The Torah forbids us from having any benefit from a Tzelem, from an idol. Here we'll talk about how we treat different types of images or figurines, as we'll call them, that a person comes across and doesn't know whether they are idols or not. The Mishnah says, “All sculptures are forbidden for benefit, even in places where they are not worshipped.” There are places where idols are not worshipped. But once a year, this actual idol will be worshipped when the sun is in a certain position and meets this idol. There are certain types of towns that will only worship once a year. Therefore, says Rabbi Meir, we always have to be choshesh. We have to be nervous that the image we're discussing is the type of image that was worshipped once a year. Another view disagrees: “Maybe you're right in your city, Rabbi Meir, where they have that type of custom, but we're not going to extend that prohibition to other cities where we don't know what their story is.” In these other types of cities, if an idol has something in its hand, like a makel, a staff, a tzipor, a bird, or a kadur, a ball, that indicates it's an idol. We're only going to forbid those types of sculptures. But other types of sculptures, we're not going to be nervous about. We're not going to automatically assume that they're being worshipped. Rabbi Meir, on the other hand, was going to say, “No, we're extending it to everything.” In all types of cities, any type of sculpture is prohibited to benefit from because we're nervous that it might be the type of idol I know about in my city, where they worship it once a year.
The three items we mentioned over here all display a certain divine concept. The staff displays power. The bird shows that the idol controls everything, just as a person controls the bird in his hand. And the ball is supposed to be a metaphor for the whole world. The ball is round like the rest of the world, which shows that the idol has the entire world in its grasp.
All of these items we're talking about—all these types of idols—are only prohibited when they're at the entrance of the city. It's an ukimta (an interpretive qualification) in this Mishnah. This Mishnah is talking about the entrance of the city. But in other places, like a little village where people don't have the means or the money to actually have decorations, you can't assume that other types of idols are just decorations, as the Chachamim (the Sages) say here. But the Chachamim would say that in those little villages, where people didn't have the money, we have to assume that they actually are idols. So all this is talking about a place with a little bit of means, with money. But if there's no means, you have to assume that they'll only spend money on actual idols.
He extends the prohibition to all idols—not only those holding the three things, the staff, the bird, and the ball, but all idols holding something in their hand are likely to be idols and therefore forbidden. According to him, any type of image that's holding anything in its hand represents greatness that it possesses, and therefore we have to assume that it's an idol.