Not quite random Talmud question

[nancylebov]

Are Jews permitted to sell idols? What about making idols? Is there a difference between making/selling idols for non-Jews as distinct from Jews who are likely to worship the idols?

Comments

[twistedchick]

There is also the question: what is an idol, for the purposes of this? For example, historically one of the arguments of Protestants against Catholics was against the statues in churches -- but there have been some who treated crosses with more idolatry than anyone ever treated a statue of Mary. (and yes, I am being rude in pointing this out.)

[nancylebov]

A Talmudic answer, from the comments at livejournal.

The definition of a idol is pretty expansive.

[thnidu]

Oy vey.

First a fence around the Torah.
Then a ditch in front of the fence.
Then a wall in front of the ditch.
Then a minefield in front of the wall....

And you spend all your time trying to figure out how to walk from home to the corner and back/

[nancylebov]

The hilarious thing is that if you look at Adam, Eve, and the serpent in Genesis, you find that G-d not to eat the fruit, but Eve said G-d said not to eat the fruit or touch it.

There is no indication of whether Adam got it wrong when talking to Eve, or Eve amplified the command on her own.

I've seen a legend that the serpent pushed Eve against the tree and said, "See? Nothing bad happened when you touched the fruit."

This could be interpreted as advice to not add to G-d's rules, or advice to check your sources, or advice to tell all the people who need to know something.

[thnidu]

Or, of course, that this is yet another example of the story getting mangled in the multi-millennial game of Telephone.

[twistedchick]

Sort of expansive, but limited.

It seems to require someone to acknowledge that something else represents a different god. And it eliminates a lot of information on cultural history, theology, comparative religions and a lot more that is covered in general higher education in a lot of places. It also ignores the possibility of finding the presence of deity through the beauty of creation and created objects without those things being directly worshipped -- panentheism, as shown in St. Francis's Canticle of the Sun, which praised the sun, moon, and other things because they reminded Frances of God.