Parshas Vayishlach
Why Hashem lets avodah zarah exist at all, and what removing 'the idols among you' really demands of a Yid.
Part of Bereishit
When Yaakov's sons bring back idols along with the rest of the plunder from Shechem, his instruction to get rid of them opens into a deeper question: if avodah zarah is a total denial of Hashem, why does Hashem allow it to exist in the first place? The answer, echoed in Moshe Rabbeinu's hesitation to write na'aseh adam, is that Hashem wants the correcting to be done through a Yid's own avodah, and that applies to every aveirah, not just idol worship, since even plain gaavah is its own form of avodah zarah. The deepest reading of 'the idols among you' points inward, to the residue of that pull that every Yid has to root out himself, which is the whole purpose of creating a dirah betachtonim.
Audio Transcript
A vort from the Rebbe on Parshas Vayishlach. In Parshas Vayishlach we learn that the two sons of Yaakov, Shimon and Levi, destroyed the city of Shechem. And then the pasuk says they took all the loot, they took their animals and they took the women and children for slaves. They took everything. And then the Torah says that Yaakov Avinu told them that 讛住讬专讜, you should get rid of 讗诇讛讬 讛谞讻专 讗砖专 讘转讻讻诐, of the avodah zarah that's amongst you, because when they took the loot, they took everything. They took also things which happened to be avodah zarah. So Yaakov Avinu told them, \"Take the avodah zarah out,\" and he buried it, etcetera, etcetera. But the lashon of the pasuk is 讛住讬专讜 讗转 讗诇讛讬 讛谞讻专 讗砖专 讘转讻讻诐, shall take away the 讗诇讛讬 讛谞讻专.
So the Rebbe says that this pasuk, these words hint to answer a kashya. Because one could ask a kashya, if avodah zarah is something that's completely against Hashem, avodah zarah means you believe in another God, so it's against Hashem, why does Hashem allow it to be? Everything comes from Hashem. If Hashem doesn't want something, not going to not going to exist. So why does He allow this idea of avodah zarah to exist?
And the answer is because 讛住讬专讜 讗转 讗诇讛讬 讛谞讻专 讗砖专 讘转讻讻诐. Der Eibershter wants that the people, the Yidden should take away that avodah zarah. That means, as the pasuk says, 诇诪注砖讛 讬讚讬讱 转讻住讜祝, Hashem desires the action of a Yid. He wants everything to happen through the avodah of a Yid. It's similar to what it says in Midrash that when der Eibershter dictated the Torah to Moshe Rabbeinu, Moshe wrote word for word what Hashem told him. So when it came to the words that der Eibershter said 谞注砖讛 讗讚诐 讘爪诇诪谞讜 讻讚诪讜转谞讜, \"Let us make a human being,\" Moshe Rabbeinu said to Hashem, \"I don't want to write it, because 讗转讛 谞讜转谉 诪拽讜诐 诇讗驻讬拽讜专住讬诐.\" By writing these words that \"let us make\", this brings gives a place for apikorsim to say that there is more than one God, because he said, \"Let us do it.\" And Der Eibershter told him, \"讻转讜讘, you write, 讜讛专讜爪讛 诇讟注讜转 讬讟注讛. Whoever wants to make a mistake, let him make a mistake.\" So one of the peshatim is Der Eibershter wanted to gave a place to make a mistake and he wanted that Yidden through their avodah should overcome that. And that's the reason why Der Eibershter allowed avodah zarah, because he wants that the 讬讬讚谉 讛住讬专讜 讗转 讗诇讛讬 讛谞讻专 讗砖专 讘转讻讻诐. You take it away. You work on it.
And the truth is it's not only by avodah zarah, anytime a person has arrogance, is a baal gaavah, it's like a worshipping avodah zarah. Cuz a baal gaavah means he gives chashivus to his own metzius, importance to his own metzius. There's no importance to any metzius. It's only Der Eibershter. And the truth is this is not only 讘谞讜讙注 讙讗讜讜讛. Every aveirah you do is really going against Der Eibershter. And how did Der Eibershter allow that there should be such a thing that a person is able to do an aveirah? And the answer is Der Eibershter 讘讚讜拽讗 did it cuz he wanted there should be a possibility of doing something wrong and you should overcome it. That's the whole idea of dirah betachtonim, that Der Eibershter wanted a dwelling place in the world, that means that we should make the dwelling place. Der Eibershter could have made himself a dwelling place. Very simple. He makes the whole world recognize Hashem, and that's where Hashem is. But Der Eibershter wants that we should do it. We should work on it. And then we fulfill Der Eibershter's ratzon. And that's hinted in the words 讛住讬专讜, take away, get rid of 讗诇讛讬 讛谞讻专 讗砖专 讘转讻讻诐. Der Eibershter wants a person to get rid.
And another diuk here, he says 讛住讬专讜 讗转 讗诇讛讬 讛谞讻专 讗砖专 讘转讻讻诐, get rid of the avodah zarah that's 讘转讻讻诐, it's among you, amongst you. That doesn't only mean get rid of the physical avodah zarah that they might have gotten when they took everything from Shechem, and avodah zarah of gold, avodah zarah of wood, and whatever kind of avodah zarah. The 驻住讜拽 says get rid of the 讗诇讛讬 讛谞讻专 讗砖专 讘转讜讻讻诐, that's within you. In every Yid there's a possibility of chas veshalom not following Hashem and that and denying in the existence of Hashem. You got to work on getting rid of the 注讘讜讚讛 讝专讛 that's 讘转讜讻讻诐 and that's within you. And that's the ratzon of der oibershter and that's why der oibershter created the world and put all these things in the world kedei we should work on it and that will make the 讚讬专讛 讘转讞转讜谞讬诐. When Hashem said that we should make the 讚讬专讛 讘转讞转讜谞讬诐 and that'll bring Mashiach Tzidkeinu.