613 Mitzvot
Negative Mitzvah 3
Not to make idols for others
613 Mitzvot
Negative Mitzvah 3
Not to make idols for others
Vayikra (Leviticus) 19:4
Al-tifnu, el-ha'elilim, ve'elohey masechah, lo ta'asu lachem: ani YHVH Eloheychem.
Don't turn to idols, nor make molten gods for yourselves. I am YHVH your Elohim.
This mitzvah is related to
negative mitzvah 2. The Sifrei interprets the Hebrew "for yourselves" as "even for others," because it is plural. The plural implies towards or for the benefit of other people. (Sifre Vayikra 19:4) We are forbidden to make idols, even when that idol will be used by another person, even if it will be used by a non-believer.Shemot (Exodus) 32:1-4
When the people saw that Moshe delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aharon, and said to him, "Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moshe, the man who brought us up out of the land of Mitzrayim [Egypt], we don't know what has become of him. Aharon said to them, "Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me. All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aharon. He received what they handed him, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said, "These are your elohim, Yisra'el, which brought you up out of the land of Mitzrayim.
Aharon disregarded this mitzvah when he designed a molten calf for Yisra'el, and even to claim that THEY had brought them out of Mitzrayim.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 27:15
Cursed be the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to YHVH, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret. All the people shall answer and say, Amein.