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Avodah Zarah 53a

עבודה זרה נ״ג ע״א

Learn Avodah Zarah 53a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

How an idol's forbidden status is cancelled (ביטול עבודה זרה): shared idols, damage versus insults, and selling the idol to a Jewish or gentile smith.

Overview

The amud finishes רבי הלל בריה דרבי וולס's teaching about an idol shared by a Jew and a gentile. Only the gentile can nullify his own share, and the Jew's share stays forbidden forever. A new משנה teaches that damaging an idol nullifies it, even just crushing its face. Insults like spitting or throwing dung do not nullify it. רבי and חכמים argue about whether selling or mortgaging the idol nullifies it. חזקיה uses פסוקים from ישעיהו to show that a worshipper who curses his idol in anger goes back to it. Two אמוראים disagree about whether the selling dispute concerns a gentile smith or a Jewish smith. A ברייתא of רבי is brought as a proof, but the proof is pushed off. A challenge from a ברייתא about scrap metal is answered: that seller never knowingly sold an idol. A new ברייתא about idols that were pawned, buried, stolen or abandoned begins, and its ruling comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

דְּרַבִּי וָולֶס:

of Rabbi Volas:

לֹא נִצְרְכָה שֶׁיֵּשׁ לוֹ בָּהּ שׁוּתָּפוּת,

It is needed only where he has a partnership in it,

וְקָא מַשְׁמַע לַן

and it teaches us

יִשְׂרָאֵל הוּא דְּלָא מְבַטֵּל דְּנׇכְרִי,

that it is a Jew who cannot nullify a gentile's [idol],

The steps (21)

  1. ResolutionThe case is a shared idol
  2. StatementAnother version: the ברייתא of רבי שמעון בן מנסיא
  3. QuestionWhy the word 'never'?
  4. ResponseEven with a gentile partner, the Jew's share stays forbidden
  5. Statementמשנה: acts that nullify an idol
  6. Statementמשנה: insults do not nullify
  7. Statementמשנה: selling or mortgaging the idol
  8. QuestionHow does crushing nullify if nothing was removed?
  9. ResponseHe crushed its face
  10. QuestionWhere do we learn that spitting at an idol does not nullify it?
  11. Responseחזקיה: an angry person curses his god but then goes back to it
  12. StatementTwo opinions on when רבי and חכמים argue about selling an idol
  13. QuestionDoes the second opinion also apply the argument to a non-Jewish smith?
  14. ProofA ברייתא of רבי is brought to answer the question
  15. QuestionThe literal reading of the ברייתא does not work
  16. ProofReading the ברייתא as a Jewish smith versus a non-Jewish smith
  17. RejectionThe proof is pushed off: the colleagues agree about a Jewish smith
  18. ChallengeA ברייתא about scrap metal with an idol inside
  19. ChallengeWhose view could the ברייתא follow?
  20. ResolutionHe only meant to sell scrap metal
  21. StatementNew ברייתא: idols that were pawned, buried, stolen, or abandoned