Avodah Zarah 54a

עבודה זרה נ״ד ע״א

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Topic

When worship makes an animal a forbidden נעבד: forced worship, a friend's animal, and acts done on the animal itself

Overview

First, חזקיה brings a פסוק showing that idolatrous items lose their status only when they are smashed like crumbling limestone. Then a ברייתא teaches that a person can make his own item a forbidden נעבד, but not his friend's. Another ברייתא counts worship done 'באונס' (under force), and the גמרא asks whether that means grabbing a friend's animal. רמי בר חמא answers that the person was forced to bow to his own animal. רבי זירא objects that the Torah frees someone who acts under force. רבא answers that force frees a person only in private, while forced worship in public still counts. The רבנן offer רבא support from platforms used during a time of persecution, but he turns it down. חזקיה and רב אדא בר אהבה then give other answers about a friend's animal, and the conclusion is that doing an act on it, like pouring wine between its horns or cutting one סימן, makes it forbidden. Finally, the גמרא looks for the source of this rule and pushes away two suggestions, the כהנים and the מזבח stones. The search for a source continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (18)

1. Statementחזקיה's verse: idolatrous items lose their status only when smashed
2. StatementA ברייתא: you can forbid only your own animal by worshipping it
3. ChallengeContradiction: 'worshipped under force' seems to mean a friend's animal
4. Resolutionרמי בר חמא: the person himself was forced to bow to his own animal
5. Challengeרבי זירא: the Torah frees someone who acts under force
6. Statementרבא: 'and live by them' removes forced worship from the prohibition
7. ResolutionPrivate Force Versus Public Force
8. ProofThe רבנן Bring Support from the Platforms Teaching
9. Rejectionרבא Turns Down the Support
10. Rejectionרב אשי: It Was Certainly an Apostate
11. Resolutionחזקיה's Answer: Wine Poured on the Animal's Horns
12. Challengeרב אדא בר אהבה: That Is Just a Platform
13. Resolutionרב אדא בר אהבה: wine poured between the horns
14. ProofSupport from עולא quoting רבי יוחנן
15. Statementרב נחמן: רב הונא already taught this in Bavel
16. QuestionWhat is the source for this rule?
17. RejectionPriests are not a good source
18. RejectionThe altar stones are not a good source either