LA JOLLA, California — Take a second to look at the Second Commandment. It reads, “Thou shalt not make idols.”
And I’m sure you’ve heard it before. Maybe once, maybe a thousand times. Our great rabbis, scholars, and sages tell us that the Torah is as relevant now as it was during Moses’ time.
But… idols? We make buildings, infrastructure maybe. As Jews, we aren’t really going out of our way to create a Golden Calf. Again.
Where is the relevance of this Commandment today?
Have we made our idols… idols?
Truthfully, I’m sure we’re all guilty of it. We think dressing like our favorite celebrity will bring us success. Buying the stocks of our tech giants will grant us financial stability. Training like a fitness influencer will earn us longevity in life. It’s the mindset that if we follow in the footsteps of people we respect, we too will achieve our goals.
It sounds amazing.
Idols give us a sense of control. That every action we take ensures something for us. Step, success, step, success. And it feels good to think you’re holding the reins. That your life can shape to be exactly how you pictured it. It’s stress relieving.
That is, until something messes up the plan.
Our outfit shrinks in the washing machine. The stocks go down. We break a bone, or pull a muscle, or twist an ankle.
We come crumbling down.
The simple truth is that the Golden Calf was erected in times of uncertainty. Exodus 32 states, “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, ‘Come, make us a god who shall go before us, for that fellow Moses — the man who brought us from the land of Egypt — we do not know what has happened to him.’” (The Contemporary Torah, JPS, 2006).
The Israelites didn’t know what happened to Moses, didn’t know what was taking so long, and didn’t know what the future would hold. They yearned for a feeling of security.
Honestly, don’t we all?
So, the Israelites decided to make the intangible tangible. Step, success, step, success. If they band together and build an idol, they’ll finally have purpose. They’ll have reasons to sacrifice, spin and sway, and celebrate. They’ll have success.
Yet they needed perspective.
It’s just gold, much like clothes or money or even physicality. We’re not taking it with us when we leave this world. Having control is satisfying, however it makes us susceptible to even more stress and chaos if we lose it.
Even worse, it prompts anger. Anger at things we can’t control. Anger at G-d.
At the start of this new year, let’s strive to see things for what they are. Don’t idolize people, or places, or things. Remember that the real stress-relief stems from knowing that you’re not in control, G-d is. There’s that old Yiddush saying, “Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht,” or “Man plans, and G-d laughs.”
Emulate G-d. Try to laugh, too.
After all, memories are worth more than gold.