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Negative commandment · Lo Ta’aseh #2 of 613

To not make a statue

שלא לעשות פסל, לא יעשה בידו ולא יעשו לו אחרים

Parashat Yitro יתרו · Sefer HaChinuch #27

The verse · Shemot 20:4

לֹא־תַעֲשֶׂה־לְךָ פֶסֶל וְכׇל־תְּמוּנָה אֲשֶׁר בַּשָּׁמַיִם מִמַּעַל וַאֲשֶׁר בָּאָרֶץ מִתַָּחַת וַאֲשֶׁר בַּמַּיִם מִתַּחַת לָאָרֶץ

“Thou shalt not make for thyself any carved idol, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:”

Read Shemot 20:4 in context on Sefaria

The Rambam’s words

Not to make an idol - not to make one oneself or have one made for oneself by others - as [Exodus 20:4] states: "Do not make an idol for yourselves."

שלא לעשות פסל, לא יעשה בידו ולא יעשו לו אחרים, שנאמר "לא תעשה לך פסל" (שמות כ,ג; דברים ה,ז).

Why · Sefer HaChinuch #27

To not make a statue

“The root of this commandment is known, that it is to distance the idols (idolatry).”

Who & when

“And [it] is practiced in every place and at all times by males and females.”

Where in the Mishneh Torah

Hilchot Foreign Worship and Customs of the Nations הלכות עבודה זרה וחוקות הגויים

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