Talmud - Avodah Zarah 5b עבודה זרה ה׳ ב׳

this light bread” (Numbers 21:5), despite the fact it was the highest-quality food. Moses further called them children of ingrates, as it is written that after sinning and eating from the tree of knowledge, Adam said: “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat” (Genesis 3:12). Adam complained that the woman had been given to him in order to cause him to sin, whereas in fact she had been given to him to serve as a helpmate.

Yet even Moses our teacher, who said this to the Jewish people, did not allude to the Jewish people until after forty years that they should have stated this request, as it is stated: “And I have led you forty years in the wilderness” (Deuteronomy 29:4), which shows that Moses was speaking forty years after the revelation at Sinai. And at that point it is written: “But the Lord has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, until this day” (Deuteronomy 29:3). Rabba said: Conclude from here that a person does not understand the opinion of his teacher until after forty years, as Moses said this to the Jewish people only after forty years of learning Torah.

Rabbi Yoḥanan says in the name of Rabbi Bana’a: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Happy are you that sow beside all waters, that send forth freely the feet of the ox and the donkey” (Isaiah 32:20)? Happy are you Israel; when they, i.e., the Jewish people, engage in Torah study and in acts of kindness, their evil inclination is given over to them, and they are not given over to their evil inclination, as it is stated: “Happy are you that sow beside all waters.” And the term sowing is referring to nothing other than performing charitable deeds, as it is stated: “Sow to yourselves according to charitableness, reap according to mercy” (Hosea 10:12). And the term waters is referring to nothing other than the Torah, as it is stated: “Ho, every one that thirsts, come for water” (Isaiah 55:1).

With regard to the continuation of the verse: “That send forth freely the feet of the ox and the donkey,” one of the Sages of the school of Eliyahu taught: A person should always make himself subjugated to matters of Torah like an ox to a yoke and like a donkey to a burden.

§ After concluding its long introduction, the Gemara analyzes the mishna. The mishna taught that on the three days before the festivals of gentiles it is prohibited to engage with them in business or to lend them items. The Gemara asks: And is it the practice of a gentile to buy an animal so far in advance of his festival that it is required of Jews to refrain from selling an animal to idol worshippers for all of these days before their festivals?

But didn’t we learn in a mishna (Ḥullin 83a): On four occasions during the year one who sells an animal to another is required to inform him: I sold the mother of this animal today for the buyer to slaughter it, or: I sold the daughter of this animal today for the buyer to slaughter it. This notification is necessary so that this buyer will not slaughter the animal on the same day that its mother or its young is slaughtered, thereby violating the prohibition: “You shall not kill it and its young both in one day” (Leviticus 22:28).

The mishna continues: And those four occasions are: The eve of the last day of the festival of Sukkot, the eve of the first day of the festival of Passover, and the eve of Shavuot, and the eve of Rosh HaShana. And according to the statement of Rabbi Yosei HaGelili, the eve of Yom Kippur in the Galilee is included as well. This mishna indicates that one prepares for a festival for only one day prior to the event. Why does the mishna here prohibit sales three days prior to gentile festivals?

The Gemara answers: There, in the mishna in Ḥullin, where the animal is purchased for consumption, it is sufficient to prepare one day before the festival. Here, in the case of this mishna, where the animal is purchased for sacrifice, the gentile requires three days to ensure that the animal has no blemish. The Gemara asks: And for the purpose of sacrifice, is it sufficient to prepare merely three days in advance? But didn’t we learn in a baraita: One begins to ask about the halakhot of Passover thirty days before Passover; Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: One begins to inquire only two weeks before Passover. According to both opinions, far more than three days are needed in order to begin preparing for the sacrifice of an offering. One can assume that the same applies to gentiles.

The Gemara answers: We Jews, for whom blemishes that disqualify the animal are common, as even a small blemish on the cornea of the eye disqualifies it, we require thirty days to prepare for the sacrificial offerings of the festivals. By contrast, with regard to them, gentiles, they hold that the only blemish that disqualifies the animal is if it is lacking an entire limb; therefore, three days are sufficient for them to prepare for the sacrifice.

As Rabbi Elazar says: From where is it derived with regard to an animal that is lacking a limb, that it is prohibited for descendants of Noah to sacrifice it as an offering? As it is written: “And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort you shall bring into the ark, to keep them alive with you” (Genesis 6:19). In this verse the Torah states: Bring an animal whose extremities are alive, as some of those animals were to be used later as offerings.

The Gemara asks: Isn’t that verse required to teach that an animal with a wound that will cause it to die within twelve months [tereifa] is not fit to be sacrificed as an offering? The Gemara answers: The disqualification of a tereifa is derived from the phrase: “To keep seed alive” (Genesis 7:3), as a tereifa cannot propagate. The Gemara asks: This works out well according to the one who says that a tereifa cannot give birth. According to this opinion, the disqualification of a missing limb is derived from the phrase: “Of every living thing,” while the disqualification of a tereifa is learned from the phrase: “To keep seed alive.”

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

AvodaZara 5b explores Moses rebuking the Israelites for ingratitude, plus a teaching that understanding a teacher's wisdom can take forty years.