Avodah Zarah 47 - New Items of Worship

If one bows down to standing wheat and then grinds it into flour, can it be used for Temple offerings? Does the change in the worshipped object remove the prohibited status? Can we derive the answer from a well-known law that for all animals that were prohibited to be offered on the Altar, such if they were worshipped or sodomized, their offspring are permitted to be offered? - No, we cannot derive the answer from here, for perhaps this latter law only applies when they were first sodomized, and then became pregnant, so it is not the same situation of change.

If one bows down to a palm tree, can its branches be used for the mitzvah of Lulav on Succot? Is the mitzvah requirement much less stringent than the Temple?

If one bows down to a sheep, can its wool be used for the mitzvah of blue wool in tzitzit?

If one bows down to a spring, can its water be still used for libations on the Alter on Succot? Is he worshipping his own reflection, the water that is now in front of him, or the current itself?

All these questions remain unanswered.

Art: Winslow Homer - Palm Tree, Nassau


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