I’ve gotten into the habit of starting these halachic entries by quoting a verse. I have a difficulty with that, this week, though. The sages read the same verse in three different ways, and all are considered valid readings, because the grammar is ambiguous. In many cases the text is purposefully ambiguous to lead to multiple interpretations. I’m going to address as much of Exodus 20:20 as I can in this space, and we’ll see how far we get.
The most common reading of this verse is as follows, “You shall not make with Me gods of silver or gods of gold to worship them.” The word “images” is understood in this verse, making it “you shall not make with me images of gods…”
However, R. Huna explains that if we read the third word as “oti” (my sign/image) rather than “iti” (with me), it reads “You shall not make My image.” What, then, is God’s image? “And God created the man in his image, in the image of God He created him.”
From this reading we derrive the ruling that it is forbidden to make images of human beings, because we are made in the image of God. This is restricted to three-dimensional images like sculptures. If the image is flat or receeds (like an engraving), it does not violate this commandment (R. Israel Meir Kagan, SMK Negative commandment 144).
For this reason it is not permitted to make or to own a three dimensional image of a human being.
This commandment can inform our reading of Mark 12:14-17
And they came and said to him, "Teacher, we know that you are true, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?" But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, "Why put me to the test? Bring me a coin, and let me look at it." And they brought one. And he said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said to him, "Caesar's." Jesus said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were amazed at him. (RSV)
That's an interesting connection. So, he is juxtaposing the image of Caesar with the image of God, but when I tie it back to man being made in the image of God, I have an ironic twist in the background.
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