Hallel: To Become Like Him

“Kemohem yih’yu oseyhem”, “Like them will be those who make them”. The preceding verses describe how idols have mouths, yet they don’t speak, they have eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, a nose but cannot smell etc… Those who worship idols will become like them; they will lose their ability to express themselves, they will lose their clarity, their understanding, their sense of perception. When someone creates a reality which is based on falsehood, one forgoes all the qualities that make him human, to the point where the person’s identity is intertwined with the lie he is living.

Rabbi Levi Bar Chama says: If someone who serves idols becomes like the idols, then someone who serves The Holy One, Blessed Is He, all the more so, will become like Him (Devarim Rabah 1:12).

This is an extremely powerful idea. We become the reality we choose to live. If, when we learn Torah and perform the Mitsvot, we have the awareness of how it enables us to emulate God, then we will become Godly.

And all the senses and abilities that are dulled or lost when a person worships falsehood will become enhanced and intensified when one commits himself to a life of truth.