Our Gemara on Amud Beis offers an insight into what truly motivated the Jews to engage in idolatry—an insight that remains relevant in our times as well. Even though explicit idolatry is much less prevalent today, heretical beliefs that deny or subvert the Torah certainly persist as a challenge. The Talmud’s psychological analysis of idolatry can similarly be applied to many forms of modern heresy. The Gemara states:

Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: The Jewish people knew that idol worship was of no substance; they did not actually believe in it. They worshipped idols only in order to permit themselves to engage in forbidden sexual relations in public.

Many idolatrous rituals, such as those of Baal, involved engaging in various forms of sexual activity with Temple harlots. These rituals, centered on human reproduction, were intended to magically draw channels of fertility, ensuring rain and agricultural prosperity.

Rav Mesharshiyya raises an objection to this statement from the following verse: “Like the memory of their sons are their altars, and their Asherim are by the leafy trees, upon the high hills” (Jeremiah 17:2). Rabbi Elazar interprets this to mean that the Jewish people would recall their idol worship as one who longs for his child—indicating a deep emotional attachment to it.

The Gemara answers: This was only the case after the Jewish people became attached to idol worship, at which point they began to actually believe in it. Initially, they were drawn to it only due to their lust.

This reveals two psychological stages. First, the rituals were adopted to rationalize and normalize inappropriate and excessive sexual gratification. These rituals placed a veneer of morality over destructive and unfaithful behaviors—after all, participants could tell themselves they were performing a civic duty to ensure a good growing season.

Yet, deep down, they didn’t truly believe in it. However, with time, the idolatry metastasized into a second stage: the rituals became deep-rooted traditions, and an attachment to them developed, ultimately leading to actual belief—despite their irrational origins.

Rav Elchanan Wasserman (Kovetz Ma’amarim, Ma’amar al Emunah) describes a similar psychological process. He asks: How can belief or disbelief be considered a mitzvah or an aveirah? The Torah can command us to take certain actions and refrain from others, but how can it mandate what a person should believe? Furthermore, if belief comes naturally, why should it be considered a mitzvah at all?

Rav Elchanan intensifies the question by citing the Rambam, who considered Aristotle one of the wisest men of all time, possessing wisdom just short of prophecy. Yet, many of Aristotle’s philosophical beliefs were theologically incorrect. How can we expect a mere child of bar mitzvah age to arrive at the correct faith when even one of the greatest minds in history failed to do so?

Furthermore, the Gemara (Brachos 12b) interprets the command in Shema (Bamidbar 15:39), “Do not turn away following the lust of your heart,” as referring to heresy. Rav Elchanan asks: Why is heresy dependent on the heart? Isn’t it primarily an intellectual issue?

He answers by pointing out that even the wisest individuals can lose intellectual objectivity when they are bribed. The Torah and Talmud (Kesuvos 105b) warn that even the smallest favor can unwittingly bias a judge’s opinion. As the Torah states (Shemos 23:8):

“Do not take bribes, for bribes blind the clear-sighted and pervert the words of the just.”

Rav Elchanan argues that personal desires act as an internal bribe, distorting one’s ability to see the truth and leading one to rationalize all kinds of behaviors. This is why heresy is a violation of the command “Do not turn after your heart”—because the heart’s lust distorts one’s beliefs.

We are fortunate to live in a free society where individuals can privately act according to their conscience. But why is that not sufficient? Why must extreme and promiscuous behaviors not only be tolerated but celebrated? Even if some individuals, for various reasons, cannot follow all the Torah’s moral laws, why must these behaviors be turned into an ideology, proselytized, and even projected onto children?

Much of modern “woke” sensibilities, particularly their urge to moralize and proselytize, seem to be driven not by intellectual conviction but by the need to justify other sins and infidelities. Celebrating unconventional and promiscuous relationships—elevating them to the status of a moral crusade—allows the garden-variety sinner to feel less guilty about cheating in marriage, avoiding commitment, or shirking the responsibility of raising children.

Our Gemara teaches that so-called ideological arguments are often rooted in a biased need to rationalize the forbidden and indulge in moral laziness. What begins as blindness caused by desire eventually evolves into a fully developed belief system.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, LCSW-R, DHL is a psychotherapist who works with high conflict couples and families as well male sexual health. He can be reached via email at simchafeuerman@gmail.com