Deuteronomy 16:21 - sacred posts

[msd]

Deuteronomy 16:21

It says "You shall not set up a sacred post -- any kind of pole beside the altar of the LORD your G od that you may make -- or erect a stone pillar; for such the LORD your G od detests."

What does this mean?

My first thought was that it meant flag poles, such as an American flag pole, or an Israeli flag pole in Israel, or all those flag poles at United Nation buildings. And I was thinking that it might mean that you're not supposed to do this because it's an idol of the nation-state, or it shows you have too much patriotism and nationalism in your heart (putting that before God).

[Lisa]

I think it might have something to do with not worshipping idols.  After all, it is possible to put images on poles. 

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

Deuteronomy 16:21

It says "You shall not set up a sacred post -- any kind of pole beside the altar of the LORD your G od that you may make -- or erect a stone pillar; for such the LORD your G od detests."

Where did you get this translation from?  It sounds like it's more of a paraphrasing and they mixed together two verses (21 and 22).   21 is speaking about trees... and 22 is about stone monuments.....   
But in verse 21, I'm not sure what asherah means.   I would have to ask around to find out....

[Lisa]

KWR, Asherah was a pagan Near Eastern goddess.  Here's some background info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asherah

Here's a more detailed explanation from the Jewish Encyclopedia which explains why setting up sacred poles or posts was forbidden:

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1942&letter=A&search=Asherah

A Hebrew word occurring frequently in the Bible (R. V.) and signifying, except in a few late passages noted below, a wooden post or pole planted near the altars of various gods. In the Authorized Version the word is rendered "grove."

It has often been inferred from Deut. xvi. 21 that the Asherah was originally a tree, but the passage should be translated "an asherah of any kind of wood" (compare Moore, "Ency. Bibl." and Budde, "New World," viii. 734), since the sacred tree had a name of its own, el, elah, elon, and the Asherah was sometimes set up under the living tree (II Kings xvii. 10). This pole was often of considerable size (Judges vi. 25), since it could furnish fuel for the sacrifice of a bullock. It was found near the altars of Baal, and, down to the days of Josiah, near those of Hashem also, not only at Samaria (II Kings xiii. 6) and Beth-el (II Kings xxiii. 15), but even at Jerusalem (II Kings xxiii. 6). Sometimes it was carved in revolting shapes (I Kings xv. 13), and at times, perhaps, draped (II Kings xxiii. 7). It is most often associated in the Bible with the pillars ("maẓẓebot") that in primitive days served at once as a representation of the god and as an altar (W. R. Smith, "Religion of the Semites," 2d ed., p. 204). It was proscribed in the Deuteronomic law and abolished in Josiah's reform (II Kings xxii. 23).

[msd]

Deuteronomy 16:21

It says "You shall not set up a sacred post -- any kind of pole beside the altar of the LORD your G od that you may make -- or erect a stone pillar; for such the LORD your G od detests."

Where did you get this translation from?  It sounds like it's more of a paraphrasing and they mixed together two verses (21 and 22).   21 is speaking about trees... and 22 is about stone monuments.....   
But in verse 21, I'm not sure what asherah means.   I would have to ask around to find out....

Jewish Publication Society, 3rd edition, 1992.

This version at Mechon Mamre is different:
http://mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0516.htm

{S} 21 Thou shalt not plant thee an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee. 22 Neither shalt thou set thee up a pillar, which the LORD thy God hateth. {S}

So I guess it doesn't refer to flag poles. Case closed.

Thanks.

[Lisa]

So go ahead and be as patriotic as you like!

[muman613]

In this weeks Parasha we read the following:

You shall not make for yourselves idols or statues, nor shall you set up a pillar for yourselves, nor shall you place in your land a patterned stone to prostrate yourselves on it; for I am Hashem your G-d. My Sabbaths shall you keep, and My sanctuary shall you revere; I am Hashem (Vayikra 26:1-2).

I believe that the 'pillar' and the 'patterned stone' which is referred to here is relating to the ways of idol worship.

http://www.ou.org/torah/ti/5761/beharbechuk61.htm

RASHI (ADAPTING FROM TORAT KOHANIM) comments that these warnings are directed towards the one who was sold (as a slave) to a non-Jew. He should not say, "Since my master is sexually immoral, so will I be like him; since my master worships idols, so will I be like him; since my master desecrates the Shabbat, so will I be like him" (26:1).

THE PARALLEL TO EGYPT IS CHILLING. In Egypt, we served idols (Yalkut Shimoni 1:234). This is because the oppressed, while abhorring their oppressors, have a psychological need to emulate the dominant value system they represent.

THE INDIVIDUAL JEW AS WELL, sold in slavery to a non-Jew, is at risk of being influenced by his new environment, descending from emulation to assimilation, and from there to idolatry. Until such time as he is saved, the Torah reminds him: Remember who you are. He is enjoined to shun, not only actual idolatry:

You shall not make for yourselves idols or statues,  but even marginal idolatry nor shall you set up a pillar for yourselves, nor shall you place in your land a patterned stone to prostrate yourselves on it.

RAMBAM OPINES (Book of the Commandments, Neg. 11, 12; Laws of Idolatry 6:6), that these objects are so closely associated with idol-worship that the Torah rejects the pillar and the patterned stone, even if they are dedicated to the worship of Hashem. Presumably, if one begins by emulating these practices, he will eventually embrace idolatry.

HOWEVER, THE PATTERNED STONE - a stone floor for prostration before an idol (Rambam) or as an idol (Sefer HaChinuch, ascribed to R. Aharon HaLevi of Barcelona, mid-13th Century, #349) - is different. The Talmud (Megillah 22b) derives from the words "in your land" the ruling that, although this object is forbidden everywhere in the world, it is permitted in the Temple, for the people prostrated themselves to Hashem on the stone floor of the Temple. Rashi therefore explains that prostration on a stone floor is a form of worship that must be dedicated solely to Hashem, and only in His Temple. The Minchat Chinuch (commentary on the Sefer HaChinuch by R. Yoseph ben Moshe Babad of Tarnopol, 1800-1874) compares this to the prohibition against fashioning a sculptured human image (Shemot 20:20); the cherubim atop the Holy Ark had the faces of children, yet other human images were forbidden. That which is special to the service of Hashem must be exclusively reserved for the Temple.