Torah Portion: Kedoshim

“אלהי מסכה לא תעשו לכם” (ויקרא יט ד)

It is a negative commandment to not make an idol for one who worships it, whether the person is making it for himself or for someone else. Even if it was a gentile who requested of him to make an idol for him, it is forbidden. It is thus written: Molten gods shall you not make for yourselves (Vayikra 19:4). [Though the verse says, for yourselves,] our Sages taught that it is forbidden even if it is for others.

The root idea of shunning idols is well-known.

This mitzvah applies in all places and at all times, to both men and women. One who transgresses this prohibition receives lashes even if in the end it is never worshipped. For the act of producing it—for the sake of someone worshipping it—is in itself forbidden.