Avoda Zara Daf 20 - Lo Sechaneim
Summary
- This shiur presents the Mishnah’s prohibition on making adornments for idolatry and the rules of selling items attached to land to non-Jews, derives three prohibitions from the verse phrase *lo techanem*, analyzes a Tannaitic dispute over gifting or selling a *nevelah* to a *ger toshav* or *nochri*, explains the ban on granting a non-Jew *chen* alongside the stories of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and Rabbi Akiva with the parameters of the *histaklut* prohibition, describes the Angel of Death’s method, expounds “venishmarta mikol davar ra” and records Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair’s ladder of spiritual ascent together with a dispute over whether *chasidut* or *anava* is supreme, and concludes with three parallel cases of selling items *mechubar la’karka* on condition to cut and the parallel case of selling a *behemah gasah* on condition to slaughter.
- The Mishnah forbids making adornments for an idol—necklaces, chokers, nose rings, and rings. Rabbi Eliezer permits making them when one is paid, reasoning that the work enhances decorations rather than the idol itself.
- The Mishnah prohibits selling produce while it is still *mechubar la’karka* to *ovdei kochavim* in places where selling land to them is forbidden, and permits sale once it is cut; Rabbi Yehuda allows selling even while attached on condition to cut. The difficulty in the *tanna kama*’s phrasing is addressed by the Rashba, who reads it as precluding Rabbi Yehuda’s conditional sale, and by the Ritva, who reads it as teaching there is no gezeirah forbidding sale even after cutting lest one come to sell while attached.
- Rabbi Yossi bar Chanina derives from the verse “כי יביאך ה' אלהיך אל הארץ אשר אתה בא שמה לרשתה ונשל גוים רבים מפניך לא תכרות להם ברית ולא תחנם” that one may not grant *chanayah b’karka* to non-Jews. The Gemara establishes that the consonantal text supports three derashot—do not grant them *chen*, do not grant them *chanayah b’karka*, and do not give a *matnat chinam*—as taught explicitly in a beraita. The practice of supporting poor non-Jews together with poor Jews is maintained because of דרכי שלום, while otherwise a gratuitous gift to a non-poor *nochri* is proscribed.
- A beraita on “לא תאכל כל נבלה לגר אשר בשעריך תתננה ואכלה או מכור לנכרי” records Rabbi Meir’s view that by repunctuating the verse one may either give or sell to either a *ger toshav* or a *nochri*. Rabbi Yehuda rules “devarim kichtavam”: give to a *ger toshav* and sell to a *nochri*, and he argues that the word “או” divides the options; Rabbi Meir assigns “או” to preference, prioritizing giving to the *ger toshav*. Rashi (Pesachim 21) reads Rabbi Yehuda as prohibiting sale to a *ger toshav* and gift to a *nochri*, whereas the Rambam rules like Rabbi Yehuda while permitting sale to a *ger toshav*, and the shiur presents a rationale that one would not impose on a *ger toshav* a gifting advantage beyond what applies to a Yisrael.
- The beraita “*lo techanem*—lo titen lahem *chen*” supports Rav’s ruling that it is forbidden to say “kama na’ah” about an *oved kochavim*. A maaseh states that Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, upon seeing a very beautiful non-Jewish woman from the Temple Mount, said “מה רבו מעשיך ה',” and Rabbi Akiva, seeing the wife of Turnus Rufus, spat, laughed, and cried, each act explained by the Gemara. Rav’s position is reconciled by explaining that Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel praised Hashem, not her, in line with “הרואה בריות טובות אומר ברוך שככה לו בעולמו,” and Tosafot note the Yerushalmi extends this to beautiful animals; Rav Shlomo Kluger suggests the beraita’s scope may concern the seven nations, whereas Rav’s ban applies broadly.
- “ונשמרת מכל דבר רע” is expounded to prohibit looking at a beautiful woman even if single, at a married woman even if unattractive, at women’s colorful garments, and at animals during mating, “even if one were full of eyes like the Angel of Death.” Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel’s case is resolved as an unavoidable “corner encounter,” and the shiur distinguishes between being *mistakel* (gazing for pleasure) and mere sight, illustrated by the rainbow blessing and the laws of a husband during his wife’s nidda. Shmuel rules the garments issue applies even when the clothing hangs on a wall; Rav Papa limits it to when one recognizes the owner, and Rava supports this from the phrasing “בבגדי צבע של אישה.” Rav Chisda allows looking at brand-new garments but not worn ones, though the necessity of that distinction is challenged and resolved by “*ba’avidatei tarid*,” paralleling Rav Yehuda’s allowance to manually mate animals “כמכחול בשפופרת” because one occupied in his task is not suspect of improper thoughts.
- A beraita teaches that the Angel of Death is full of eyes, stands at the head of the dying with a drawn sword, and a drop of bile on the blade’s tip falls into the mouth, from which the person dies, decomposes, and turns pallid. Avuha d’Shmuel reports that the Angel would otherwise rip open the neck like an animal but refrains for kavod habriyot, and the Gemara resolves that the drop cuts the simanim. The note that decay comes from the drop supports Rabbi Chanina bar Kahana’s teaching that flipping the corpse face-down mitigates the odor.
- A beraita reads “ונשמרת מכל דבר רע” to prohibit improper thoughts by day that lead to nighttime tumah, and Tosafot understand this as a true derashah, not merely an asmakhta. The shiur notes Rav Moshe Feinstein’s distinction that men transgress both “לא תתורו אחרי עיניכם” and this derashah, whereas women are bound only by “לא תתורו.” Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair teaches a progression: Torah leads to zehirut, zehirut to zerizut, zerizut to nekiyut, nekiyut to perishut, perishut to taharah, taharah to kedushah, kedushah to anavah, anavah to yirat chet, yirat chet to chasidut, chasidut to ruach hakodesh, and ruach hakodesh to techiyat hametim; he elevates chasidut as greatest, citing “אז דברת בחזון לחסידיך.”
- Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair’s view that chasidut is supreme is opposed by Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, who holds anava is greatest, citing “רוח ה' אלקים עלי... לבשר ענוים.” The shiur states that many mussar sefarim present anava as foundational, noting Orchos Tzaddikim’s opening with the Sha’ar Ha’anavah.
- A beraita records that Rabbi Yehuda permits selling a tree *al menat lekotz* and trusts that it will be cut, while Rabbi Meir allows sale only once cut; the same dispute applies to animal fodder and standing grain. The Gemara justifies needing all three cases: trees may continue to improve if left and so a buyer may delay, fully ripe grain deteriorates if left, and fodder improves visibly if left, shaping where each Tanna would or would not concede.
- The Gemara applies the same analysis to selling a *behemah gasah* to a *nochri* *al menat lishchot*, questioning whether Rabbi Yehuda’s leniency extends where the animal is in the buyer’s domain. A beraita establishes that Rabbi Yehuda permits selling *al menat lishchot* and Rabbi Meir permits selling only if already slaughtered.
Previous Page
Next Page
Daf Images are property of Vagshal and may not be reproduced.
Suggestions