You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth.
אמר אביי ת"ש שבע מצות נצטוו בני נח ואם איתא תמני הויין א"ל רבא אינהו וכל אבזרייהו
Abaye says: Come and hear an answer to this question from a baraita in which it was taught: Descendants of Noah were commanded to observe seven mitzvot: To establish courts of law, to refrain from cursing God, idol worship, adultery, bloodshed, robbery, and from eating the limb of a living animal.
When the LORD your God brings you to the land that you are about to enter and possess, and He dislodges many nations before you—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations much larger than you—
This he took from them and cast in a mold, and made it into a molten calf. And they exclaimed, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”
They forsook the LORD and worshiped Baal and the Ashtaroth.
וַיַּעֲשׂ֨וּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֤ל אֶת־הָרַע֙ בְּעֵינֵ֣י יְהוָ֔ה וַֽיִּשְׁכְּח֖וּ אֶת־יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיהֶ֑ם וַיַּעַבְד֥וּ אֶת־הַבְּעָלִ֖ים וְאֶת־הָאֲשֵׁרֽוֹת׃
The Israelites did what was offensive to the LORD; they ignored the LORD their God and worshiped the Baalim and the Asheroth.
the Israelites again did what was offensive to the LORD. And because they did what was offensive to the LORD, the LORD let King Eglon of Moab prevail over Israel.
They have built shrines to Baal, to put their children to the fire as burnt offerings to Baal—which I never commanded, never decreed, and which never came to My mind.
You shall not hand over any of your children to be passed through [the worship of] Molech and you shall not defile the Name of your God, I am Adonoy.
Thus Israel attached itself to Baal-peor, and the LORD was incensed with Israel.
מתני׳ שאלו את הזקנים ברומי אם אין רצונו בעבודת כוכבים למה אינו מבטלה אמרו להן אילו לדבר שאין צורך לעולם בו היו עובדין היה מבטלו הרי הן עובדין לחמה וללבנה ולכוכבים ולמזלות יאבד עולמו מפני השוטים
MISHNA: The gentiles asked the Jewish Sages who were in Rome: If it is not God’s will that people should engage in idol worship, why does He not eliminate it? The Sages said to them: Were people worshipping only objects for which the world has no need, He would eliminate it. But they worship the sun and the moon and the stars and the constellations. Should He destroy His world because of the fools?
Mishnah Torah, Laws of Idolatry and its Statutes 1:1
During the times of Enosh, mankind made a great mistake, and the wise men of that generation gave thoughtless counsel. Enosh himself was one of those who erred.
Their mistake was as follows: They said that G‑d created stars and spheres with which to control the world. He placed them on high and treated them with honor, making them servants who minister before Him. Accordingly, it is fitting to praise and glorify them and to treat them with honor. [They perceived] this to be the will of G‑d, Blessed be He, that they magnify and honor those whom He magnified and honored, just as a king desires that the servants who stand before him be honored. Indeed, doing so is an expression of honor to the king.
After conceiving of this notion, they began to construct temples to the stars and offer sacrifices to them. They would praise and glorify them with words, and prostrate themselves before them, because by doing so they would—according to their false conception—be fulfilling the will of G‑d.
This was the essence of the worship of false gods, and this was the rationale of those who worshipped them. They would not say that there is no other god except for this star
So, why is it so addictive?
Moral Corruption, Justification
Relationship to G-d? -Rav Mike Feuer
How can we refrain today?
Pleonexia, self-worship