Chording To Meg

I recently had my adult Bat Mitzvah, and chanted from my Torah portion called “Re’eh” which means “see” in the imperative form. It is basically telling the Israelites how to go about destroying the holy sites and idols of the Canaanites- “...and you shall tear down their altars, smash their monuments , burn their asherim, cut down the graven images of their gods, and destroy their name from that place.” Pretty awful stuff. We know G-d of the Bible to be harsh at times, but here, he is advocating violence. I am vehemently against all violence, regardless of who commits these violent acts. Left or Right. Christians or Jews. Black or Japanese. The ordering of destruction of other people’s idols makes God look really petty and immature. But I have an idea as to why Moses of all people found the idols of the Canaanites to be such a threat. Remember the Golden Calf after his recent stint on Mount Sinai ? He must have been really disappointed by the Israelites who were allured to the he...