We were always told as bachurim the famous Medrash about the Anshei Knesses hagdolah davening for the end of the YH for Avodah Zara. They were granted their request, but other YHs took its place. We were always told that the new AZ is the Self. Or maybe sometimes Money.
After being among this community for a while, and reading the countless stories on the website, it amazes me that our rebbeim and mechanchim haven't caught on yet. Lust is the new AZ, and the Internet makes it as strong as AZ was in the past. The similarities are striking:
- It is universal. It is as far as the Internet and Media can reach.
- It is a mechanism to replace reality with an inanimate object (we make the female body [or any trigger, really] into an inanimate object).
- It is driving us away from clarity and proper judgement, and we don't even see it most of the time. It requires a unique individual, or a unique institution, to convince the world that they are in mortal danger. Even then, the world is in in denial. We'd rather "put it behind our doors (this is how they used to hide idols [it's a rashi somewhere])" then face the facts that it's destroying our communities, and most importantly, our children.
- It is the basis of industries, institutions, and society.
- The secular world sees it as a good, natural thing.
So the next time the discussion comes up, make sure you let people know that AZ is alive and kicking. I'm not sure how we would interpret the medrash, but i refuse to accept that it simply went away. This substitute is simply too similar to ignore.
