This morning, I lost my phone for a few hours. Somehow everyone got dressed and to school. None of my friends even noticed that I had been away from WhatsApp for a few hours.
So why did losing my phone for a few hours feel so traumatic? It's just a device that helps me. It isn't me! I don't feel like that when I lose my pocketbook, or my glasses, or my shoes, which I need even more than my cell phone. Maybe it's because I expect my phone to serve me. Look how much a phone can do!!
Want a job? Join LinkedIn - on your phone.
Need some food?
Use an app for takeout or ingredients.
Want to really understand the sin of idol worship?
Watch some YouTube videos. You will immediately feel like you know a lot about the topic, even though the person making the video themselves got all their information from other videos.
Making social connections? Join social media.
The more likes you get, the more you are worth. This is an excellent foundation upon which to base your self-esteem.
Need healing?
Before technology, doctors thought they were G-d. Now they, too, have turned to technology.
You know how people feel compelled by their cell phone? When it rings or dings, they go running to see what is happening. You don't see them running to investigate every time they hear someone screaming in the street. Even though a street fight in their neighborhood is much more likely to endanger their lives than missing a text.
People even die because of accidents caused by texting while driving. I am always curious what the last text they sent was. It is never anything terribly important, like, "Positive pregnancy test, won the lottery, and Harvard Medical school acceptance on the same day!!" It's always something like 'see you later' or 'thank you' or 'I got to go'.
What a tragically meaningless way to die.
Why was idol worship so compelling? Think about how you feel attached to your devices. When someone loses their cell phone, it's as if they've lost their entire identity.
If the phone doesn't work, they'll give G-d a try, unless it's something they think technology does better than G-d, like directions. At this point the cell phone has developed from being a tool, which it is used correctly for, to an idol, where it's used to replace religion and identity. This can help us understand the attraction of idolatry in ancient times.
An ancient idol-worshipper, like an Instagram influencer, truly believed that this little clay figure represented them, and would serve them if they turned to it. They were not stupid. Instagram influencers aren't stupid either. But the belief is equally ridiculous.
The Talmud says that G-d actually allowed idol worship to work sometimes, or else humans would not have had the freedom of choice to worship G-d. Had it never worked, it would be obvious that only praying to G-d worked. People love the illusion of a personal ipad. I mean, idol.
In the tractate "Idol worship", folio 55, they describe how this worked. Occasionally, the house of idol worship would sacrifice a human to their gods, and the rain would fall, after a period of drought. Not every time, of course, but does your phone give you satisfaction every time you turn it on? It was enough to know it could.
Like a cell phone, human sacrifices to idols never brought anyone health, rain, or joy, or healthy relationships, or money. But it's such a powerful tool that you forget about the mortal, fallible, people who made it, and imagine yourself as the person with this personal phone, which exists to serve you. This powerful illusion is the essence of idolatry.