Carried to the Extreme

Many people are familiar with the statement of Chazal (Sanhedrin 63b) that the Jews of earlier generations in history “knew that there is no substance to idol worship, and they engaged in it only in order to give themselves license for openly immoral behavior.” It is, in a certain sense, a comforting idea, as it conveys that we Jews weren’t intellectually drawn toward nonsense, and even when it seemed that we were, it was only a portal to satisfy physical drives.

But what is less known is that the Gemara doesn’t conclude there. It goes on to ask a series of questions from sources indicating that over the course of history, Jews indeed became very, very drawn to idolatry. They were “all in,” to the point of willingness to die for their beloved deities.

In one episode related by the Gemara, a tzaddik named Eliyahu was searching for starving Jews in Jerusalem at the time of the first Churban when he came upon a Jewish boy lying in a trash heap, his stomach bloated from hunger. He was the sole surviving member of a family of three thousand. Eliyahu asked the boy if he wanted to learn something that would help him merit to stay alive, and he agreed.

When Eliyahu told him, “Say each day, ‘Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad,’” the child snapped at him, “Be quiet!” He didn’t want to even hear the mention of Hashem’s name, something his parents had never taught him. And at that, he removed an icon from his clothing, hugging and kissing it until his abdomen burst. The statue fell to the ground and he fell dead upon it. He had literally loved his god to death.