Rabbi Sara helped us think about some troubling passages by describing much of what the Israelites are being commanded to do under the heading of “Don’t assimilate!” That made it somewhat easier to digest passages like the first one we discussed which prohibits bowing down to and serving the other peoples’ gods and engaging in their practices and, instead, requires tearing their gods down and shattering their pillars. R. Myra pointed out the doubling of the verb for tearing down and for smashing. As we have seen, in Hebrew doubling is used for emphasis. We might translate the terms as “completely tear down” and “utterly shatter.” We noted, incredulously, YHVH indicating to them that, if you serve your god, YHVH, your god will bless your bread and water and turn away sickness within you.
