Avodah Zarah 20a (כ.) — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina said:

As the verse says Deuteronomy 7]: “When the Lord your God brings you to the land to which you are coming to take possession of it, and He dislodges many nations before you: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations, numerous and mighty, more than you. The Lord your God delivers them before you, and you defeat them. You shall doom them; you shall not make a covenant with them, and you shall not show them favor” .

Deuteronomy 7 ] “When the Lord your God brings you into the land to which you are coming to possess it, and He casts out many nations before you: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—seven nations, many and mighty, more than you. And the Lord your God delivers them before you, and you strike them. You shall utterly destroy them; you shall not form a covenant with them, and you shall not show them favor” .

And we expound: “

You shall not show them favor”—

you shall not give them a holding on the land .

And we challenge this: This verse is not superfluous for an exposition, because

this “you shall not show them favor” is needed

for another exposition?—

For this is what the Merciful One says: You shall not show them favor.

So that a person should not say, “How beautiful is this gentile” as will be explained below.

And we answer:

If so,

if the verse came only to teach the prohibition against showing favor, and therefore used the expression “favor,”

let the verse say

the verse should say,

“You shall not show them favor,”

with the full spelling, which expresses the meaning of “showing mercy”—

Why,

then, did the verse use the wording

“You shall not show them favor,”

which also conveys the meaning of “a holding on the land”?—

Learn from this:

it is possible to derive from this biblical wording

two

two expositions: both the meaning of “favor” and the meaning of “a holding.”

And we challenge this:

Still,

the verse is not superfluous for an exposition, because

it is needed

for another exposition, from the expression “gratuitously”—

for this is what the Merciful One said,

this is what the Torah commanded:

You shall not give them a gift

of

gratuity.

And we answer:

If so,

if the verse came to teach the prohibition against giving a gift “gratuitously”—

let the verse say,

let the verse state

“You shall not give them gratuity.”

Since the Torah wrote

“You shall not show them favor”—

learn from this all of them.

It is possible to expound all three meanings: not to show them favor, not to give them a gratuitous gift, and not to give them a holding on the land .

It was taught likewise,

so too we learned in a beraita, which derives the three expositions from the variations and precise wording of the verse:

It is stated in the Torah:

“You shall not show them favor”—

and we expound it from the meaning of “a holding”:

You shall not give them a holding on the land.

Alternatively: “You shall not show them favor”—

and we expound it from the meaning of “showing mercy”:

You shall not show them favor.

Alternatively: “You shall not show them favor”—

and we expound it from the meaning of “gratuitously”:

You shall not give them a gratuitous gift.

And

with regard to what we derived from the verse, that it is forbidden to give

a gratuitous gift

to a gentile—

This law

itself

is not accepted by everyone; rather,

it is a dispute between tanna'im,

and Rabbi Meir indeed holds that it is permitted to give a gratuitous gift to a gentile.

As it was taught,

as we learned in a beraita:

The Torah says [Deuteronomy 14]:

“You shall not eat any unslaughtered animal; you shall give it to the stranger in your settlements, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a gentile.”

You thus find that both a convert and an idolater—

whether with regard to giving or with regard to selling.

idols—

A convert is one who dwells in Eretz Yisrael and has accepted upon himself the observance of the seven Noahide mitzvot, and he is not prohibited from eating unslaughtered animal meat. We are commanded to sustain him, as it is stated [Leviticus 25]: “The stranger and the resident shall live alongside you.”

And we expound from this wording of the Torah:

I have only

permission

for a convert with regard to giving, and for an idolater with regard to selling

specifically—

Permission

for a convert with regard to selling—

from where?

The verse states: “

To the stranger in your settlements

you shall give it or sell it.”

Permission

for an idolater with regard to giving—

from where?

The verse states: “You shall give it to him and he may eat it, or sell it to a gentile.”

That is, Rabbi Meir derives from the fact that the Torah wrote “giving and selling” in the middle: We expound “you shall give and sell” both with regard to the beginning of the verse, concerning the convert, and with regard to the end of the verse, concerning the gentile.

For if the Torah had been particular that it be given only to a convert and sold only to a gentile, it should have written: “You shall give it and he shall eat it to the stranger in your settlements, or sell it to a gentile.”

These are

the words of Rabbi Meir.

Rabbi Yehuda says: The words are as they are written,

as the Torah wrote them!—

To a convert with regard to giving,

and one may not sell it to him,

and to an idolater with regard to selling,

and one may not give him a gratuitous gift.

The Gemara’s exposition that it is forbidden to give a gentile a gratuitous gift follows the view of Rabbi Yehuda .

The Gemara explains the beraita and asks:

Does Rabbi Meir state his ruling well?

For the meaning of the verse is giving and selling: giving to a convert, and selling and giving to an idolater.

And Rabbi Yehuda could say to you: If it could enter your mind

if one were to entertain the thought

as

the

opinion

“You shall give it and he may eat it and sell it,”

Rabbi Meir said—

let the Torah write

the Torah should have written:

“You shall give it and he shall eat it, and sell it,”

and then we would derive the law according to Rabbi Meir—

“Or”

why do I need it?

Why did the Torah write “or sell it to a gentile,” which indicates a division between the alternatives?

Learn from this:

from the fact that the Torah wrote “or,” it follows

for

the exposition of Rabbi Yehuda:

The words are as they are written—

that is what it came to teach:

the Torah was particular that it be given specifically to a convert and sold specifically to a gentile.

And we clarify:

And

what will

Rabbi Meir

answer to this claim of Rabbi Yehuda?

That

what the Torah wrote “or” comes to teach us:

to give precedence,

to give priority and precedence to

giving to a convert

before

selling to an idolater. If a convert and a gentile are before him in his settlements, he should give precedence to giving it to the convert, and should not sell it to the gentile—

And Rabbi Meir likewise expounds: “To the stranger in your settlements you shall give it and he shall eat it”—this is the primary mitzva; and if there is no convert—“or sell it to a gentile” .

Although one must give precedence to giving it to the convert, Rabbi Meir holds that the Torah did not prohibit giving it to a gentile.

And although one must give precedence to giving it to a convert, Rabbi Meir holds that the Torah did not prohibit giving it to a gentile.

And Rabbi Yehuda

will answer Rabbi Meir’s exposition:

Since you are commanded to sustain a convert,

as it is stated: “The stranger and the resident shall live alongside you,”

whereas a Canaanite,

that is, a gentile [and in tractate Pesaḥim:

and a gentile],

you are not commanded to sustain,

and there is no mitzva to give to a gentile—

And through reasoning we would know that one must give precedence to giving it to a convert. Therefore,

“to give precedence requires no verse”—

so why did the Torah write “or”? To teach that the words are as they are written: specifically, giving to a convert and selling to a gentile.

The Gemara returns to explain the beraita.

We learned in the beraita:

Alternatively: “You shall not show them favor”—

you shall not show them favor.

This matter

supports Rav;

it supports the statement of Rav—

As Rav said: It is forbidden for a person to say, “How beautiful is this female idolater

gentile

this one.”

The same applies to “a gentile.”

Meytivi,

the Gemara cites a beraita to challenge Rav’s statement:

There was an incident involving Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, who was on a platform

a step

on the Temple Mount, and he saw one exceptionally beautiful female idolater. He said: “How great are Your works, O Lord!”

And Rabbi Akiva also saw

the

wife of Turnus Rufus

the wicked,

one of the Roman officials;

he spat,

spat,

laughed,

laughed,

and wept.

He spat

because

she had come from a putrid drop; he laughed—

because he saw through ruaḥ ha-kodesh

that she was destined to convert

to Judaism

and he would marry her,

and Rabbi Akiva would take her as his wife.

And he wept

because

this beauty will ultimately lie in the dust,

because this beauty will decay in the earth.

Is Rav contradicted by the incident involving Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel?

And

we answer:

And Rav

will say: Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel did not show her “favor,” nor did he say, “How beautiful is this gentile woman”; rather—

he was merely expressing praise,

he praised the Holy One, blessed be He, for the beautiful creation that He created in His world, and he would have said the same even upon seeing a beautiful donkey or a beautiful camel!—

As the Master said,

as we learned:

One who sees beautiful creatures

praises the Holy One, blessed be He

and says: “Blessed

is

the One Who has created

such beautiful creatures

in His world.”

This incident does not contradict Rav’s statement.

And we challenge this:

But is it permitted to gaze

at women?

Meytivi:

The Gemara cites a beraita in which the prohibition against gazing at women is explained, and challenges the incident involving Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and Rabbi Akiva, who apparently gazed at her.

It is stated in the Torah [Deuteronomy 23]:

“You shall guard yourself from every evil thing” .

The verse comes to teach us

that a person should not gaze at a beautiful woman, even if she is unmarried,

and he should not gaze

at a married woman, even if she is unattractive.