not object to idolatry even while they clung on to their Jewish heritage. The Mishnah and Talmud have defined idolatry. It includes worshiping an idol in the manner of its worshipers. This is called ″customary worship″. Another criterion is worshiping the idol with acts which are for worshiping God in the Temple. These include animal sacrifice, incense burning and sprinkling blood. Performing one of these acts means the performer is dubbed an idolater. The third criterion of idolatry is prostration. This includes bowing down with at least the head or knees on the ground. Acts such as kissing, embracing and honoring are forbidden but are not considered to come under idolatry. The performer of such an act does not receive capital punishment unlike the idolater in Jewish law. Tractate Avodah Zarah of the Talmud governs Jewish interactions with idolaters. It places certain restrictions on business dealings with idolaters for the days in proximity to idolatrous festivals. It was forbidden to provide or take any benefit from idolatrous actions. These regulations had a strong impact on Jewish business dealings with Christians during the Middle Ages. Since Jews regarded Christians as idolaters because of Christian theological doctrines such as the Trinity, alongside the Christian usage of statues and icons, Jews would not do business dealings with Christians on Sundays. Business dealings with Muslims were not affected because Jews regarded the Muslims as pure monotheists like themselves. Evolution away from idolatry in the Israelite religion Judaism historically stood out from other faiths in the Iron Age world because of its strict monotheism. However, there is evidence indicating that before and probably during the early first millennium BCE, polytheism was ubiquitous in Yahwism. (The religion that exalted Yahweh and would later become known as Judaism or Yahadut, after one of the tribes of Israel — יהודה, Yehudah) To the early authors of the Tanakh, idolatry (אליל, elil) likely had different connotations than it has now, because they existed while the religion was still evolving into a monotheistic faith. For this reason, idolatry and its consequences are described differently between the various books of the Hebrew Bible, largely varying by the era in which they were written. For example, in the Book of Exodus, (which is believed to have been transcribed between the 6th and 5th centuries BCE from a more ancient oral tradition) idolatry is condemned not necessarily as a futile exercise in supplicating