2,711 pages of Talmud. A gem a day.

Horayot 2

Today’s daf teaches such an important lesson about what it means to have just courts.

If a court erroneously issued a ruling permitting the Jewish people to violate one of all the mitzvot that are stated in the Torah, and an individual proceeded and performed that transgression unwittingly on the basis of the court’s ruling, then . . . the individual is exempt from bringing an offering. This is due to the fact that he associated his action with the ruling of the court.

I love this. I love that the daf admits that courts get it wrong. I love that the court is held liable and not the individual. (And I love that elsewhere on the daf it says that if you’re a scholar and know they’re ruling wrong – you still need to do the right thing.)

Maya Angelou was not Jewish and while well read, I doubt she read the daf, but I htink her quote, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better,” fits the daf perfectly.

We all mess up sometimes, even if we think we are “doing the right thing” or even “following the law.” But when we realize those laws are unjust, or what we thought was right wasn’t – then we need to do better.

Avodah Zarah 76

We have made it to the last page of Avodah Zarah. It’s bitter sweet as it’s been such an entertaining daf. And it certainly ends with a memorable story. As you will recall, we have been learning about how to kasher utensils. (make an item kosher/fit for use) We end by learning that we kasher knives by stabbing them into the ground ten times. And this story is a funny proof text:

This is also taught in a baraita: With regard to a good knife that does not have notches, one can thrust it ten times into the ground. Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, says: This is sufficient for the purpose of eating cold food with it. This is like that incident involving Mar Yehuda, an important personage of the house of the Exilarch, and Bati bar Tuvi, a wealthy man, who were sitting before King Shapur, the king of Persia. The king’s servants brought an etrog before them. The king cut a slice and ate it, and then he cut a slice and gave it to Bati bar Tuvi. He then stuck the knife ten times in the ground, cut a slice, and gave it to Mar Yehuda. Bati bar Tuvi said to him: And is that man, referring to himself, not Jewish? King Shapur said to him: I am certain of that master, Mar Yehuda, that he is meticulous about halakha; but I am not certain of that master, referring to Bati bar Tuvi, that he is meticulous in this regard. There are those who say that King Shapur said to him: Remember what you did last night. The Persian practice was to present a woman to each guest, with whom he would engage in intercourse. Mar Yehuda did not accept the woman who was sent to him, but Bati bar Tuvi did, and therefore he was not assumed to be meticulous with regard to eating kosher food.

King Shapur kashers his knife after serving Bati bar Tuvi, not because he’s not Jewish, but because he may have slept with a prostitute the night before. I love the king telling Bati that his behavior is sketchy so he can’t be sure his behavior in other areas is not questionable too.

Avodah Zarah has certainly been an entertaining daf. One of my favorite thoughts was all the devout Jews who study daf yomi saying to themselves, “I love Avodah Zarah.” (Which means we love idol worship.) We will miss you!

Tomorrow we start Horayot which is about atoning for erroneous rulings of the court and inadvertent sins of leaders.

Sounds like there will be a lot that relates to today . . .

Avodah Zarah 75

When my grandpa, an orthodox rabbi, would come to visit my family in Fort Wayne, he would kasher all our dishes and utensils before he would eat anything. (Mostly, he just didn’t visit us and we had to go to him. But the few times he came, like for my Bat Mitzvah.) He clearly knew the rules outlined on our daf today which tell us how to kasher pots, pans, dishes, and utensils.

The Sages taught: One who purchases utensils from the gentiles must prepare them for use in the following manner: With regard to items that the gentile did not use, one immerses them, and they are pure. With regard to items that the gentile used for cold food or drink, such as cups and jugs and flasks, one rinses them and immerses them, and they are pure. With regard to items that the gentile used for hot food or drink, such as large pots, small kettles [hakumkamusun], and samovars, one purges them with boiling water and immerses them, and they are pure. With regard to items that the gentile used with fire, such as spits and grills, one heats them until white-hot and immerses them, and they are pure.

So, to make it simple, you think about how the item is normally used and that’s how you kasher it.

Now the gem: As we head into the High Holy Day season we are trying to get our souls back to their natural pure state – re-kashering them if you will. For some things we only need to “immerse” and we are good to go. These could be the sins between us and God, the ones we only need to confess and turn away from and we are good. The one’s that require us to go through the fire? Those are the one’s between us and our fellow. We need to really do teshuvah for those. We have to admit what we did wrong, feel bad, apologize, make up for what we did and figure out a plan so we will never do it again. It’s fire (both in the slang way where fire is amazing, and fire in that the heat is turned up!)

Avodah Zarah 74

Cleaning tips on the daf! While the daf is describing how to “kasher” a winepress purchased from gentile (who may have used it in idolatrous libations), it gives us some amazing cleaning tips that people still swear by today.

The Gemara asks with regard to the cleansing mentioned in the mishna: How does one cleanse a winepress, or utensils used by a gentile for wine? Rav says: One cleans it with water. Rabba bar bar Ḥana says: One cleans it with ashes. The Gemara asks: When Rav says: One cleans it with water, does he mean only with water and not with ashes as well? Furthermore, when Rabba bar bar Ḥana says: One cleans it with ashes, does he mean only with ashes, and not with water as well? Rather, their statements must be understood as follows: Rav says: One must cleanse it with water first, and the same must be done with ashes subsequently, and Rabba bar bar Ḥana says: One must cleanse it with ashes first, and the same must be done with water subsequently. The Gemara comments: And they do not disagree.

That’s right folks – if you want to get out stubborn grease and stains, ash and water seems to work wonders.

Surface recommended for ash cleaning include:

Glass: Clean wood stove glass or dirty glass containers.
Metal: Polish tarnished metal items, such as pots, pans, or silver.
Pots and Pans: Remove stubborn, burnt-on grime from cookware.

How to use ashes for cleaning

Gather Ashes: Collect cooled ashes from a clean, untreated hardwood fire.
Make a Paste: Mix a small amount of water with the ashes to create a thick paste.
Apply to Surface: Using a damp cloth, sponge, or toothbrush, apply the paste to the dirty or tarnished surface, like glass or metal.
Gently Scrub: Rub the area gently to remove the grime or polish the surface.
Rinse: Rinse the surface with water to remove the ash and reveal a clean surface.
Test First: Always test the ash paste on a small, hidden area of the item to make sure it won’t cause scratches.

When reading up on this I got on some threads where people shred that this worked better for them than expensive polishes and cleaning products.

I have a fireplace, but I live in Miami and so have never had to make a fire in this house to stay warm. But for those further north – maybe you want to keep those winter ashes for eco-friendly/wallet friendly cleaning.

Avodah Zarah 73

Today’s daf opens with a new Mishnah, all about mixing water and wine:

Wine used for a libation is forbidden, and any amount of it renders other wine forbidden if they are mixed together. Wine used for a libation that became mixed with wine, or water that was used for an idolatrous libation that became mixed with ordinary water, renders the mixture forbidden with any amount of the forbidden wine or water; but wine used for a libation that became mixed with water, or water used for a libation that became mixed with wine renders the mixture forbidden only if the forbidden liquid is sufficient to impart flavor to the mixture, i.e., for the wine to flavor the water or for the water to dilute the wine to an extent that can be tasted.

You may recall the mixing of water and wine on previous pages of the Talmud. It got me wondering about mixing water and wine. I went down a rabbit hole and learned that, (According to https://santoriniwinetour.com/) “The ancient Greeks and Romans indeed mixed water and wine – but technically they put wine in their water more than they put water in their wine. At that time, wine was also considered a way to purify and improve the taste of (often stagnant) water, but mainly by mixing wine with water, they could avoid all the unpleasant consequences of still wine.” And opposed to the pictures we often get of wealthy Roman’s drinking wine lounging all day, “Drinking wine that had not been mixed with water (“still wine”) was considered barbaric and was only used by the sick or during travels as a tonic.”

So, maybe these guys weren’t as drunk as we thought they were . . .

Avodah Zarah 72

Thirsty? Below is a bunch of people in Uganda drinking Malwa, a traditional beer sipped from a calabash pot.

You’ll see why I posted this after you read this snippet from the daf:

Mar Zutra, son of Rav Naḥman, says: For a Jew and a gentile to drink simultaneously from a vessel with tubes for several people to drink from [kenishkanin] is permitted. And this statement applies only in a case where the Jew stops drinking first, before the gentile; but if the gentile stops drinking first, it does not apply and the wine is forbidden, as wine from the gentile’s mouth returns to the vessel and renders all of the wine forbidden. Rabba bar Rav Huna happened to come to the house of the Exilarch, and he permitted them to drink from a kenishkanin together with gentiles. There are those who say that Rabba bar Rav Huna himself drank from a kenishkanin.

So, they don’t want you to drink backwash, but this seems to have been a thing that people did, like Rabba bar Rav Huna. Looks like a party.

Avodah Zarah 71

Today’s gem is very disturbing. On 70 we read that wine from a city attacked during wartime is still kosher as the soldiers don’t have time to pour libations… but today we learn they have time for something else.

And the Gemara raises a contradiction to the assumption that soldiers during wartime do not have time to commit transgressions from that which is taught in another mishna (Ketubot 27a): With regard to a city that was conquered byan army laying siege, all the women married to priests located in the city are unfit and forbidden to their husbands, due to the concern that they were raped. Rav Mari resolved the contradiction and said: They do not have time to pour wine for libations, as their passion for idolatry is not pressing at that time, but they have time to engage in intercourse,because their lust is great even during wartime.

So, no time for libations but plenty of time for rape! Shows that people always make time for what they want to do. (And maybe when men are raping women they don’t want to think that God or gods are watching.)

Avodah Zarah 70

It has often felt, reading Avodah Zarah, that the rabbis didn’t want Jews to mingle with non-Jews. On our daf today – we see that we have TONS of regular contact with non-Jews. We eat, sleep, work with, and socialize with non-Jews – even on the daf! On this page alone we see:

Jewish prostitute with gentiles

Gentile prostitute with Jews

Gentile in a Jews wine cellar

Jew living upstairs with a gentile downstairs

Gentile found in inn with wine of a Jew

A Jew leaves gentile they are drinking with to going to pray

Jew leaves ship where he was with gentiles for Shabbat

A gentile is hiding in winepress out of fear of a lion (the Jewish friend is too)

Gentile girl with wine froth in hand

A Jewish woman gives wine-shop key to gentile woman

All to say, just like today, we have always socialized, done business and been in relationships with non-Jews.

May our relationships be strong.

Avodah Zarah 69

Today’s daf offers a fascinating psychological insight.

Rava explains that wine left in the hands of non-Jews was safe not because of locks or guards, but because the owner might show up at any moment: Rava said: It is a case where he came to them in a roundabout way, such that they would not know from where he might appear, and they would be afraid to tamper with the goods because he might catch them in the act.

The daf pushes this further: And had the mishna taught only the case where the Jew placed his wine in a wagon or on a ship, one might assume that the concern there is because the gentile thinks: Perhaps he will come on a different road or stand on the bank of the river and see me.

It’s not actual supervision that protects the wine—it’s the possibility of being observed. (someone might see me!)

This is so human. Most of us behave better when we sense eyes upon us, even imagined ones. The Talmud knew that accountability doesn’t always require constant oversight—just the awareness that we might be seen.

Maybe that’s why Jewish tradition reminds us that God is “the One who sees.” Maybe it’s also why community matters: living among people who notice us keeps us honest.

So live like someone’s watching. Because God is.

Avodah Zarah 68

So, the daf has been talking a lot about if something is forbidden or permitted to benefit from, or to be eaten, if a forbidden substance falls into it. We did this with wine, vinegar, even spices and dough! So, get ready for today’s mystery substance:

The Gemara recounts an incident involving a certain mouse that fell into a barrel of beer.

That’s right ladies and gentleman, it’s a mouse! So, can I drink (or sell) that beer?

Rav deemed that barrel of beer forbidden.

Yeah, seems pretty obvious. Of course you couldn’t drink a beer with a mouse in it, it’s gross! That has to be the reason they give. Right?

The Sages said before Rav Sheshet: Shall we say that Rav maintains that even in a case where the forbidden substance imparts flavor to the detriment of the mixture, it is forbidden? Presumably, the mouse imparted flavor to the detriment of the beer.

Wait, they’re saying it’s only forbidden because the mouse makes the beer taste better?!

Rav Sheshet said to them: Rav generally maintains that in a case where the forbidden substance imparts flavor to the detriment of the mixture, it is permitted. But here, in the case of a mouse, it is a novelty that the Torah prohibits the flavor from a mouse at all, as it is repulsive and people distance themselves from consuming it, and even so the Merciful One prohibits it. Therefore, although it imparts flavor to the detriment of the mixture, it is still forbidden.

Phew, thank goodness. But wait, it’s the daf, someone will disagree . . .

Rava said: The halakha is that if the forbidden substance imparts flavor to the detriment of the mixture, it is permitted. But with regard to a mouse that fell into a barrel of beer, I do not know what the reason was that Rav deemed it forbidden. I do not know whether it was because he maintains that if the forbidden substance imparts flavor to the detriment of the mixture it is forbidden, and if so, the halakha is not in accordance with his opinion, or whether it was because although he maintains that if the forbidden substance imparts flavor to the detriment of the mixture it is permitted, a mouse that falls into beer enhances its flavor.

Vomit.

Well, we all know that bugs and other things may make their way into mass prepared food. Ever wonder where the origins of that rule came from?

Rav Shmuel, son of Rav Ika, calculated the amount of beer necessary for nullifying the mouse at sixty times the volume of the mouse.

The Gemara concludes: And the halakha is that this and that, both vinegar and beer, nullify the mouse with sixty times its volume, and so is the ruling for all prohibitions in the Torah.

Yep. So, a long as the beer is 60 times the volume or the mouse – bottoms up!

Are you craving a beer? I’m not.