An unimaginable idea: When does God ignore idolatry by Jews?

It is on very rare occasions that I encounter an idea that absolutely startles me.

This week, while studying the Ohr HaChaim by Rabbi Hayyim ben Moshe ibn Attar (1696-1743) on Parashat Ha’azinu with a hevruta, I encountered such an idea.

In the verse “The Lord alone did guide him, no alien god at His side” (Deuteronomy 32:12; JPS translation), R. Hayyim introduces a midrash (Bereshit Rabbah 38:6):

“Rebbi says: Peace is great, as even if Israel engages in idol worship but there is peace among them, the Omnipresent says, ‘it is, as it were, that I have no power over them since there is peace among them,’ as it is stated: ‘Ephraim is attached to idols, leave him’ (Hosea 4:17). 

'Their heart has separated, now they will be punished'

“But once there was divisiveness between them, what does it say? ‘Their heart has separated, now they will be punished’ (Hosea 10:2). You thus learn: Peace is great, and dispute is despised.”

Rabbi Hayyim incorporates this idea in the verse of Ha’azinu, offering a novel translation: “When the nation is unified, God will grant it (the nation) remission; (when the nation is unified) then God does not focus even on idolatry in their midst.”

Is this not extraordinary? All the prophets – from Moses through Malachi – rail against the sin of idolatry. It is one of the three cardinal sins for which the halacha calls upon a person to surrender his life rather than submit to idolatrous practice.

God will even overlook its idolatrous conduct if the Jews are united

And yet, this midrash says that if the Jewish nation is united, God will even overlook its idolatrous conduct!

The Jewish people give serious thought to a host of issues – all of which are important: Judicial reform vs non-Judicial reform; two-state solution vs only one; settlement of Judea and Samaria vs no settlement; sovereignty over the greater Israel or not; exemptions from the draft for Torah study or no exemption; updating the doctrine of purity of arms or not. 

These are all issues over which very rational people can feel passionately and argue persuasively.

Yet Rabbi Hayyim urges us to remain a unified nation; a people that does not block highways or burn tires, engage in vandalism against those with whom we may differ, or delegitimize other Jews with whom we differ.

Our challenge is to follow in God’s path – just as He is one, so must we, the Jewish people, remain one. In an ideal world, the Jewish people would be unified in embracing the covenant between God and Israel.

But now we may have to aspire to unity for the sake of our survival in a very hostile world.■

The writer is founding principal (retired) of The Frisch School in Paramus, New Jersey.