Friend or Foe? Choosing Connection Over Estrangement
The Torah repeatedly warns against submission to the “el zar.” El zar is usually translated as, “strange god,” but it can also mean, “god of estrangement.” The el zar is the force of disconnection and alienation.
As the great contemporary sage Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe writes:
“What a frightening force is the el zar, which transforms a person into being a stranger to himself, to others, and to his Creator – truly a stranger, without emotion, without understanding, without connection, without love!” [Alei Shor, p. 83]
