Rachel had taken the idols… (31:34)

Many of the mefarshim ask why Rachel took the idols of Lavan with her when leaving his home. Why didn’t she just destroy them (as the Torah commands us to do)? To answer this question, I would like to bring to your attention an interesting gemora in Megilla. The gemora tells us that all mockery is forbidden except for the mockery of idol worship. While it might be logical to assume that a Jew may scoff at any sin – any violation of a Torah commandment – in fact it is only permissible to deride idol worship. What is unique about idol worship?

Once I heard a wise man in Jerusalem say, “You look like you are fighting with a fly.” If one were to observe someone fighting with a fly, it would be quite obvious that the fly makes a “laughingstock” of the human. The one who is trying to swat it experiences great frustration because though the fly is extremely minute – almost undiscernible –it causes the person to make the most exaggerated silly motions. An onlooker watching the “show” would assume that the fly got the better of the man.

However, a person with self-control will not react to the fly to prevent embarrassing himself, even though the fly is still annoying him.

How does one really overcome the fly? By not paying attention to it at all and thinking about other things.

The mishneh in Pirkei Avos (3:13) tells us, “A fence for wisdom is silence.” The meforshim ask, “What is real wisdom if this is only the fence around it?” The answer that is given is, “A truly wise person has no need to talk!” So too, the person who overcomes the fly is the one who is not affected by it – even internally.

All things in the world have inherent value. The problem is that they are sometimes used in the wrong way, and/or put on a pedestal to a level that is not correct for their real value. Therefore, to deride them would actually be scoffing at a creation of G-d! The only exception to this that I can think of is idol worship, for its whole existence is just a fabrication. Therefore, it is permissible and even in place to mock idol worship.

If one were to see a cockroach on the floor, one’s natural instinct might be to want to kill it right away. However, some people will first close their eyes, plug their ears, and make sure to have shoes on (or some heavy object in their hand), all in order to not properly experience the crunch. For indeed, as repulsive as this creation may look, these people understand that they are killing a creation of G-d. If Rochel Imeinu would have immediately destroyed the idols, it would have been possibly understood that she was getting rid of something repulsive, and instinctively she smashed it. But by keeping it around and abusing it in a derogatory and thought out fashion, she emphasized that it is truly nothing – just a heap of junk.

While this is a good practice for someone who has total conviction like Rachel Imeinu, the average person however, could become attached to anything, even the junk that he keeps around. Therefore, if we see anything that is an idol (or anything which Hashem despises), we are obligated to destroy it immediately.