{"id":13183,"date":"2010-08-19T03:09:15","date_gmt":"2010-08-19T03:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/life\/other\/masechet_shevuot_6a12b\/"},"modified":"2016-11-30T05:51:35","modified_gmt":"2016-11-30T10:51:35","slug":"masechet_shevuot_6a12b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_shevuot_6a12b\/","title":{"rendered":"Masechet Avodah Zarah 6a-12b"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Coming Week’s Daf Yomi by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz<\/em><\/p>\n

This essay is based upon the insights and chidushim (original ideas) of Talmudic scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, as published in the Hebrew version of the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud.<\/em><\/p>\n

Avodah Zara 6a-b: Pagan holidays<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the Mishnah<\/a> (2a<\/a>) it is forbidden to do business with non-Jewish idol worshippers for three days prior to their holidays.<\/p>\n

What are these pagan holidays?<\/p>\n

The Gemara<\/a> on today’s daf<\/em> quotes a baraita<\/a><\/em> that mentions three holidays: Kalendae, Saturnalia<\/em> and Kratesis<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Rav Hanin bar Rava explains that Kalendae<\/em> refers to the holiday that is celebrated for eight days following the winter solstice, while Saturnalia<\/em> is the eight day festival that precedes it.<\/p>\n

Kalendae<\/a><\/em> or Calendae<\/em> usually refers to the first day of the month according to the Roman calendar, but in our case the Sages are talking about the first day of the first month of the year – Kalendae Januirae<\/em> – that is to say, the first day of the month of January. As the Gemara explains, the celebration of this festival began immediately following the winter solstice on December 22 and lasted for eight days. As part of the celebrations the Roman would bring sacrifices to the pagan gods and arrange for games and related activities at the circus.<\/p>\n

Saturnalia<\/a><\/em> became one of the most popular Roman festivals. It was marked by sacrifices to the god Saturn and general revelry that included reversal of social roles, in which slaves and masters ostensibly switched places.<\/p>\n

Originally celebrated for a day, on December 17, its popularity saw it grow until it became a week long extravaganza, ending on the 25th day of the month.<\/p>\n

Saturnalia<\/em> involved the conventional sacrifices, a couch (lectisternium<\/em>) set out in front of the temple of Saturn and the untying of the ropes that bound the statue of Saturn during the rest of the year. A Saturnalicius princeps<\/em> was elected master of ceremonies for the proceedings. Besides the public rites there were a series of holidays and customs celebrated privately. The celebrations included a school holiday, the making and giving of small presents (saturnalia et sigillaricia<\/em>) and a special market (sigillaria<\/em>).<\/p>\n

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Avodah Zara 7a-b: Second opinions in Jewish law<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a common assumption that once a person goes to a Rabbi for a rabbinic ruling, he cannot turn to a second Rabbi to seek a “second opinion.”<\/p>\n

The basis for this assumption appears on today’s daf<\/em>. The baraita<\/a><\/em> teaches that if someone approached a Sage for a ruling regarding a question of ritual purity and the ruling was that it was impure, he should not turn to a second Sage to see if he would rule it pure. Similarly, if someone approached a Sage for a ruling regarding a question of whether something was permissible according to Jewish law and the ruling was that it was forbidden, he should not turn to a second Sage to see if he would rule it permitted.<\/p>\n

Tosafot<\/a> argue that there is no prohibition against turning to additional rabbis in an attempt to clarify the matter. They claim that the intent of the baraita<\/em> is to ensure that the person asking the question will let the second rabbi know that a first opinion had already been given. The onus is on the second rabbi to make sure that when he offers his ruling, he takes into account the reasoning – and dignity – of the person who first offered a response to this question.<\/p>\n

According to the Ran<\/a> the main problem is the dignity of the first rabbi, so if the second one were to engage the first in discussion of the matter and were he to agree to the arguments of the second rabbi, there would be no problem whatsoever.<\/p>\n

A different perspective is offered by the Ra’avad<\/a> who suggests that the first ruling creates a situation where the object being discussed has been declared forbidden, and that status cannot be changed (according to this, the rule would not apply to situations of monetary rulings, where there are two sides in the matter). The Me’iri<\/a> points out that even according to this approach, the only problem would be if the second rabbi were asked to rule on the exact same case that had already been decided. If, however, a different, but similar, case is brought before him, he has every right to offer the ruling that makes the most sense to him.<\/p>\n

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Avodah Zara 8a-b: Rabbinic ordination at a crossroads<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rav Yehuda<\/a> quotes Rav<\/a> as telling about Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava<\/a> who must be remembered for keeping the laws of kenasot<\/em> — penalties — from being forgotten. The Gemara<\/a> explains that under Hadrian the Roman government forbade for rabbinic ordination to be conferred. They announced that anyone giving or receiving ordination would be killed and nearby cities and provinces would be destroyed and uprooted. Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava gathered five students to a place midway between large mountains and cities – between the techum Shabbat<\/em> areas (the distance that one can walk from a inhabited area on Shabbat<\/a><\/em>) surrounding Usha and Shefar’am – and conferred rabbinic ordination on Rabbi Meir<\/a>, Rabbi Yehuda<\/a>, Rabbi Shimon<\/a>, Rabbi Yossi<\/a> and Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua<\/a>. The Roman garrisons spotted them and Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava instructed his students to flee, while he protected the path by sacrificing himself to the onslaught of the Roman soldiers. While he was killed for his efforts, his students survived to act as teachers and judges.<\/p>\n

The cities of Usha and Shefar’am<\/a> were among the centers of Jewish life in the Galilee at the end of the Second Temple<\/a> period. Usha was situated in the lower Galilee and for a time played host to the Sanhedrin<\/a>, which wandered in the Galilee at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple. Today there is an Arab village in the area that carries the name “Husha”.<\/p>\n

Shefar’am was the Sanhedrin’s next stop after Usha. It was in the same area, about three kilometers to the northeast of Usha. Today a Christian-Druze community lives there. The area between these two communities is hilly. An age-old tradition points to the burial cave of Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava on the road between the two cities immediately next to an ancient notice in Greek indicating the end of the techum Shabbat<\/em> from Usha.<\/p>\n

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Avodah Zara 9a-b: Basing Real Estate decisions on eschatology<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Our Gemara<\/a> brings a teaching from Tanna d’vei Eliyahu<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n

The world will last for six thousand years \u2013<\/p>\n