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Avodah Zarah 27b

עבודה זרה כ״ז ע״ב

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Topic

Advice and medical treatment from non-Jews and מינים, חיי שעה, and the limits of 'וחי בהם'

Overview

The amud opens by finishing an earlier point: a Jew may ask a non-Jew for advice, because the non-Jew wants to protect his own reputation. Then רבי יוחנן rules on treatment by non-Jewish doctors. If it is unclear whether the patient will live or die, he may not be treated by them. If he will surely die without help, he may be treated by them, because we do not worry about losing חיי שעה. This is proved from the four מצורעים in מלכים ב. A ברייתא seems to argue: one may not be healed by מינים even for חיי שעה, as in the story of בן דמא. רבי ישמעאל stopped him from being healed by a מין, and he died. The גמרא answers that מינות is different because it can draw a person in. It also explains the 'snake' of the חכמים and why רבי ישמעאל rejected בן דמא's proof from 'וחי בהם': in public, one may not break the rule even to save a life. The amud ends with רבה בר בר חנה's two versions of which injuries may be treated by non-Jews, and the second version continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

סָבַר שַׁיּוֹלֵי מְשַׁאֵיל לוֹ,

He thinks: he is just asking him for his opinion,

כִּי הֵיכִי דְּמַשְׁאִיל לוֹ

just as he is asking him,

מְשַׁאֵיל לְאִינִישׁ אַחֲרִינָא,

he will ask another person too,

וַאֲתָא הָהוּא גַּבְרָא לְאוֹרוֹעֵי נַפְשֵׁיהּ.

and that man would end up harming himself.

The steps (19)

  1. ResolutionWhy asking a non-Jew for advice is allowed
  2. StatementWhen a sick person may be treated by non-Jewish doctors
  3. ChallengeChallenge: a dying person still has some time left
  4. ResolutionWe do not worry about חיי שעה
  5. QuestionWhat is the source for not worrying about חיי שעה?
  6. ProofProof from the four lepers
  7. ChallengeA ברייתא forbids healing from heretics even for short-term life
  8. ProofThe story of בן דמא and the snake bite
  9. Proofרבי ישמעאל praises בן דמא for dying in purity
  10. ResolutionHeresy is different because it draws people in
  11. ChallengeBut he was already bitten by a snake
  12. ResolutionThe snake of the Rabbis has no cure
  13. QuestionWhat proof did בן דמא want to bring?
  14. Response'He shall live by them', not die by them
  15. ChallengeHow would רבי ישמעאל answer that proof?
  16. ResolutionOnly in private, not in public
  17. Proofרבי ישמעאל's ברייתא: private versus public
  18. StatementNo non-Jewish treatment for injuries that override שבת
  19. StatementA second version of רבי יוחנן's teaching begins