פּירוש אויף דברים 4:28

ועבדתם שם אלהים AND THERE YE SHALL SERVE GODS — Understand this as the Targum does: And there ye shall serve peoples who serve idols, for since you serve those who serve them (idols) it will be as though you serve them.

ועבדתם שם וגו, “and there you will worship, etc.” We find a similar construction in Chronicles II 15,3: וימים רבים לישראל ללא אלוהי אמת, וללא כהן מורה, וללא מורה וללא תורה.”^^!has gone many years without the true G-d, without a priest to give them instruction, and without teaching and without the Torah.”

AND THERE YE SHALL SERVE GODS. “When you serve their worshippers it is as though you serve them [the idols].” This is the language of Rashi. Now I have already explained the secret thereof that he who dwells outside of the Land is as if he worshipped the idols,⁹⁵Kethuboth 110 b. and the expression, [and there ye shall serve gods] the work of men’s hands indicates that the service begins with those on high and descends to the idols below,⁹⁶I.e., there they will be not only under the sway of the heavenly powers assigned by G-d to guide the destinies of the various nations from on high, but they will deteriorate until they worship idols, the work of men’s hands, below. as I have mentioned in the section Acharei Moth.⁹⁷Leviticus 18:25.