Torah Portion: Yisro
Do not make any carved statue or picture (Shemos 20:4).
It is a negative commandment that we not make any idol that will be worshipped. This prohibition applies even if the person who made it did not worship it himself; it is the manufacturing itself that is forbidden, in order to distance the “stumbling block” [from our midst]. [The Torah thus] says: Do not make any carved statue or picture (Shemos 20:4).
The root of this commandment is well-known: it is to distance idol-worship [from us].
This commandment applies in all places and at all times, to both men and woman. One who transgresses this and willfully manufactured an idol for worship, receives lashes.
