What is the exact definition of Shituf (vis a vis 'Avodah Zarah)?

Question

"Shituf" is the heretical idea of some sort of co-mingling of something with G-d (Has VeShalom). According to many rabbinic opinions, Christianity is Shituf (cf., Is Christianity Avodah Zara?), and there are differences of opinion as to whether or not this is permitted for non-Jews.

Is Shituf:

1. a belief that something else has the powers of G-d along with G-d;
2. a belief that something else is worthy of worship along with G-d, although G-d is the Almighty;
3. a belief that something else IS (Has VeShalom) G-d, but G-d is G-d as we believe;
4. something else other than I've mentioned above; or
5. some combination of the above?

Answer 1

Literally, Shituf, שתף, means sharing, and one who shares ownership is called a Shotef, שותף , partner.

The rules defining Shituf-Hashem could be the same ones that define a business-Shotef.

Sanhedrin 63b, Tosfot's comment on the type Shituf that a Jew is allowed to let a non-Jew make, is a comment directly on the prohibition of forming a business-partnership (shotef) with a non-Jew. Here, the term "Shituf" is used interchangeably for the business-parntership (שותף) and the oath a non-Jew makes to a partner of Hashem (משותף):

Sanhedrin 63b,

"One must not form a Shotef [business partnership] [with a non-Jew]"

... "Even though they associate (shituf) God's name with "something else", we do not find that it is forbidden to cause others to associate (shituf)" wikipedia's translation

So, if we want to know what amount of co-mingling is considered "Shituf" or "sharing" when we apply it to Hashem, then I think we can accurately define Shituf by looking how the Talmud identifies what percentage of sharing-ownership (Shotef) of a first-born-calf with a non-Jew is enough of a percentage to render the first-born-calf unnecessary to be redeem.

Bechoros 2b and Sanhedrin 63b use the same quote from "The Father of Samuel". So Bechoros 2b is definitely discussing the same exact business-partnership and oaths as Sanhedrin 63b

bechoros 2b:

"The Father of Samuel" said: One must not form a partnership (שותף) with a non-Jew lest he will be bound to take an oath to him and he will swear in the name of his idol. ...

But the Sages say, so long as a gentile has a share in it (lit. has a hand in the middle - any amount), it is exempt from the law of first-born.

Based on this, I think Shituf would include all of your examples and more.

It is any concept where Hashem shares any percent of his power with another entity/partner. Whether Hashem is 99.99% God and another entity shares .01%, or if Hashem has .01% and the other entity is 99.99% God, or anything between there (has a hand in the middle). (ie. anything that violates "Hashem is one")

Avodah Zarah, on the other hand takes the next step of either making a physical representation to worship and emparting powers on something physical (eg. image, stone, wood, nature, bones), or saying Hashem isn't God at all, something else is (spiritually or physically). (ie. anything that violates "Hashem is God")

(or any of these practices of people who worship Avodah Zarah)

EDIT: Anything above on Sanhedrin 63b.

Answer 2

Shituf is noted in the gemara in Sukah 45b and Sanhedrin 63a

כל המשתף שם שמים ודבר אחר נעקר מן העולם שנאמר בלתי לה' לבדו

In Sukah, it is referring to people addressing both God and the alter together. In Sanhedrin it refers to whether the Jews (in the case of the Golden Calf) believed that both the calf and God brought them up out of Egypt (due to a plural usage). Tosfos on Sanhedrin notes that there are other places where God and something that is not God are written together, but it is only problematic when the context is divinity.

So the Sukkah case would be #2 in your question and the Sanhedrin case would be #1 and #2 probably. So it would seem some mixture of 1 and 2 would align with the two cases of shituf I cited.

Answer 3

Views of Shituf is a machlochet (dissagreement) of the rishonim. I'm not sure what all the views are. However, I do know what the most extreme view on one side is the Rambam who basically argues that anything you say about G-d that is a possitive statement is shituf (known as negetive theology). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophatic_theology

In the Hakira journal the topic was tangentially touched upon with a debate regarding if Rashi held that Gd had a body. See R' Natan Slifkin's essay in Hakira here and a response by Levi Notik here.

Answer 4

The word shituf comes from the same root as the word shutaf, meaning partner and it denotes the mistaken practice of

• believing in,
• worshiping,
• OR otherwise affirming the existence of

another entity (or entities) who act in partnership with or are worthy of being worshiped in addition to God.

To better illustrate what this means, I direct you to the Rambam, in Hichot Avodat Kochavim (1:1), where he outlines the way in which mankind descended from worshiping and knowing one God (Hashem) in the times of Adam to worshiping idols in the generations that followed:

1. First people worshiped God.
2. Next they perceived that God would want them to raise up other entities and then they began to worship them as an expression of worshiping God.
3. They then began worshiping these entities in addition to God.
4. Finally, they worshiped these entities instead of God.

This middle ground and any other type of worship which derives from it is shituf.

When any of these practices are carried out by a Jew it is considered to be a type of Avodah Zarah (idol worship).

For a gentile, however, there is a debate, based on Tosfot in Sanhedrin 63b (DH: Asur L'Adam) who is lenient regarding shituf for gentiles, as to whether the leniency applies only to believing in/taking actions to affirm the existence of other entities or if it applies to actually worshiping them as well (see Noda B'Yehuda, YD 148).

As such, if one considered Christianity to be shituf, it would be forbidden for a Jew to practice that religion, but it would be permissible for a gentile to believe in the trinity and perhaps even to worship Jesus or the 'holy spirit'.

Wikipedia does a fairly good job outlining the concept: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shituf although does focus primarily on the aspects relating to Christianity.

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