Avodah Zarah 14b

עבודה זרה י״ד ע״ב

Learn Avodah Zarah 14b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Selling items and animals to idol worshippers: unspecified versus specified requests, רב אשי's rooster questions, רבי מאיר's palm-tree fruit, and local custom on selling small animals.

Overview

The גמרא first asks what the משנה means by סתמן (an unspecified request) and פירושן (a specified request). Its first answer is that asking for plain 'wheat' is permitted and asking for 'white wheat' is forbidden. That reading would make a rooster forbidden even when unspecified, so the גמרא changes it. Asking for 'white wheat' is permitted, and only saying outright that it is for עבודה זרה is forbidden, even if the buyer might be bluffing. רב אשי then asks about buyers who seem to be using tricks to get a white rooster, and those questions end in תיקו. Next, רב חסדא struggles with רבי מאיר's ban on selling a 'good palm tree,' and אבימי explains that it means the fruit of a good palm tree. The גמרא then defines the unfamiliar fruit names חצב and נקלבס. A new משנה rules that selling בהמה דקה to non-Jews follows local custom, while בהמה גסה may not be sold anywhere. רב resolves a contradiction from the ban on leaving animals in non-Jewish inns: selling and leaving an animal alone with a non-Jew are allowed or forbidden together in each place.

Opening lines

The steps (20)

1. StatementFirst definition of unspecified and specified
2. ChallengeProblem: a rooster would be forbidden even unspecified
3. ResolutionNew definition: white wheat versus 'for idol worship'
4. ResolutionWhy the obvious case still needed to be taught
5. Questionרב אשי: a request for a damaged white rooster
6. QuestionWhat if the buyer already took a black or red rooster?
7. ConclusionThe questions stay unresolved
8. Statementרב חסדא laments how little we understand
9. ChallengeWhy would a bad palm tree be allowed?
10. ResolutionIt means the fruit of a good palm tree
11. Proofרב הונא says the same
12. StatementWhat חצב means
13. StatementWhat נקלבס means
14. Challengeאביי: you replaced one unknown word with another
15. ResolutionThe new word works in ארץ ישראל
16. StatementThe משנה: Small animals follow local custom, large animals are forbidden everywhere
17. StatementTwo Sages who allow certain large animals
18. StatementThe גמרא learns that small animals are only a matter of custom
19. ChallengeA contradiction from the rule against leaving animals in non-Jewish inns
20. Resolutionרב: The two rules go hand in hand