New Things The Ancestors Did Not Know

 I could be totally wrong but I believe it was Shlomo HaMelech in Mishlei who declared that "there is nothing new under the sun."  And yet, the Torah in Devarim 32:17 is quite clear that one reason for Israel's future downfall will be that they "sacrificed to . . . new things that only recently came, that your forefathers did not know."

This is a half-verse absolutely packed with meaning. First of all, why would the Torah emphasize this phrase about "new things that only recently came."  If it was new, then there would be no reason to state also that these things "only recently came."  Surely, the utter and apparent newness is being emphasized here, for some reason.

There is also the meaning of "that your forefathers did not know" which deserves meditation.  Surely, there are things that they had, and we do not, and many things we have, which they did not, but what is the relationship of those things to what the ancestors knew or did not know?

And by combining these things - utter newness with the knowledge, or lack thereof, of the forefathers - what is this coming to teach us?

First of all, and I will absolutely need to meditate on this apparent but false "contradiction" at some point, but if H' really is creating and re-creating the entire world at every instant - and infusing G-d's entire Being into all of existence (hence the reason why the "watchword of our faith" as my Rabbi used to say - the shema - emphasizes the utter oneness of creation - which is absolutely, subjectively, and objectively true) - then surely there is a possibility for the creation of new things as well.  Otherwise, it would not be called "creation" - it would be called "maintenance" or "doing" or something lesser than the creation of something from nothing.  So I do think we need to admit - as the Torah, of course, emphatically emphasizes - that there are indeed "new" things - without strings attached (i.e., new "iterations" or "interpretations" or "permutations").  No - things that are truly new.  (And, relationally, things which are very much not new as well - and which are no longer in existence - this is true as well.)

And regarding the ancestors, this seems to signify something much deeper than "they knew best" or "if they didn't have it, we don't need it either" - a simple and destructive mentality.  Rather, if we viewed it as "these ancestors were extremely close to the source of creation, and what they had is clearly a sign of this closeness, and we should seek to emulate that, ridding ourselves of anything that takes us further away from this closeness" - that changes the approach.

So, here, of course, we reach somewhat of a devastating conclusion: newness is, in fact, a negative - if it's new, and they didn't have it, than at most it should be a tool of survival or life-improvement or doing mitzvot but certainly not "worshiped."  And I think it goes without saying that "worship" doesn't mean bowing down and kissing idols anymore - worship is technology addiction, and drug addiction, and so many other things which are most definitely new but are utterly divisive in their ability to tear us away from H'.  

This is not a rejection of modern advances - my goodness, far from it.  It is, rather, a recognition that most of the things we have which are worshiped take us farther from G-d, not closer.  And at the very least, we must be extremely careful to delineate this critical point - so long as we recognize that G-d is the source of the newness and worship G-d, not the thing, then we are safe.  But, honestly, how often is G-d brought into the picture?  Almost never - in fact, it's pretty much outlawed (a discussion for another time).  But we should always be careful to put G-d in the center of it all and everything else - good or bad, at the periphery.

The apex of creation may have been the forefathers and what they had.  There is certainly no question that they worshiped anything other than the One Source.  And perhaps this is what resolves the contradiction in its entirety - what we may think of as "new things that they did not have" is really an illusion - of course there is nothing new, in that G-d always has, is, and will be everything - and that any illusion of anything separate fro G-d which should be worshiped will, actually, destroy us.