Other Gods

לֹֽ֣א יִהְיֶֽה־לְךָ֛֩ אֱלֹהִ֥֨ים אֲחֵרִ֖֜ים עַל־פָּנָֽ֗יַ

You shall have no other gods besides Me.

לֹֽא־תִשְׁתַּחְוֶ֥֣ה לָהֶ֖ם֮ וְלֹ֣א תָעָבְדֵ֑ם֒ כִּ֣י אָֽנֹכִ֞י יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ אֵ֣ל קַנָּ֔א פֹּ֠קֵד עֲוֺ֨ן אָבֹ֧ת עַל־בָּנִ֛ים עַל־שִׁלֵּשִׁ֥ים וְעַל־רִבֵּעִ֖ים לְשֹׂנְאָֽ֑י׃

Exodus 20:5

You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I the LORD your God am an impassioned God, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject Me,

In Exodus 20:3 it says "You shall have no other gods besides me" and in Exodus 20:5 it says "You shall not bow down to them or serve them". This seems to acknowledge that there are gods other than Hashem, even though Judaism overall doesn't believe that other gods even exist. Does Hashem believe that there are other gods? Are there other gods but we are not supposed to serve them?

ספורנו על שמות כ׳:ה׳:א׳

לא תשתחוה להם לנמצאים עצמם אשר בשמים או בארץ:

Sforno on Exodus 20:5:1

לא תשתחוה להם, to any phenomena in the universe not man-made.

Sforno, commenting on "you shall not bow down to them," says that you shouldn't bow to any phenomena that isn't man made. One of the other commandments says you shouldn't serve idols. This means that you can't pray to a physically man made god, and you also can't pray to a non man made "phenomena." Does this mean you can pray to other gods if they were man made? Would a god automatically be a phenomena? Does flora and fauna count as phenomena, could you pray to them? What about non living, but non man made things? Would something like a rock be considered an idol? Do idols have to be man made?

רש"י על שמות כ׳:ג׳:ב׳

אלהים אחרים. שֶׁאֵינָן אֱלוֹהוּת אֶלָּא אֲחֵרִים עֲשָׂאוּם אֱלֹהִים עֲלֵיהֶם, וְלֹא יִתָּכֵן לְפָרֵשׁ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים זוּלָתִי, שֶׁגְּנַאי כְּלַפֵּי מַעְלָה לִקְרֹאותָם אֱלוֹהוּת אֶצְלוֹ. דָּ"אַ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים, שֶׁהֵם אֲחֵרִים לְעוֹבְדֵיהֶם – צוֹעֲקִים אֲלֵיהֶם וְאֵינָן עוֹנִין אוֹתָם, וְדוֹמֶה כְּאִלּוּ הוּא אַחֵר שֶׁאֵינוֹ מַכִּירוֹ מֵעוֹלָם:

Rashi on Exodus 20:3:2

אלהים אחרים OTHER GODS — which are not gods, but others have made them gods over themselves. It would not be correct to explain this to mean “gods other than Me”, for it would be blasphemy of the Most High God to term them gods together with Him (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:3:1). Another explanation of אלהים אחרים : they are so called because they are other (i. e. strange) to those who worship them; these cry to them but they do not answer them, and it is just as though it (the god) is another (a stranger) to him (to the worshipper), one who has never known him at all (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:3:1).

In this commentary, Rashi gives two explanations of "other gods." One is that "other gods" are not true gods but they were made to be gods by the people worshiping them. The other is a god who is like a stranger to their worshipers and doesn't answer them. Are all gods made by their worshipers? Does this mean they are false? Does Hashem answer our cries? If so is it always obvious, like the splitting of the red sea or the miracle of chanukkah, or is it more subtle like the miracles of Purim, or our day to day lives. If some miracles are subtle, should we not immediately discredit other gods?

אור החיים על שמות כ׳:ג׳:ה׳

עוד ירצה כי בעשותו אל זולתו יתברך מהנמנע שיהיה לו אחד והגם שהוא לא ירצה לעבוד אלא לאחד. יתחייב לעשות רבים כי אין אחד, והוא אומרו לא יהיה לשון יחיד וגמר אומר אלהים אחרים. או ירצה לומר כי כשיתחיל לעבוד אחד לסוף יעבוד רבים. וצא ולמד מדברי נביאי ישראל (סנהדרין ק''ב:) ריבוי האלוהות שהיו ישראל עובדים בארץ בעונות.

Or HaChaim on Exodus 20:3:5

As soon as a Jew makes an additional deity for himself he automatically cannot relate to G'd as the only G'd anymore. This is so even if he has no intention of serving the deity he has made. The Torah speaks of לא יהיה in the singular while concluding the sentence in the plural, i.e. אלהים אחרים, other deities (pl). The meaning is: "there will no longer be a single deity as soon as you have additional deities." Another meaning of this combination of singular and plural is simply that once a person adopts an additional deity this is bound to lead to a variety of other deities he is apt to worship. Sanhedrin 102 illustrates that the Israelites used to worship a large variety of deities proving the point we have just made.

In this commentary, Or HaChaim says that as soon as a Jew makes a god, Hashem won't be their god. He also says that if you start worshiping another god, you are bound to start worshiping more and more gods. But is it a bad thing to at least believe in other people's gods? Does that have the same effect that Or HaChaim said that serving other gods would? Even if you don't serve them, wouldn't that help you have empathy towards others. Does only believing in the god you serve cause conflict? Can you still be a monotheist if you believe in, but not serve, multiple gods.

In the end, though it is at the core of Judaism to serve one god, it seems as though Hashem acknowledges the existence of other gods. A lot of people view believing in a god as worshiping it, but that doesn't always have to be true. Not acknowledging that the deity that someone prays is legitimate is delegitimizing their beliefs and therefore it delegitimizes them as a believer. Having a monotheism were you serve one god, instead of only believing in one god could be the key to interreligious peace.