Questions tagged [avodah-zarah]
Worship of foreign deities, one of the three cardinal sins.
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Proper definition for an idol/idol worshiping? [closed]
What is the proper definition for an idol/idol worshiping?
I'm asking this because in Christianity, an idol can be any person or thing that consumes your thoughts, words, time, energy, or money other ...
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How could there be avodah zara in the era of revealed miracles? [duplicate]
Before the Babylonian exile, there was an era of publicly revealed open miracles such as the ones that occurred daily in the Temple, as well as widespread prophecy.
How then can we explain the ...
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Is it worse to be a Christian or an atheist?
I've heard that Christianity is at least oftentimes avodah zarah, at least for Jews. Would that mean atheism is better halachically?
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How are we to understand the Torah's focus on Idol Worship in the Diaspora?
There are multiple references in the Torah to the situation of Jewry in Diaspora, regarding the Curses God is to send upon us and otherwise. Those discussions put a lot of focus on our Serving Gods of ...
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Midrash Tanchuma. Shoftim 12: Colour, or host? What's the explanation?
דָּבָר אַחֵר, כִּי הַגּוֹיִם הָאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה יוֹרֵשׁ אוֹתָם אֶל מְעֹנֲנִים וְאֶל קֹסְמִים יִשְׁמָעוּ. אָמַר יִרְמְיָה הַנָּבִיא, כִּדְנָה תֵּימְרוּן לְהוֹם וְגוֹ' (ירמיה י, יא). אָמַר רַבִּי ...
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Why didn't Yisro die upon doing Tshuvah for Avodah Zarah?
This link quotes the Gemara as the source for my question: https://www.sefaria.org/Avodah_Zarah.17a.8?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=he
So how is it that Yisro a World-Class-Idolator went on so long?
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May a Jewish actor playing a role swear "falsely"?
Avraham the Jew from New Jersey puts on a costume, takes off his head covering, walks onto a stage, or movie set ... action! And says "I, John Jacob Schmidt of Oklahoma, do solemnly swear that I ...
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How come the world was doing Avodah Zara, while Noach and Shem were still alive?
Noach and Shem were alive during the time of Avraham, and I know midrashim say he lived in their house for some time learning about Hashem, but how come the whole world was practicing polytheism, when ...
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Is the use of beads as a meditation tool acceptable if they aren't an item of idolatry?
Beads have a history of use in different religions. They also have a general use in human society as a whole detached from religion.
One simple example of the nonreligious version is the Greek ...
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Modern application of avoiding Gentile idolatry
The children of Israel were commanded not to join with the Canaanites nor to learn their ways, lest they be led astray from the pure worship of Hashem into worshipping the idols of the nations. (...
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Confucianism - religion or philosophy?
Scholars debate whether Confucianism is a religion or "merely" a system of ethos.
There are no gods, but Confucius is worshiped as a "spirit".
There are temples, as well.
Are there ...
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Is Deism avoda zara? [closed]
Is Deism avoda zara? It would seem that deists, like Muslims, fall into the category of righteous gentiles, Noahidism. Like Islam, Deism only accepts that there is but one God. Famous American ...
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Is insincere idolatry permitted?
The Talmud reports the following view about Gentiles who live outside Israel:
דאמר רבי חייא בר אבא אמר רבי יוחנן גוים שבחוצה לארץ לאו עובדי עבודה זרה הן אלא מנהג אבותיהן בידיהן
These sages seem to ...
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Why is Rav Soloveitchik saying the names of these false gods? [duplicate]
In this Chanuka droshe, Rav Soloveitchik says "Ap-ollo" and "Jup-iter". Yet we are commanded not to say their names (Shmos 23:13). We even use "Oyse-Ish" to refer to a ...
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Would wearing a yin/yang bracelet be avodah zarah?
Just as the question says, I wonder if wearing a yin-yang bracelet would be assur
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Why did Rachel steal her father's gods? [duplicate]
When the righteous have the opportunity to dispose of gods they do so. For example:
Jacob buried alien gods under the terebinth in Shechem (Gen 35.4).
Moses burned the golden calf, ground up its ...
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Can Gentiles practice idolatry if their lives are in danger?
Can Gentiles do idolatry in case they are compelled by someone or a law of the land? And if so, if he doesn't, would that be seen by God as suicide or a good thing for not surrendering to idolatry? I'...
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Why can I pronounce the name of a false god when reading from a sefer Torah in shul?
In Exodus 23:13 we read the following prohibition against pronouncing the names of false gods:
Concerning all that I have said to you you shall beware, and the name of the gods of others you shall ...
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Did Solomon worship pagan idols?
1 Kings 11:5-7 indicate that Solomon sought after the pagan gods. The Gemara states that these verses don't mean that Solomon himself worshipped idols, but rather that his wives did.
Is there any ...
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What is the היתר to have long bangs and hairdos nowadays?
I remember hearing that there were gentiles from years ago (not sure what time period) that used to leave a lot of hair on the front of their heads and would have the rest of their hair either shaved ...
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Responsa regarding the tooth fairy or alternatives
I'm looking for halachic opinions regarding actively allowing children to believe in the tooth fairy through giving them prizes for putting teeth under their pillow etc.
I would also like to know if ...
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Why are attempts to predict the future as abhorrent as Molech worship?
Devorim 18 (10, 11) lists in possukim 9 & 11 the following activities as תוֹעֲבֹ֖ת (abhorrent practices):
consigns a son or daughter to the fire,
or who is an augur,
a soothsayer,
a diviner,
a ...
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Gentile Participation in Non-Jewish Wedding Ceremony
Concerning wedding ceremonies that may include idolatrous elements in which a gentile might be asked to participate due to family custom, Rabbi Moishe Wiener writes (in "The Divine Code"):
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Chukkot leshem Avodah Zarah
I was reading the Rashi to Dev. 16:22, in which he says that setting up pillars is forbidden "now" since the Canaanites introduced them into their idolatrous worship.
I was looking for the ...
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Difference between the First and Second Commandments
In the Ten Commandments, the First Commandment prohibits having false gods. The Second Commandment prohibits making carved images. Is the problem with carved images that they can be worshiped? If so, ...
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Avoda Zara - Star & Crescent
Are there any sources on restrictions on objects adorned with the Islamic star and crescent like there are the Christian cross? I'm aware that whether Islam is Avoda Zara is debated, but I'm not ...
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Bobblehead - Avoda Zara issue?
Would there be any issue (like Avoda Zara perhaps) with gifting someone a bobblehead of a family member?
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Two commentaries on the ir ha-nidachat
The Chabad translation of Mishneh Torah includes an editor's note to Hilchot Avodat Kochavim 4 saying:
There is a unique dimension to the laws of an עיר הנדחת that is not
found in regard to any of ...
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Is listening to music composed for avodah zara assur in all contexts?
I read that R' Yisrael Moshe Hazan, the former chief Rabbi of Rome allowed for church tunes to be incorporated into nigunim for his community, and as a result many of the niggunim used ...
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Hospital named after Idol
Is it allowed to go to a hospital named after an idol with an idol on display in the lobby?
By giving them money, you support them to continue, and they are doing so called "good works" in ...
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Halachic status of Hindu greetings
I'm not intimately familiar with Hinduism as a religion, but I have a passing awareness of it as potentially an avodah zarah due to its paganism and polytheistic tendencies.
My question is as follows. ...
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Is it Mutar to Listen to Music Recorded in a Church?
I read somewhere that listening to music recorded in a church is asur, because it essentially brings the church into one's home. This is common practice for classical music. Has anyone heard of or not ...
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How did Joseph become vizier under Pharaoh, an idol, without violating the prohibition against encouraging others to idol worship? Same Q for Esther
I'm definitely not suggesting either Joseph or Esther broke this prohibition (at all, or at worst unless it was necessary to save life or other exceptions granted by the Torah). I have little ...
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Is trinitarian Christianity really Shituf? [duplicate]
Recently I have gotten involved in anti-missionary work after I came across a couple Jews tragically entrenched in Christianity. I was forced to study about Christian theology to help them return to ...
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"These and those are idolaters" – what is the problem exactly?
According to the Midrash (Shemot Rabbah 21:7, Zohar 2:170b), an angel was accusing Israel and claiming why Hashem should save them and drown the Egyptians: "Just like Egyptians, the Hebrews are ...
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Who reinvented idolatry after Noah? How did it re-emerge? [duplicate]
@Deuteronomy’s comment on this question made me wonder what caused the reemergence of idolatry after the flood.
From Enosh to Noah, there were generations of idolaters. Noah believed in God, and ...
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Is doing a Haka dance potentially an issue of Avodah Zarah?
The Maori tribes have an interesting custom of performing a Hakah dance, (which you can find on YouTube) would doing one violate laws against Avodah Zarah?
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Belief-with worship only towards HaShem - in the real existence of intermediaries between the Almighty and the Gentile Nations
I am an Italian Noahide.
There are several discussions in this forum about shituf, understood as associating other entities with HaShem.
Unless I am mistaken, it is generally held that on the halachic ...
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Is Marvel considered idolatry?
Just wondering if watching a Marvel movie or TV show [besides for the prohibitions on watching secular TV and movies in general] is considered idolatry or not, being that it deals with many pagan &...
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Is celebrating the secular new year forbidden or problematic since it is based around a calendar relating to Jesus' birth?
The secular calendar in most countries is based around the BC/AD system. This calendar is derived from the Julian and Gregorian calendar traditions which mark the birth of Jesus as a focal point for ...
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Question about the religious life of beni Israel in Egypt before the Exodus?
How was the religious life of beni Israel in Egypt before the Exodus?
It is well known that the ancient Egyptian viewed their kings as gods, because the divine power of kingship was incarnated in them,...
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Pronunciation of YHVH in the Pesel Micha story
The Minchas Shai on Shoftim 17:3 quotes the Gemara (Shevuos 35a) and Maseches Sofrim (4:6) regarding if the names יהוה and אלהים in the story of Micha's idol are holy or not. The Tanna Kama says that ...
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When did עבודה זרה start?
Rashi says on the posuk (בראשית,ד,כ) of:
וַתֵּ֥לֶד עָדָ֖ה אֶת־יָבָ֑ל ה֣וּא הָיָ֔ה אֲבִ֕י יֹשֵׁ֥ב אֹ֖הֶל
וּמִקְנֶֽה
וּמִדְרַשׁ אַגָּדָה בּוֹנֶה בָתִּים לַעֲ"זָ, כְּמָה דְּאַתְּ אָמַר
סֵמֶל ...
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Selling Christmas ornaments?
Long ago I met a Jewish couple whose business was selling secular Christmas ornaments and paraphernalia. Is there universal agreement on whether this is halachically allowed?
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In Golden Calf tragedy, who was hit with Heavenly plague?
Th the aftermath of the Golden Calf there were two rounds of executions: the massacre of 3000 fellow Jews and the Heavenly plague:
"וַיַּעֲשׂוּ בְנֵי־לֵוִי כִּדְבַר מֹשֶׁה וַיִּפֹּל מִן־הָעָם ...
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How were the 3000 victims of the Golden Calf Massacre different from the rest?
In the Golden Calf massacre roughly 3000 people were killed:
"וַיַּעֲשׂוּ בְנֵי־לֵוִי כִּדְבַר מֹשֶׁה וַיִּפֹּל מִן־הָעָם בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא כִּשְׁלֹשֶׁת אַלְפֵי אִישׁ׃"
"The Levites did ...
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Marketing as Christian products [closed]
I am selling posters with pasukim on them on Amazon. Many people are searching for "Christian Posters" if I put this keyword in the title of my listing, it helps with ranking for those ...
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How many Jews sinned with the Moabite girls and Ba'al Peor?
The Passuk (Bamidbar 25:9) tells us that 24,000 Jews died in the plague following the sin of the Moabite girls and Ba'al Pe'or.
Is that the total sum of Jews that sinned or were there more? I had ...
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Viewing idols in an art museum
If one goes to an art or history museum that has a room that showcases the idols of ancient people, may one view them?
I heard quoted from Rabbi Moshe Stav (a rebbe in Eretz Yisrael) that you can go ...
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Rav ha Meiri's interpretation of the term "notzrim" in Talmud Bavli-Avodah Zarah 6a and 7b
According to the legal determination established in Talmud Bavli -Avodah Zarah 6a and 7b, the halachic status of christians (“notzrim”) appears to be that of idolaters:
Avodah Zara 6a
Avodah Zarah 7b
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