the days, began to lengthen, Adam celebrated by lighting a candle. The lighting of this candle was akin to illuminating the darkness that we celebrate during Ḥanukkah. The candle was akin to the Shamesh that is separate from the other candles. The word “Shamesh” has the same letters as Shemesh (sun). The Shamesh is the candle that we can derive benefit from.

Some of the descendants of Adam Ha-Rishon adulterated the precepts of their common ancestor which led to the rise of Pagan holidays which include those based on the celebration of the Winter Solstice. Paganism is a corruption of these traditions.

Idolatry involved making a graven image of God and His angels. Many Pagan cultures would attribute their idols to something with animalistic features. This is because some of these angels did have to have the appearance of animal-passing features. Enosh, the grandson of Adam, brought idolatry into the world (Genesis 4:26). According to our tradition, Enosh and his followers began to profane the name of God by attributing it to heavenly bodies and people. The word “Enosh” means “person”. Hence the Hebrew term “Anashim” for people. Statues of people became the essence of idolatry. Some of them merely had animalistic features because they were based on angels who had various qualities which were not like humans.

Our tradition of understanding the world to understand how different beliefs were based on traditions which were, in essence, the corruption of the divine truth. The spiritual nature of the celestial/heavenly bodies is an excellent example. To deny the power that exists within the celestial bodies is to deny that Hashem had put angels into upper worlds who then have an affect on this world. Hashem uses the angels for channeling His energy into this world. The idolaters are those who corrupted the divine understanding of astrology for their own idolatrous benefits. This is the origin of Polytheism.

The first Mishnah of Avodah Zarah talks about not giving benefit to Idolaters on three-days before their idolatrous festivals. This Halakha applies (הלכה למעשה) even in our time.