[Avodah] Worshiping G-d Without Limud haTorah

[Prof. L. Levine]

The following is from Rav on Prayer, pages 358 - 359:

In attempting to worship G-d without limud ha Torah, he is no longer
worshipping the Ribono shel Olam. Judaism without Torah is "another
religion," similar to all others, which have prayers, rituals, observances
and prohibitions, and, in former times, animal sacrifices. The attempt to
worship G-d without limud ha Torah is called elohim acharim. If a non-Jew
wishes to embrace Judaism and is willing to accept everything except
learning Torah, he may just as well stay with his own religion, because a
"Torah less" form of Judaism is not Judaism at all.

Rashi further explains the meaning of elohim acharim as follows:
They are called other gods because they are strangers to those
who worship them; one pleads with it but it does not
answer; consequently, this "other god" is a "stranger
to the person who prays to it.

What Rashi means here is that the first step toward actual avodah
zarah is when a person abandons Torah learning.
but attempts to maintain a relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. This
relationship will be as cool as if it were with a stranger. Without Torah
learning, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is elohim acharim.

The person may believe in Hashem Echod, and he is certainly not an idol
worshipper, but, as the result of his separation from Torah, he feels no
contact with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, he does not have the feeling that
someone is listening to his tefillos.  And, as in the time of the Tanach,
when there was a fascination with avodah zarah, this relationship with
Hakadosh Baruch Hu as a "stranger," without limud haTorah, will
dissipate altogether and deteriorate into actual avodah zarah, in which
people have a mystical experience and imagine that someone really is
listening to them.

Professor Yitzchok Levine
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