Having an Affair with a Statue

By Gldmeier @gldmeier
How do these things start?
JTA and Yediot are reporting about a statue, a piece of art, located, on loan, in Ramat Gan that has become a focal point of women looking for divine assistance in conceiving a child and giving birth.
The piece of art in question is a piece entitled "Birth" and is a statue in the shape of a woman laying down with a smiley face on her tummy. The artist, Menashe Kadishman, died last year at the age of 83.
The report says that women gather around the statue and take turns laying down on the statue and reciting chapters of tehillim and other things.
How do these things begin? How did women think, and how did word spread, that this statue has mystical powers and the ability to somehow help them conceive?
When a rabbi is involved in creating the story, like the story of the chair of Rav Kaduri in a shop in Ashdod,  at least it is somewhat understandable why some people ascribe spiritual power to it. In this instance, nothing is mentioned as to why people believe this or how it began.
At what point does it become avoda zara, and at what point does it become cheating on one's husband?
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