The commandment "You shall not make for yourself any graven image" is part of the Ten Commandments found in the Torah, more specifically in the Book of Exodus, chapter 20, verses 4-6. This commandment prohibits the making and worshiping of idols.

The exact interpretation of this commandment can vary depending on religious tradition and interpretation. In general, however, it is understood as a request not to focus on material things or images, but rather to focus on the invisible God of Abraham.

There are other passages in the Torah that are related to this commandment, such as Deuteronomy 4, verses 15-19 and 23-24. It emphasizes that God should be worshiped as an invisible spirit and that worshiping idols is a form of idolatry.

It is important to note that the precise interpretation and meaning of this commandment may be interpreted differently by different religious traditions. Our interpretation, however, is that we reduce anything that distracts us too much from the God of Abraham, or if that doesn't help, remove it completely from our lives.

What does that mean? Well, that means that we should go about our everyday lives as normal. With all the things we need to live our lives. We should use everything we need for our daily work effectively. It becomes “dangerous” when we use things for more than “purposeful” purposes, which means idolizing or abusing them. A tablet, for example, can be a useful aid in everyday life or to support our work. However, if we can no longer do without it or spend too much of our time with it, for example playing games or using social media, we give this "thing" too much of our life time and we then miss this life time elsewhere, for example, to spend time with the eternal one or with family or other important tasks. So the question is not: What is allowed in our lives? But rather the question: How much and for what purpose do I use which things in my life?

It is very similar with people. If I have healthy relationships and can nurture them with a healthy level of love and trust, everything will be fine. Things get “dangerous” when I spend time with people I can’t trust or who drain my energy. With all my love, I should try to distance myself from such people as much as possible without consciously hurting them. And also, in turn, if I spend too much time with people I love so much, for example my children, that I no longer have the time or energy to praise or otherwise spend time with the Eternal, I should try to bring some distance into this bond. Because “idolizing” people is just as harmful as “cursing” them. You should avoid both in order to be able to enter into a healthy relationship, a love relationship, with the eternal one. Always with the awareness that everything I have in my life (work, things, relationships, people, ...) I only have it through the grace and blessing of the Eternal!

The Eternal gives us everything we need in our hearts. It is up to us to treat everything entrusted to us in a good, balanced and careful manner in order to prove to the Eternal every day anew that we deserve what he entrusts to us.

So, for example, is it shameful to take photos (portraits) of my children? That depends on the attitude of my heart and for what purpose I do this! If I take these photos as a souvenir for myself and the children, the Eternal should have no objection to it. However, if I publish these photos on all social media channels and post: "My everything!" or have these photos printed in an oversized size as a canvas for my living room to immortalize them there, I should ask myself who I worship at this point, my children, or the Eternal One who entrusted them to me. This is just one of thousands of examples of how anything that goes beyond measure can, but does not have to, contradict this commandment. In everything I do, I have to examine my heart and see why I want to do this. If the heart's honest answer is, "to honor the Eternal," there should be no reason not to do this thing as planned.