For the source text click/tap here: Rosh Hashanah 24
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The Mishna relates that Rabban Gamliel had models of the moon in various positions in his study, which he would show to the people coming to testify.
The Gemara questions how Rabban Gamliel was allowed to fashion these devices, when the baraita interprets the passage (Shemot 20:20) that forbids the creation of idols and graven images to refer specifically to heavenly objects like the sun, moon, stars and constellations.
The answer offered by the Gemara is a difficult one – that Rabban Gamliel did not make the models himself; they were made by others. Tosafot and other rishonim argue that it is forbidden for Jews to have non-Jews perform tasks for them that are Biblically forbidden, which would seem to be the case here. A number of explanations are offered:
We explore the cultural and historical notions of aniconism and the struggle with religious imagery and depictions of the divine in other traditions.