Embedded Files
Shiurim/Lectures about Avodah Zarah (idolatry):
The True Meaning of God/Gad - This lecture explores various interpretations of Leah's exclamation בא גד upon the birth of Zilpah's eldest child, then segues into various discussions about words derived from the גד root in the Hebrew Language and the etymology of the English word God.
Beware the Eyes of Tammuz - A special shiur given to the advanced rabbinical students of Ohr LaGolah about the connection between the Babylonian deity Tammuz and the summer month of the Jewish calendar named Tammuz.
Prohibitions Concerning Idolatry (Part I, Part II) - Delivered at Beis Medrash Toras Hashem in Valley Village, CA (Summer 2017).
God versus gods: Maimonides and the Struggle Against Idolatry (3-part series) - This course was given to the Mechina program at Yeshivat Ohr Somayach in Israel.
How to Start Your own Religion / The Psychology of Idolatry - This lecture was given to the J101 program in Jerusalem, and deals with the psychological techniques that idolaters historically used to draw people into their cults.
The Psychology of Avodah Zarah - A look at the different things that motivate idol worshippers with a special focus on the Golden Calf, Tammuz, and Baal Peor.
Holy Madness Podcast (Episode 25) - Guest: Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein joins us to talk about God vs. gods, his wonderful book about idolatry in the development of Torah. (Throughout the episode, we use the Hebrew term for idolatry, avodah zarah, literally, ‘foreign worship’ or ‘alien work’. If you didn’t know the term before, you definitely will by the end of the episode. Also now. I mean you already know it now.) Is Hinduism idolatry? Is Christianity? Are ideologies idolatries? … and why the religious and anti-religious might suggest they are and what they get wrong… We discuss the sensual draw of alien worship, worshiping the poop god (Baal Peor) and famous places of worship, including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Sistine Chapel, the Western Wall, May poles, and Meron. Rabbi Reuven discusses how Molech might have survived into modernity, conjectures that living with morality demonstrates freedom from idolatry, and suggests that Christianity and Islam pave the path to ultimate redemption. For more information about the Holy Madness podcast, visit: https://holymadness.org/
Amalek and Atheism - This lecture explains why the Amalekite God is never mentioned in the Bible, while Amalek seems to not appear in any archeological records, and why the Torah so vehemently opposes the Amalekites. It also explains what the Amalekites meant to achieve by throwing Jewish foreskins into the air and sodomizing Jewish men. (JInternships, March 2020).
Many of the lectures and shiurim on this page are based on Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein's book God versus Gods: Judaism in the Age of Idolatry (Mosaica Press). It was first published in late 2018.
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