Are Idols Placebos?

In the time of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, it was a widespread practice in the Levant for families to keep household idols. They believed that the idols protected the home, and they would offer these objects incense.

Even before Moses received the Torah at Sinai, the descendants of Abraham and Sarah had a unique belief that idolatry was forbidden. It’s hard to imagine how remarkable this belief is, given that their families and societies worshipped idols.

Rachel Imeinu (our ancestor) was so convinced of this prohibition on idol worship that she took a great personal risk in Parshas Vayetzei:

“וְלָבָ֣ן הָלַ֔ךְ לִגְזֹ֖ז אֶת־צֹאנ֑וֹ וַתִּגְנֹ֣ב רָחֵ֔ל אֶת־הַתְּרָפִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר לְאָבִֽיהָ׃

And [Rachel’s father] Lavan had gone to shear his sheep [a three days distance (see 30:26)], and Rachel stole her father’s teraphim [to break him of idolatry].”

The mefarshim (commentators) raise the question: does idolatry, the worship of a physical being or object, actually work? Does it bring its practitioner success and prosperity?

The opinion of the Rambam (Moreh Nevuchim 3:37) is that idolatry is ineffective. He associates it with witchcraft and divination.

In medicine, a placebo is a pill or other device that contains no actual medicine, a sugar pill, for example, that a practitioner gives a patient for the purpose of its psychological effect.

In contemporary terms, by the Rambam’s logic, we can see idolatry as effective to the extent that the placebo effect is effective: it keeps the idol-worshipper busy according to an accepted social framework, and when something good happens, the psychological impact of that good thing seems to outweigh the memory of its failure to provide the good thing in the past.

In the Survey of Opthalmology, Curtis E. Margo MD wrote:

“The response rate to placebo varies by illness…In research, the placebo effect is therapeutic noise to be removed by placebo-controlled trials. Few studies are designed to measure the placebo response rate directly. Placebos are a reminder of how little is known about mind-body interaction. The placebo effect may be one of the most versatile and underused therapeutic tools at the disposal of physicians.”

If the power of idolatry is “just” the placebo effect, the question arises: how can the Torah present idolatry and witchcraft as effective in producing miraculous results, as in the witch who apparently resurrected the prophet Samuel for King Saul?

Rabbeinu Bahya (Devarim 18:10) writes that some say it is impossible to resurrect a person and the witch’s “resurrection” was an elaborate hoax featuring a man dressed as the prophet.

Another explanation, similar to the classic answer to the problem of why evil exists, is that Hashem grants great power to the forces of holiness as well as the forces of profanity in order to imbue us with free will.

In this age of digital spectacle, it’s tempting to worship the profanity of personal honor, “clout,” and the dream of an automated society beyond work.

The Torah reminds us (I Melachim 19:12) of the holiness of the “still small voice”:

“וְאַחַ֤ר הָרַ֙עַשׁ֙ אֵ֔שׁ לֹ֥א בָאֵ֖שׁ יְהֹוָ֑ה וְאַחַ֣ר הָאֵ֔שׁ ק֖וֹל דְּמָמָ֥ה דַקָּֽה׃

and after the earthquake a fire; but Hashem was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.”

The Zohar (Yitro 19:305) says everything depends on this voice: it is a “clear but tiny light that illumines all things.”