New answers tagged avodah-zarah
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Some thoughts:
First, if there is a "shituf" exception for gentiles (making Xianity essentially permissible to them), then it's unclear why Islam should dominate.
Second, the United States has only been dominant for 100 years or less. During that period of time, rabbis have often referred to the U.S. as a medinat shel chessed, a state of lovingkindness, ...
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I recently went to a shiur on this topic after posting this question. The Rabbi said that there is much debate on what the Rambam actually held with regards to this i.e. whether he was writing as a response to the Jews of Fez and their 'coerced conversion' at the hands of the Almohads. The Rambam was writing in response to an unnamed chacham who was ...
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Since you are not actually performing avoda zarah, as it is only simulated in a role playing game, you are not breaking any commandments (unless your gameplay extends into shabbas).
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Maimonides makes it clear in Laws of Repentance, chapter 3 that a Jew who denies the irrevocable validity of the Torah as Judaism understands it is deemed a sinner but still a Jew. Hence, a Jew who converts to Islam would be in this category.
There are opinions that upon returning to the fold of mainstream Judaism it would be best for the individual to ...
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I don't think that counts as avodat elilim. Now, I guess one could say that doing such an act would be considered hana'ah because you derive benefit (in the video game) from performing such an act. However, role playing on a computer or even a board game never pops up in any literature that I have read that claims that the player is committing avodat elilim. ...
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The simplest explanation for what this rabbi was saying is that he assumes that shittuf is prohibited; therefore when Tosafos says that בני נח לא הוזהרו על השיתוף what that means is that in the context of a שבועה there is no prohibition for the ב"נ to mention another being, but there is still a prohibition to worship another being. However, according to ...
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It is not permitted to daven in front of any picture or mirror, much less a picture of Avodah Zarah.
Article on this.
A quote from this article:
Bowing to any picture can raise the specter of avoda zara. Many poskim forbid images of animals in a shul (see above) particularly on the wall toward which people bow. It is also forbidden to daven facing a ...
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The Rambam in his אגרת השמד says outward acceptance of Islam is not ייהרג ואל יעבור. On the other hand, the Radvaz quotes the Ritva as saying that this is ייהרג ואל יעבור. According to the Rambam, outward acceptance of Islam is not ייהרג ואל יעבור because Islam is not עבודה זרה, and even though it is heretical because it denies the Torah, one does not have ...
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While I have seen online claims that it refers to Christianity (such as here) the connection to it as a posuk from Daniel and a similar connection to tehillim, and even the linguistic statement that "bar" means "outside of" or "except for" (as spoken of here) are as compelling, as is the historical fact that the idea of a leader (religious or secular) being ...
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The Ramban on Leviticus 20:5 addresses the question. He says you have to answer differently based on the machloket in the gemara on what Molech was. But by simple understanding that it was an idol, the prohibition comes to teach us that you can't serve another idol (not Molech) by passing your child through fire. Even though that was not the way that ...
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