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Avodah Zarah 29b

עבודה זרה כ״ט ע״ב

Learn Avodah Zarah 29b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Gentile items forbidden even for benefit, the cheese story, the source for banning idol wine, and the seal rules for vinegar and cooked wine

Overview

The amud opens with a משנה listing items of גוים that a Jew may not use, some of them forbidden even for benefit (איסור הנאה). These include wine, vinegar that was once wine, Hadrianic earthenware, and hides cut at the heart. It also gives רבי עקיבא's rule about meat going into and out of an idol's house, and a rule about doing business with people going to or from an idol festival. It then brings three disputes in which רבי מאיר forbids even benefit and חכמים are more lenient. Next, רבי ישמעאל asks רבי יהושע why gentile cheese is forbidden. רבי יהושע offers two reasons, and each one is challenged. Instead of answering the second challenge, he turns the talk to how a פסוק in שיר השירים is read. The גמרא then builds a chain of sources for the ban on benefit from idol wine: wine is learned from a זבח, a זבח from a מת, a מת from the עגלה ערופה, and the עגלה ערופה from קדשים. Finally, רב אשי explains that the vinegar clause, and a parallel teaching about cooked wine, show that a Jew's vinegar or cooked wine left with a gentile needs only one seal. His explanation for cooked wine continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

מַתְנִי׳ אֵלּוּ דְּבָרִים שֶׁל גּוֹיִם אֲסוּרִין,

MISHNA: These are items of gentiles that are forbidden,

וְאִיסּוּרָן אִיסּוּר הֲנָאָה:

and their prohibition is a ban on benefit:

הַיַּיִן, וְהַחוֹמֶץ שֶׁל גּוֹיִם

Wine, and vinegar of gentiles

שֶׁהָיָה מִתְּחִלָּתוֹ יַיִן,

that was originally wine,

The steps (29)

  1. StatementGentile items that are forbidden even for benefit
  2. StatementOnly a round cut makes the hide forbidden
  3. StatementMeat going into an idol's house versus meat coming out
  4. StatementDoing business with people going to an idol festival
  5. StatementGentile wineskins and jugs holding Jewish wine
  6. StatementLeftover grape seeds and skins
  7. StatementFish brine and cheese of בית אונייקי
  8. Questionרבי ישמעאל asks why gentile cheese is forbidden
  9. ResponseFirst answer: curdled with the stomach of a נבילה
  10. ChallengeChallenge: even an עולה's stomach is treated leniently
  11. ResolutionSecond answer: curdled with stomachs of idol-worship calves
  12. ChallengeChallenge: then why is benefit allowed?
  13. Questionרבי יהושע changes the subject to a פסוק
  14. Responseרבי ישמעאל reads the verse in the feminine
  15. Rejectionרבי יהושע proves the verse is masculine
  16. QuestionWhere do we learn that idol wine is forbidden?
  17. ResponseWine is compared to an idol offering
  18. QuestionWhere do we learn that the offering itself is forbidden?
  19. ResponseAn idol offering is compared to a dead body
  20. QuestionWhere do we learn that a dead body is forbidden?
  21. ResponseA dead body is learned from the עגלה ערופה
  22. QuestionWhere do we learn that the עגלה ערופה is forbidden for benefit?
  23. ResponseThe word 'atonement' links the עגלה ערופה to sacrifices
  24. StatementThe משנה: gentile vinegar that started as wine
  25. ChallengeIsn't that obvious?
  26. Resolutionרב אשי: our vinegar with a gentile needs only one seal
  27. Statementרבי אילעא: gentile cooked wine is forbidden
  28. ChallengeAgain: isn't that obvious?
  29. Resolutionרב אשי: our cooked wine with a gentile needs only one seal