(1) It is prohibited
to worship any other god, in any form or matter at
all. If a person is forced to do so, he should try
as hard as possible not to carry out such a demand.
If he is being threatened by death, there are those
that believe that he should be willing to die as a
martyr if he does so while being witnessed by ten
Jews or ten people of other nations who worship only
the One true G-d. A person is not allowed to give
honor to other gods, to hug or kiss them; to swear
by them, to pray to or worship them. He is not allowed
to produce an idol so that others can worship it.
He is not even allowed to produce it for artistic
purposes. He is not allowed to participate in any
rites connected with the worship of other gods even
if this person is passive and does not take any active
participation in it. All this is so that he will not
be misunderstood and cause others to sin because of
his action. It is the duty of a person to degrade
and hold in contempt all other gods or any form of
idolatry.
(2) To deny the existence
of G-d is worse than worshipping other gods. Some
maintain that this is included in the prohibition
of worshipping other gods. Others maintain that it
is considered blasphemy since there is no greater
insult to the one true G-d than denying his existence.
(3) It is appropriate
to refrain from the following because they too are
considered related to the worship of other gods:
a. Dealing in magical
traits, such as predicting with the aid of a crystal
ball, or hypnotizing yourself so that you can predict
the future or dealing in black magic or trying to
predict the future through other means such as horoscopes
or things like that;
b. Believing in superstitions, such as bad luck
because of a black cat or good or bad luck connected
to certain numbers;
c. Gathering animals for magic, like hypnotizing
them;
d. Dealing in spiritualism;
e. Trying to communicate with the dead.
