27 Apr ACHREI MOS: THE DESECRATION OF MOLECH: WE WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR OUR PRIORITIES

The end of Acharei
Mos contains the prohibition of giving
one’s children over to
the pagan worship of
Molech. This tragic
form of Avodah Zarah (idolatry) involved
transferring one’s child to the priest of
Molech, who would then pass the child
through fire as an act of worship to the pagan god. In some forms of this worship
the child would in fact be burnt to death.
The Torah verse that prohibits this act
says. “…that you will not thereby profane
the Name of your G-d, I am HaShem.”
[Vayikra 18:21]. In other words, beyond
the intrinsic prohibition of the idolatry involved, there is another prohibition, that
of Desecrating the Name of G-d (Chillul
HaShem).
The Ramba”n elaborates on the unique
desecration of G-d’s name that accompanies worship of Molech. The Ramba”n
explains that it will be a Chillul HaShem
when the nations will hear that Jews honor their G-d by offering animal sacrifices,
but that they honor Molech by offering
their children.
Rav Dovid Kviat (in his Sefer Succas
Dovid) observes that this concept — that
a person can cause a Chillul HaShem by
showing greater homage and honor to
some other area in life than to the Master
of the World, is a phenomenon which is
far less foreign to us than the cult of
Molech.
In the book of Shmuel we learn of the
capture of the Ark of the Covenant by the
Philistines. It remained with the Philistines for a certain period of time and
caused havoc to them, such that they sent
it back to Israel. Initially, upon its return
to Israel, a plague occurred in Israel as
well, smiting the residents of Beis Shemesh [Samuel I Chapters 4-6]. The Medrash
asks why the residents of Beis Shemesh
were punished. The Medrash answers that
they had been more worried when their
hens were lost than when the Ark of the
Covenant was captured. This is a terrible
criticism and a terrible Chillul HaShem.
This is the same type of Chillul HaShem
that the Ramba”n identifies with Molech
worship. It is the same type of Chillul
HaShem in which we all unfortunately engage, to a greater or lesser extent, when
we do not demonstrate the proper priorities in terms of manifesting our care and
concern.
The transmission of our car breaks. This
upsets us. We come back from a vacation
and find that the refrigerator stopped
working and all the food is ruined. The
house stinks. Everyone gets upset! Little
things like this upset us.
The situation in Eretz Yisroel should upset us far more than life’s trivialities,
about which we get so worked up. Every
day’s curse is worse than the previous
day’s curse. The situation there is terrible.
But does it bother us more or less than if
our refrigerator breaks? Does it bother us
more than a transmission?
What bothers us? What makes us upset?
What makes us lose sleep at night? G-d
was upset at the people of Israel for being
more concerned about a hen then about
the Ark. We read the Medrash with disdain for the
people of Beis
Shemesh. We
think, how
could they be
more concerned about
a chicken than
about the
Aron! But we
need to look
in the mirror
and ask ourselves — are we more worried about our
own businesses and our own refrigerators
and transmissions and all the other trivialities of life, than we are with what is going on with Klal Yisroel (the Congregation of Israel)?
To be more worried about the former
than the latter is in effect the admonition
mentioned in this week’s parsha: “And
you shall not desecrate the Name of your
G-d, I am HaShem”. G-d holds us accountable for our priorities – how we treat
Him and how we treat other things.