I asked a friend why people find it difficult to get along with me. The question was tongue in cheek, of course, I know very well what the issue is. Here's an example: I think people are saying something stupid when they say, "All I want is for my children to be happy." (That's not what makes it difficult to get along with me.) I believe we all really want much more for our children. (Still not the issue.) I believe that what they mean is that they won't feel badly if their children choose a different life than they expected, as long as they are successful, productive human beings who have found their way to utilize and maximize their potential. (I think that they don't really mean that either, but it's close enough to how they feel to not argue. This is still not the issue.) When they say that, I respond with, "Really? So you would be happy if your children were addicted to drugs, as long as they have a ready supply so they will always have a smile on their face... and, of course, maybe some drool?!" That's the issue. Apparently people don't like to be boxed into a corner and shown just how ridiculous their statements are. Go figure.
A long time and dear friend has just gone through a bout of chemotherapy and is in remission. My wife and I called him to tell him how happy we were. Of course, he has been on my cholim list for months; since we found out about his condition. His father was a holocaust survivor and he is not frum, but he and his wife keep almost kosher at home and eat matzah on Pesach. He said, "I am so appreciative that you had me in your prayers. I also had Buddhist and Evangelical Christians praying for me. It made me feel so good to have all those prayers for me. It doesn't matter what you believe, but I definitely felt it helped."
That's when my wife looked straight at me with a look communicated in an instant: I love you. I know what you are thinking. Don't say it. (There was a slightly menacing tone to that look, as only a spouse of nearly half a century can convey.) I felt very sad for my friend after the conversation. It took me a few days to process what I was feeling.
If he had said that it's all nonsense, but his friends wanting to do whatever they could -- even though it really was nothing; then I would have understood. The problem was his admission that there is spirituality. There is something to prayer. He felt it, and he was convinced that the prayers had helped him. In truth, you see that Buddhists, Evangelical Christians, Hindi idol worshipers (carpooled with one), and all the other followers of various avoda zaras all feel they are connecting with something greater than themselves.
I think that's the problem. Avoda zara is connecting to spirituality on human terms. Every holiday they have is their own creation -- they celebrate their god's birthday, his deathday, his resurrection day, etc. They also decide how to celebrate those events. They use their physical senses and feelings to work out how to experience something beyond their knowledge and experience. Humans are limited, finite beings; so the connections they invent are limited and finite. Just as drugs give a person a feeling of euphoria that is entirely superficial and manufactured, so too man-made religions give the worshiper feelings of spirituality that are entirely superficial and manufactured. Just as recreational drugs prevent the user from actually accomplishing anything that would bring him true happiness, so too avoda zara prevents the worshiper from attaining any real connection with the infinite that would bring him true closeness to the Creator.
HaShem wants us to connect with Him on a deep and fundamental level. HaShem created us in order to connect with him and he gave us all the instructions to actualize that connection is a real, deep, and meaningful way. תורת חיים literally means "instructions for life". You can't make that up.
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