The Prohibition against Making Sculptures for Decoration
איסור עשיית פסלים לנוי
In addition to the prohibition against making sculptures for the sake of idolatry (above 3:3), the Torah forbade making, even for decoration, sculptures that might lead those who see them to err and imagine that they possess power and influence, and to want to worship them as idols or as intermediaries between man and God. As it is stated (Shemot 20:19-20): “The Lord said to Moshe: Thus shall you say to the Israelites: You yourselves saw that I spoke to you from the very heavens. You shall not make [anything] with Me; gods of silver and gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves” (Rambam, Hilkhot Avoda Zara 3:10).
The prohibition against making sculptures for decoration applies to three types of sculptures that might call to mind higher powers: a) the human form; b) the form of angels; c) the heavenly bodies.
The human form – as the Sages expounded (Avoda Zara 43b): “‘You shall not make with Me (iti)’ – you shall not make Me (oti),” for God reveals Himself to the prophets in an image of the human form, as it is stated (Yeḥezkel 1:26): “And upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness in appearance like a man above it.” And it is stated (Bereishit 1:27): “And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him.”
Angels and heavenly bodies – as the Sages expounded (Avoda Zara 43b): “‘You shall not make with Me’ – you shall not make the likeness of My attendants who serve before Me on high.” In the upper realm: “such as ofanim, serafim, holy ḥayot, and ministering angels,” meaning sculptures that people perceive as these figures. In the lower realm: “such as the sun and moon, stars and constellations.” Likewise, it is forbidden to make a sculpture resembling the faces of the ḥayot that bear the Divine Chariot (Merkava), which are described in Yeḥezkel as an image of God’s governance of the world. As it is stated (Yeḥezkel 1:6-10): “Each of them had four faces, and each of them had four wings… As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man, and the face of a lion… and the face of an ox… and the face of an eagle.” That is, the prohibition is to make a single figure that has four faces: a human face in front, a lion’s face on the right, an ox’s face on the left, and an eagle’s face in back. It is likewise forbidden to make, in place of the face of the ox, the face of a keruv (the face of a child), for the prophet Yeḥezkel requested that in the vision of the Chariot the form of the ox be changed to a keruv, so as not to recall the sin of the Golden Calf (Ḥagiga 13b).
However, it is permitted to make a likeness of any one of these faces on its own. For the prohibition against making sculptures for decoration applies to the three types of sculptures that might call to mind higher powers, and not to sculptures of animals such as lions, sculptures of birds such as an eagle, or sculptures of trees, flowers, and all other things in nature (Avoda Zara 43b; Rashi; SA 141:4; 6; 20).¹
Notes (1)
- In the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishmael (Shemot 20:20): “R. Natan says: ‘You shall not make Me’ – so that you should not say: I will make a kind of likeness for Him and bow down to it.” Sefer Ha-ikkarim 3:18 explains that the concern is that people will think these forms can mediate between man and God; Ibn Ezra, Sforno, and Abarbanel write similarly. Along these lines, Rambam writes (Hilkhot Avoda Zara 3:10) that the reason for the prohibition against making forms for decoration is “so that those who err will not err on account of them and imagine that they are for worship.” Rav Herzog explained that the non-Jews will err and think that Jews too are mistaken in idolatry (Piskei U-khtavim 4:44). Below, in halakha 8, it will be explained that some are stringent not to make sculptures of animals either; however, the halakha is as explained above, that only three types of sculptures are forbidden for decoration. Constellations: According to the Baḥ and Taz 141:13, one should not draw the form of any of the twelve constellations, such as a lion, a lamb, or an ox. The Taz added that those who draw the forms of the constellations in maḥzorim do not act properly. However, the Shakh 141:30 rejected their words, writing that just as regarding the faces of the Chariot the prohibition is only for the four faces together, so too regarding the twelve constellations. End quote. Many have written that the prohibition applies only when they are drawn as they appear in the firmament, that is, as a cluster of stars or dots forming the shape of the constellation, but there is no prohibition at all against drawing or sculpting the symbolic figures after which the star clusters were named (Meiri, Avoda Zara 42b, “din oseh”; Yad Ketana on Rambam, Hilkhot Avoda Zara 2:3, 33; Igrot Moshe, YD 2:55; Divrei Yatziv, YD 38:16).