WHO WIELDS POWER

In order to understand Maimonides' principle concerning the worship of the Almighty exclusively, it is important to differentiate between a source of power and a wielder of power. To the intelligent mind, the idea of idolatry is not in terms of the source of power but more in terms of the wielder of power.

The military can serve as a good example of the difference between the two. A sergeant is a wielder of power. However, in terms of the source of power, he is low in the hierarchy. His power is ultimately derived from the president, the commander in chief. Although the president is the source of power, he is not the wielder of power for the average serviceman.

It doesn't make any difference to the soldier how far removed the sergeant is from the source of power. As long as the sergeant is the one who decides whether the soldier receives a weekend pass, or what type of work he has to do, it is the sergeant whom the soldier is concerned with pleasing. The sergeant then is the wielder of power, while the president is the source of power. Where the sergeant's power is derived from makes no difference to the serviceman. As far as he is concerned, he serves only the sergeant.

In the same way, idolatry generally concerns itself with the wielder of power rather than with the Source of power. In the eyes of idolaters, the idol was seen neither as the source of their existence nor as the source of their well-being. They understood that ultimately there was a god who was the source of their existence, but they thought that he had delegated power in much the same way as the president delegates power to the sergeant. In this situation, man imagines a god delegating authority so that it might be able to concentrate on, so to speak, higher policies. Thus, when man creates his own image of God, he inevitably creates a god in the image of man…

POWER AND FREEDOM

The words of Maimonides make this relationship between power and freedom of choice quite explicit:

"[God] is the only One whom it is proper to serve [worship], to praise, to make known His grandeur, and to fulfill His commandments. This should not be done to any entity that is subservient to Him, be it the angels, the stars, the planets, or the elements or their compounds. For their activity is programmed. They have no control, and no choice but to perform His will."

No created being but man has free will. All other beings are "programmed." …The Almighty uses the angels to relate to tasks not worthy of being dealt with directly by Him. They are like programmed mechanical hands assisting in the production of cars in an assembly line. They are the means by which God maintains His distance from those who have not merited His direct intimacy.

Only God and man have free will. For this reason, one cannot bow down to an angel but can bow to a man. For example, one can beg a doctor to take someone as his patient since the doctor has power and can refuse to help. Therefore, David cries: "Let us fall into God's hands for His mercies are abundant, but let me not fall into human hands…" (2-Samuel 24:14)

EXERCISING FREE WILL - EVEN WHILE DENYING IT

The free will of man is the foundation of the Torah. Philosophers who debate whether there is such a thing as free will are just playing a game, says Maimonides. Even as they debate, they are making decisions and choices. They can contemplate all they want as to whether or not they are making a choice, but the fact remains that they are using their free will. They react to the world as if they had free will; they become angry at those who hurt them and acknowledge those who please them; they won't elect anyone they feel is evil or corrupt; they denounce Hitler, although without free will there is no difference between Hitler and Mother Teresa. In every aspect of their lives they exercise and recognize free will, even if they deny that they do.

… Maimonides discusses the concept of free will in order to remind us not to join in the game of those who attempt to deny it, and not to join those destructive elements of society whose hidden agenda involves portraying a mechanical universe where all events are caused and preconditioned. Essentially, the idea of such a universe relieves man of all responsibility, which explains why seemingly intelligent people are willing to indulge in such fantasies.

THE GREAT GIFT OF GOD

The concept of free will is very deep and profound. Without it there would exist only the power of the Creator and, as a result, the entire universe would be impotent and passive. By giving man free will, God endowed him with power so that two forces would exist in the universe. As a result of this endowment, it became possible to have a covenant between the Creator and creation. It became possible to have commandments and a relationship with God, both of which are meaningless without man's free will. We have free will only because God grants us this magnificent gift.

On the other hand, in examining the story of Pharaoh in Egypt (Exodus chapters 1-14), we can understand that just as God grants man this free will, He can also deny it when man no longer deserves it. Because of the evil that Pharaoh had perpetrated, God "hardened his heart," taking away his free will in order to use him as a pawn in history.

The greatest paradox of existence is therefore the independence which the Almighty gives to a totally dependent creature. This gift is the immeasurable kindness the Sages speak of when they describe how the Almighty gives man the strength and intelligence to rebel against Him.

A comparable situation would be a government that supplies rebels with the guns, ammunition, clothing, and food with which to carry on a revolution.

The gift of free will is such an act of loving-kindness, because without the potential to rebel, man could never come close to his Creator. A covenant or treaty necessitates the participation of both parties. It can never be unilateral. The uniqueness of the Jewish Nation, the relationship that is based upon a covenant between the Jew and God, would not be possible without free will. That relationship, which was the purpose of Creation, and that pleasure - the greatest of all pleasures - would be denied man.