translated by Rabbi Dr. Shmuel Klatzkin
1. During the days of Enosh, humankind went seriously astray. The counsel of the sages of that generation became dull, and Enosh himself was among those who erred.
This was their mistake: They said that since G-d created the stars and the spheres to govern the world, placed them on high, and apportioned them honor so that they would serve before Him as attendants, it would accordingly be fit for us to praise and glorify them and apportion them honor as well. It would be the will of the blessed G-d that we should magnify and honor those whom He has magnified and honored, just as a king desires that those who stand before him in service should be honored, for that would be honoring the king.
Subsequent to the arising of that thought in their hearts, they began to build temples to the stars, to make offerings to them, to praise and glorify them in words, and to prostrate themselves before them in order to obtain the favor of the Creator, all in accordance with their misconception. This was the essence of idolatry, not that they declared that there was no other god aside from this star.
This is what Jeremiah said: “Who does not fear You, O King of the nations? To You this is due, for among all the sages of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is no one like You. They are at once dull and foolish, their teaching vain, a piece of wood.” This is to say that all know that You alone are the one G-d, but in their error and foolishness they imagined that this vanity was Your will.
2. After much time passed, people arose who were false prophets and said that G-d had commanded them, saying to them, “Serve a certain star, or all the stars, sacrifice to it, pour out certain libations to it, build a temple for it, and make its image in order for all to bow down before it: men, women, children, and all the rest of the common people.” He would tell them the image that he had dreamed up in his heart and would say that this was the form of this certain star that G-d had made known to him through prophecy.
In this way they began to make images in temples, under trees, and on the tops of mountains and of hills. They would gather together and prostrate themselves to them and say to all the people that this image can bring them good or harm, and it is therefore proper to serve it and to fear it.
Their priests would say to them that through this service they would multiply and prosper; therefore do this and that, and don’t do this and that. Other liars began to arise who said that the stars themselves, the sphere itself, or the angel itself spoke with them and told them, “Serve me in this way!” and told them the way of its service, doing this and that and not doing this and that.
This worship of images, through kinds of service that differed from one to the next, spread throughout the whole world. People would offer them sacrifices and prostrate themselves before them. As the days went on, G-d’s glorious and awesome name was forgotten from the mouth and the mind of all beings, and no one knew Him. As a result, all the common people, the women, and the children knew only the image of wood or of stone and the stone temple, for they had been trained from their childhood to bow down to it, to serve it, and to swear by its name. The sages among them, such as their priests and their like, imagined that no other god existed aside from the stars and spheres for which these images had been made and which they were made to resemble. Aside from a few individuals, such as Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Shem, and Eber, no one knew or recognized Him. In this way the world continued to unfold until the Pillar of the World was born, our patriarch Abraham.
3. After this powerful man was weaned but while still a child, he began to explore in his mind. He began to think day and night and wondered how it would be possible for the heavenly sphere to continually move with nothing impelling its motion. Who is causing it to revolve, since it would be impossible for itself to be the cause of its own rotation?
He had no teacher, no one to inform him about anything. He was sunk in Ur of the Chaldeans, among benighted star worshippers. His father and mother and all the people were star worshippers. He would serve along with them, but his heart wandered, exploring and understanding, until he grasped the way of truth and understood the straight path of righteousness through his correct comprehension. He knew that there was one G-d who causes the motion of the heavenly sphere and who created everything, and that among all the creatures there is no divinity other than He. He knew that all the world was astray, and the thing that had caused them to stray was their serving the stars and the images until the truth had been lost from their minds.
He was forty years old when he recognized his Creator. Once he recognized Him and knew Him, he began to reply to the people of Ur and engage them in debate and say, “You are not walking on the true path.” He broke their idols and began to make known to the people that it is only fit to serve the G-d of the universe. To Him is it proper to bow down, to bring offerings and libations, so that all creatures who will come in the future will know Him. It is proper to destroy and to shatter all the images in order that none of the people should stray like those who are imagining that there is no god other than these.
Once he triumphed over them with his arguments, the king sought to kill him. A miracle occurred, and he left to Haran and began to stand and cry in a great voice to all the world, telling them that there is only one G-d in the whole world and Him alone it is fit to serve. He would go about and call people together, going from city to city, from kingdom to kingdom, until he reached the land of Canaan, and was calling there; as it says, “He called out in the name of the L-rd, G-d of the world.”
When people would gather to him and ask him about his words, he would teach each person in accordance with their intellect until he would bring each back to the way of truth. He did this until thousands and tens of thousands had gathered. They were the people of the House of Abraham. He planted in their hearts this great principle, and composed books. He taught this to his son Isaac, and Isaac sat and taught and brought light to others. Isaac taught Jacob and appointed him to teach, and he sat and taught and strengthened all those who joined him.
Our father Jacob taught all his sons. He set Levi apart and appointed him as head of a yeshiva, teaching the way of G-d, and observing the commands of Abraham. He commanded his children that there should never cease to be someone appointed from among the descendants of Levi, one after the next, so that the teaching should never be forgotten.
This kept on getting stronger among the children of Jacob and among those who joined them, until there was brought about a people who knew G-d. But after long years in Egypt, they regressed and learned from the Egyptians’ deeds to serve the stars as they did—all except the tribe of Levi, who stood fast by the commandments of the ancestors. The tribe of Levi never served the stars.
It almost happened that the principle that Abraham had planted was uprooted and the children of Jacob returned to the error of the world and its straying. But out of G-d’s love for us, and from His keeping the oath He swore to our father Abraham, He brought Moses our teacher to be the master of all the prophets. G-d chose Israel as His inheritance, crowned them with the mitzvot, and taught them the ways of His service, and what would be the laws governing worship of the stars and all who stray after star worship.
