DR. IRWIN COHEN Breaking false gods commandment will bring harm

The benefits of obeying the Ten Commandments are universally recognized. The commandments are simple and direct. However, there is one exception.
In the commandment not to serve false gods, and in this commandment only, there is a specific warning attached: Disregarding this commandment brings harm from a "jealous God" to children and even to grandchildren. What a strange warning. It is neither simple nor direct.
There are two parts to this. First, the warning invokes a "jealous God." This isn't "jealous" in the human sense. Instead, this means that the creator made one and only one set of laws governing all of creation, and we are not free to substitute our own laws.
Ignoring the creator's laws of gravity or of electricity exposes us to harm. Nor can we ignore the creator's laws of human behavior without harm.
Second, why does this harm come to the children? Some believe this is a threat of vengeance, but actually it is a compassionate warning against a hidden danger. Similarly, a parent warns her child against fire not because she is threatening vengeance but because fire is dangerous.
In this commandment, the creator warns us of the hidden danger to children that comes from service to false gods.
False gods
Service to false gods is the unrestrained seeking after fame, power, riches, self-indulgence and other such delusions of personal aggrandizement. To acquire wealth and use it for good is fine.
To acquire wealth for its own sake and to seek ever more wealth -- that is service to a false god. To seek power for the sake of power, to seek fame for the sake of fame, to indulge one's personal appetites at the expense of others -- these are service to false gods. The harm to self and to others of such service is clear. Less clear is the hidden danger to children.
The laws of human behavior are infinitely more complex than the laws of physical sciences, but they are as inescapable as the law of gravity. We understand human behavior only imperfectly, and individual free will is unpredictable, but we do know that flawed parental behavior harms children.
It is becoming widely recognized, for example, that the children of child abusers frequently become child abusers.
Parents are the primary role models for children in the most important early years. When parents fail this role, children suffer. Service to false gods disregards this parental responsibility.
The parent who values money over people, who loves power, who gratifies himself or herself at the expense of others, imbues his or her children with these false values.
They in turn, if they cannot overcome this handicap, pass along these false values to their children, so the damage accrues to the third and perhaps even the fourth generation. That is the hidden danger to the children.
It is not punishment. It is not vengeance. It's the way we are. The mistakes of the parents can harm the children, and our compassionate creator, like a loving parent, has warned us.
XDr. Irwin Cohen is a member of Rodef Sholem Congregation and is a retired professor of chemistry at Youngstown State University.