Our Gemara on Amud Aleph discusses an important and recurring theme in Jewish religious philosophy that has halachic and metaphorical implications. Under many circumstances, an employee or laborer can quit on the spot. The rationale is that God wants no Jewish person to be encumbered by any mortal. The Gemara declares:

It is written: “For to Me the children of Israel are slaves; they are My slaves whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 25:55), which indicates: They are My slaves, and not slaves of slaves, i.e., of other Jews. Consequently, a Jew can never be enslaved to another Jew with a contract from which he cannot release himself whenever he wishes. 

Be’er Mayyim Chayyim (Shemos 20:2) develops this idea in an innovative way, also explaining a difficult verse. The verse in Devarim (4:19) warns about idolatry in a manner that seems to be giving some credence to other deities:

וּפֶן־תִּשָּׂ֨א עֵינֶ֜יךָ הַשָּׁמַ֗יְמָה וְֽ֠רָאִ֠יתָ אֶת־הַשֶּׁ֨מֶשׁ וְאֶת־הַיָּרֵ֜חַ וְאֶת־הַכּֽוֹכָבִ֗ים כֹּ֚ל צְבָ֣א הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וְנִדַּחְתָּ֛ וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִ֥יתָ לָהֶ֖ם וַעֲבַדְתָּ֑ם אֲשֶׁ֨ר חָלַ֜ק ה’ אֱלֹקיךָ֙ אֹתָ֔ם לְכֹל֙ הָֽעַמִּ֔ים תַּ֖חַת כׇּל־הַשָּׁמָֽיִם

And when you look up to the sky and behold the sun and the moon and the stars, the whole heavenly host, you must not be lured into bowing down to them or serving them. These your God allotted to other peoples everywhere under heaven;

The verse implies that the other nations of the world are allowed to worship the starts, which were “alloted for them”.  Rashi sidesteps this exegetical problem by interpreting this allotment as the stars meant for the purpose of light, which incredibly implies the Jews do not need them for light. Perhaps, in an ideal sense, the Jews were meant to use the special hidden light from creation, that was before the Sun and Moon were created, (see Chagigah 12a).  The second peshat of rashi is that indeed the stars were set aside for the nations, but not that it was permitted, but as a test to see who they would worship.  If so, that is an enormous theological problem, as why would Hashem set up the Gentiles to fail? As the Gemara (Avodah Zara 3a) asserts, “The Holy One, Blessed be He, does not deal tyrannically [beteruneya] with His creations.”  I am sure there is an answer to this, but I will not discuss that today.

Be’er Mayyim Chayyim suggests an alternative oeshat in the verse. Indeed, the Gentiles are not forbidden to worship intermediary deities, so long as they ALSO serve Hashem. Jews, on the other hand, were meant to be free and serve no masters aside from Hashem, be they in heaven or on earth.  This is along the lines of what Moshe beseeched Hashem after the sin of the Golden Calf, that God not relegate the Jews to His delegates (Shemos 33:16):

וּבַמֶּ֣ה ׀ יִוָּדַ֣ע אֵפ֗וֹא כִּֽי־מָצָ֨אתִי חֵ֤ן בְּעֵינֶ֙יךָ֙ אֲנִ֣י וְעַמֶּ֔ךָ הֲל֖וֹא בְּלֶכְתְּךָ֣ עִמָּ֑נוּ וְנִפְלֵ֙ינוּ֙ אֲנִ֣י וְעַמְּךָ֔ מִכָּ֨ל־הָעָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הָאֲדָמָֽה׃

For how shall it be known that Your people have gained Your favor unless You go with us, so that we may be distinguished, Your people and I, from every people on the face of the earth?”

So Hashem wants a Jew to stand free before God and answer to no one else.  What a concept, if only we would have the strength to live that way!

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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