Commentary on the Origins of Avodah Zarah

In the first day of the creation of the universe, Hashem did not make any other כוחות (powers or forces) in the universe. On the other days, various כוחות were brought into existence. These include the forces of darkness and evil. Hashem created luminaries, represented by angels, that light up the sky.

There are 7 celestial bodies visible to the human eye and constellations. The sun, moon, and 5 [visible] planets. There are 12 Constellations. From the perspective of the Earth, a month is the cycle of the moon. The English words “Month” and “Moon” are from the same root-word…The cycle of the Sun and Constellations is the measurement of a solar year.

These luminaries were used for idolatry. Pagans named various days of the week based on these 7 Celestial Objects. They attributed deities to them. Where do you think “Sunday” comes from? Languages, such as Spanish, reserves some Roman Pagan and Planet names for most of their day names. The only exception is that they call our Sabbath “Sabado” and their Christian-based Sabbath “Domingo”. However, they still kept the other 5 days under the original Pagan deity and planet names. 

Most Jews do not realize is that these attributions can be traced back to the time of Adam Ha-Rishon. Man has been aware of the influence of the heavenly luminaries. That means that we Jews hold that Sunday does, in fact, represent the sun. The difference between our nation and other nations is that we do not worship it.

Our sages said that the Moon, Mars, and Saturn were affiliated with negative spiritual energies. The celebration of ראש חודש (against the Moon), the practice of male ברית מילה (against Mars), and Observance of שבת (against Saturn) are how we counteract the negative energy associated with these 3 Celestial Objects. The Greeks had a reason to ban these 3 מצוות‎‎ because they knew it protected us from the negative energy of these 3 celestial bodies.

It’s obvious what these planets represented. Could it be a coincidence that Saturn was attributed as a “resting” planet?  All of the original, ancient Middle Eastern cultures affiliated this celestial object with “rest”. And from them, the Greeks and Romans did too. The Hebrew planet name for Saturn (שבתאי) has the same shoreish as Shabbat (שבת).

We all can figure what Mars represents…Even the Pre-Roman Pagans attributed their Mars-like deity to this planet. The concepts were always the same. Tuesday was Mars’s Day. Even the Mongols use the Mongolian name for “Mars” as the representation of Tuesday. The Hindus attribute a red idol to Planet Mars.

The Eclipse of Saturn, by Jupiter part of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction. This has coincided with many upheavals in human history which mostly include a rise in conflicts, powerful governments, and great change in the world. This conjunction lasts for 3 years. It occurs every 17 years (from the the end of the previous conjunction). The most recent conjunction was the Era of Corona. This includes the three year increment of time that includes the invasion of Ukraine, conflicts with North Korea, and change in [political] powers in the West and Israel. Some called this the “great reset”. During this time period, there was an increase in political repressions and civil unrest. During this era, there was a 5-planetary conjunction.

Other relevant eras of history also include the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn that last for an increment of three years. This includes the era of 9-11 and the [beginning of the] invasion of Iraq. The rise of Nazi Germany includes this conjunction but also a triple conjunction that included Pluto – a planet that was only discovered a couple years before the ascent of Hitler.

An earlier known conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn was the concern for many educated people in the Medieval Times including many rabbanim. This was soon before the conjunction that would coincide with the Black Plague.

During the era of Corona, Jupiter and Saturn were in the constellation of the Goat (Capricorn). This also happened, almost 4,000 years ago, during the era in which the Kingdom of Babylon was established. This government was founded by Sumu Abum – an Amorite king. This small and seemingly insignificant kingdom grew under the reign of Hammu-Rabi – the sixth king. The laws of his kingdom were etched in stone and became the format for many governments. These governments would influence the political system of humanity for thousands of years.

From the Perspective of The Torah

The Jews have an understanding that all Celestial Objects (luminaries) where put up there by the Creator. They have significance. They have a purpose. However, some people took it too far and started worshiping these objects that the Almighty had brought forth. These people are called Idolaters. There’s a good reason why we Jews don’t use the planetary names for the names of Days. Instead we use numbers for the week plus Shabbat.

The nature of how the Goyim used the stars and planets is Avodah Zarah. This form of Avodah Zarah and others is something our nation have come in contact with many times. It was mentioned in the perakim of Tanakh where Yosef Ha-Tzaddik was in Mitzrayim. It was also mentioned when the Torah discusses the birth of Moshe Rabbeinu. In both cases, the astrologers of Egypt understood that there was something that was going to happen but misunderstood the signs.

Ba’al Peor was an idol that the Moavim (Moabites) would have with them in the Beis Ha-Kisei. This is seen as the filthiest idol in existence since it is the representation of waste. Besides that, you have Molokh who was a Canaanite fire-god. Fire-oriented sacrifices were done to him some of which included children. This continued for thousands of years in Carthage where the Cannanites resettled (as Phonecians) when they were no longer able to stay in the holy land.

Idolatry Today

The strange acts one does when looking at unideal images is essentially idolatry via image worship. Some idols were connected to fetishes given that they represented the idea that an object had powers…Worshiping a hero and turning him into a deity is what many East-Asians did with their Leaders. In today’s world, many political ideologies are Idolatrous. The cult-like elements of Nazism and Communism are essentially idolatry in a nutshell. Nazism is basically a cult that worships Hitler. Various elements of Avodah Zarah from Iran and India were incorporated into a cult that many Nazi government officials were directly involved in. The Swastika was commonly used in Aryan faiths in Asia (e.g. Hinduism). 

Why was Idolatry such an issue back in the day? It’s like any of us want to run to a totem pole and kiss it. Right? Well, actually, the desire that our ancestors had for idols was almost like a sexual attraction. It had a crave. Much like anything powerful, there is a force involved with it. So back in ancient times, things like gems and witchcraft could actually manipulate us in strange ways we could never imagine. After the Purim story, we fasted to Ha-Kadosh Baruch-Hu and asked him to change the playing field by getting rid of our attraction to foreign worship. We fasted and prayed…and he listened to our prayers. However, the change of the field wasn’t one-sided. We ended up loosing the ability to have holy Prophecy like that of Daniel. Good and Evil were both weakened. All of our enemies from then – onward – were those that were more humanistic in their force. You don’t see X-tians going around and using gems to manipulate life and death via gems. Now, the world’s powers haven’t been completley erased but rather that its more hidden in the world. Even the miracles of the Channuakh story was an example of the hidden abilities of our Creator. His own Holy Name uses the letters of smaller value (all of which can act as silent letters) thus showing how the Creator of The Universe can be hidden in this world.

So do we have idolaters today? Marxist-Socialists (Communists) and National Socialists (Nazis) are essentially Idolaters. They worship these dangerous, manipulative political figures that are treated like deities. The way in which Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, and Hitler are viewed is very much treated like a cult. This is especially true for Hitler. Many of these people are brainwashed people who believe that these horrible people helped humanity. These people murdered millions. They destroyed synagogues and families. They damaged a Sefer Torah as if it was worth nothing. The Soviets put many Jews in concentration camps for believing in G-d, and Hitler tried to exterminate G-d’s Chosen People.

Avodah has to do with someone’s worship of a higher power. It doesn’t not imply whether or not they are decent in other aspects of life given that there are many good Catholics that have protected Jews in times of persecution, and many Hindus support Israel (since we are mutually fighting the Muslims). But it’s obvious that we should not indulge in Avodah Zarah (which could technically imply all foreign religions), for it is mentioned more than once in the Tanakh not to do it, and very few things are repeated. So if it is repeated, then that’s really significant.