Q&A: Symbols in Judaism
Symbols in Judaism
Question
Have a good week,
Where is the line drawn between legitimate symbols and paganism, for example: the sanctification of the moon?
Best regards, Benjamin
Answer
Every symbol is legitimate. Idolatry is not connected to symbols, but at most to granting independent status to the symbol. (Even here it should be qualified that this is forbidden when the symbol represents a power that has no real substance, aside from Maimonides’ view at the beginning of the laws of idolatry, where he forbids even symbols referring to the Holy One, blessed be He.) The sanctification of the moon is not connected to symbols at all, and even less to granting status to a symbol. So I didn’t understand the question.
Discussion on Answer
Obviously that’s a metaphor, not a symbol. The moon here does not serve as a symbol for the Holy One, blessed be He. It’s just a literary way of addressing Him.
In the sanctification of the moon, seemingly there is an address to the moon; in fact that is the explicit wording: “Just as I dance before you (and not before it) and cannot touch you (and not touch it)”—as I understand it, the prayer is directed to the Creator of the world, so the address is not to the moon but it is only a symbol?