Is it really against the Jewish Religion to cover a picture?

Question

My idiot boss is livid because we wrapped all of the pictures in the office like Christmas presents. He said it is a complete insult to him as a Jew. Has anyone ever heard this? This is the same man that eats ham sandwiches for lunch everyday and says F*** every other word. He swears that covering a picture is the most insulting thing you can do to a Jew. Is he actually telling the truth (something else he doesn't do)?

We have Christmas and Hannaka decorations all over the office and are having a CHRISTMAS party this week, hence the decorations.

He bought the picture at a garage sale and it is of an egyptian lady. It's a poster.

Guess I need to go throw away his dradles.

Answer 1

Your boss is silly, a bad Jew, and is ranting about a half remembered custom because he's forgotten all the rest.

Here's how it works: When somebody dies in the family, the custom is to cover all mirrors in the house for 7 days. This shows that the feeling of loss has replaced any concern for personal vanity.

Some people, not knowing the reason for the custom, took to covering photographs at this time too. There is no reason for this in Jewish Law. It's a silly custom, or minhag shtoos, if you want to know the technical term for such a custom in Jewish law. (Remember it, you can tell him.)

Now here's the real kicker: Ikher Halakhah, the basic Jewish law, forbids photographs of human beings that show more than half the person, or images of the face except for profiles. It's considered idolatrous. You can find this law in Shulchan Aruch, Yorah Deah, Hilchos Avodah Zorah. (Remember that, you can tell him.)

Tell your boss you covered the pictures to honor his faith as you knew from the COde of Jewish law in Shulchan Aruch, Yorah Deah, Hilchos Avodah Zorah that Jewish law considers an image of the human face except in profile or with a detail missing idolatrous.

Also tell him that saying the Fword is considered "Nivul Peh" and Jewish law maintains that "Nivul Peh" (bad language) leads to the death of children.

Answer 2

Does this mean i'm a demon for making use of the software Daemon Tools ? I'm not scared of the software, it's very useful. I guess being afraid of demons is kinda normal, right? It's like being afraid of the guillotine. Nothing good can come from it/them. I once suffered from a drug induced psychosis which involved demons and i have no trouble admitting that i was sh!t scared. After i recovered and after a few months i told the shrinks i'd been seeing about a particular spiritual event which happened to me during the week and they proceeded to rubbish my spirituality. The spiritual experience was not real they told me, and must have been the remnants of my psychosis. As a result, i don't hold much stock in what mental health practitioners say. Not because they may have been right about remnants of the psychosis effecting me but the fact that they had the gall to virtually call me a mental case (they suggested drugging me up again) for believing myself to be a spiritual being and not a mere animal with no intuition, who can be trained to salivate using bells.

Answer 3

1) What does the picture depict?

2) He may be more offended that you wrapped the pictures like Christmas presents...>ahem<...like CHRISTMAS presents. THAT may be what is offending this jewish person.

I have never heard that covering a picture is offensive to Jews.

Answer 4

Not against the religion, but custom states you only cover pictures when some one dies. So, uncover the pictures. What does it hurt. Merry Christmas.

Answer 5

If you knew he was a Jew, then yes, you insulted him. His mannerism is beside the point

Answer 6

the most insulting thing you can do is to stick them with the check. Oy vey!

Answer 7

it's called faith.