Avodah Zarah 5b

עבודה זרה ה׳ ע״ב

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Topic

Aggadic lessons on gratitude and תורה, then why idolaters' holidays require three days of preparation

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a thought from the previous daf: ישראל were כפויי טובה, and משה proved it from their complaint about the מן and from אדם הראשון blaming 'the woman You gave me.' משה only hinted this to them after forty years, and רבה learns from that timing that a student needs forty years to fully understand his teacher. רבי יוחנן, in the name of רבי בנאה, explains a פסוק in ישעיהו: when ישראל are busy with תורה and גמילות חסדים, they control their יצר. תנא דבי אליהו adds that a person should carry תורה like an ox under a yoke and a donkey under a load. The גמרא then turns to the משנה's three-day ban on doing business with idolaters before their holidays. It asks why three days are needed, since people buy animals for a holiday only one day ahead. It answers that an animal bought for a sacrifice needs more preparation. Jews need thirty days because of their many blemish rules, but gentiles disqualify an animal only if it is missing a limb, so three days are enough. רבי אלעזר brings the source for that rule from the animals in נח's ark, and the גמרא begins to question that source. The challenge is completed on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (15)

1. ProofProof that ישראל are children of ingrates
2. Statementמשה only hinted this after forty years
3. ConclusionA student needs forty years to fully understand his teacher
4. StatementHappy are ישראל when they toil in תורה and kindness
5. ProofSowing means charity and water means תורה
6. StatementCarry תורה like an ox under a yoke
7. ChallengeDo we really need three days?
8. ProofThe משנה in חולין shows one day is enough
9. ResolutionFood takes one day, a קרבן takes three
10. ChallengeA קרבן should need even more than three days
11. ResolutionJews need thirty days, gentiles need only three
12. ProofSource that gentiles may not offer an animal missing a limb
13. ChallengeIsn't that verse needed to exclude a טריפה?
14. Resolutionטריפה is learned from 'to keep seed alive'
15. ChallengeThis works only if a טריפה cannot give birth