Jews and pictures/statues

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Montie_Claunch

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This may sound stupid but, I am curious all the same. In the Ten commandment, how do Jews veiws the graven image part? And do ortadox good Jews have and/or make pictures/statues? Thanks and God bless.
 
Montie_Claunch said:
This may sound stupid but, I am curious all the same. In the Ten commandment, how do Jews veiws the graven image part? And do ortadox good Jews have and/or make pictures/statues? Thanks and God bless.
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Good question, Montie! 👍

anyone care to explain? a priest maybe? I hope there are some priests hang around here…😃
 
Montie_Claunch said:
This may sound stupid but, I am curious all the same. In the Ten commandment, how do Jews veiws the graven image part? And do ortadox good Jews have and/or make pictures/statues? Thanks and God bless.
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We do not have any graven images or pictues of God in our places of worship or anywhere else. One of the reasons many orthodox jews will not attend cermonies in a church is because of the existence of such images. They can, however, attend a service at a mosque, as they don’t have this. Not that you’ll see too much of that happening.
 
Valke2 said:
We do not have any graven images or pictues of God in our places of worship or anywhere else. One of the reasons many orthodox jews will not attend cermonies in a church is because of the existence of such images. They can, however, attend a service at a mosque, as they don’t have this. Not that you’ll see too much of that happening.
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So Mosque is better than Church? especially Catholic Church? :confused:
 
strawberry said:
So Mosque is better than Church? especially Catholic Church? :confused:
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A mosque does not have graven images. I don’t know if it is a question of better. If I recall, the Jews believe that Christians worshipping they way the do is not idolatry for Christians, but if a jew were to do it, it would be idolatry
 
Valke2 said:
A mosque does not have graven images. I don’t know if it is a question of better. If I recall, the Jews believe that Christians worshipping they way the do is not idolatry for Christians, but if a jew were to do it, it would be idolatry
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so how do you account for the cherubim and other carved beings on the Ark and in the Temple … and the bronze serpent made by Moses?
 
Hi all!
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Valke2:
We do not have any graven images or pictues of God in our places of worship or anywhere else. One of the reasons many orthodox jews will not attend cermonies in a church is because of the existence of such images. They can, however, attend a service at a mosque, as they don’t have this. Not that you’ll see too much of that happening.
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Quite correct.

The use of graven images, or of images of any kind as part of our worship, is absolutely forbidden.
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LilyM:
so how do you account for the cherubim and other carved beings on the Ark and in the Temple … and the bronze serpent made by Moses?
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We (orthodox Jews) see no contradiction in the Torah’s many warnings against making idols & images of/to worship and the command to make the Cherubim, the brass serpent, etc.

We constructed a brass snake because God told us to in that specific instance. We put cherubim on top of the Ark of the Covenant because He told us to in that specific instance. We do not worship/adore graven images (neither did we worship the Cherubim or the brass serpent) because He tells us not to. Some images are OK, because God says they are. Other images are bad because God says they are. We obey God’s commands in any case.

King Hezekiah smashed the brass serpent because we had begun to use it for a forbidden purpose, see II Kings 18:4. Our Sages praise King Hezekiah for smashing Moses’ brass serpent. Our great medieval Sage, Rabbi David Kimche (us-israel.org/jsource/biography/Kimchi.html) writes:
Because they [the people] saw that it was written “when he looks upon it, he shall live”, they thought that it would be good to worship it as an intermediary. Since the days of Moses, it had served as a memorial of the miracle, like the jar of manna (see Exodus 16:33)…Hezekiah thought to destroy it when he destroyed the instruments of idol worship because in his father’s time, they [the people] worshipped it. Even though it was good to use it to remember the miracle, he said 'It would be better to destroy it and forget the miracle than leave it and have the children of Israel go astray after it today or tomorrow."
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Howzat?

Be well!

ssv 👋
 
:confused: Stillsmallvoice,I’m curious as to why God said to make a brass snake, because the devil,in the form of a snake,a serpent,
tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden and told her it was all right to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

Would this not be a contradition? Why not the form of a lamb?Did not the ancient Hebrews sacrific lambs and calves to the Lord at times? I believe’s Abel’s sacrific was a lamb,and Cain was upset because the Lord found Abel’s offering most pleasing and Cain’s lacking.
 
Hi HollyDolly!
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HollyDolly:
Stillsmallvoice,I’m curious as to why God said to make a brass snake, because the devil,in the form of a snake,a serpent, tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden and told her it was all right to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Would this not be a contradition?
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Well, He told us to make a serpent & we obeyed since it does not behoove such as us to question such as Him.

When a Jew has Torah, he need not fear serpents, Torah being an antivenin to the temptations of this particular reptile!

About Cain & Abel & why God rejected the former’s offering, see forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=577081&highlight=Abel#post577081.

Be well!

ssv 👋
 
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