Avodah Zarah 26a (כו.) — the Talmud in English

Furthermore:

Rav Menashe was going

was going

to

a place called

“Bei Tortha.” He encountered thieves

who met him.

They said to him

the thieves:

Where are you going

?

He said to them

Rav Menashe:

To Pumbedita!

When they reached

the place

Bei Tortha, he turned away

from them and headed toward Bei Tortha.

They said to him

the bandits:

You are a student of Judah the deceiver

, from whom you learned this trickery; because of your deception, we are unable to rob you.

He said to them

Rav Menashe said to the bandits:

Do you know him

? Do you know Rav Yehuda, that you call him by this derogatory name?

Rav Menashe continued:

May it be the will

of God

that these people be

you be

under his ban

the ban of Rav Yehuda, since Rav Yehuda was a great man, and his curse takes effect; Rav Menashe cursed them in the name of Rav Yehuda!

And once he had cursed them with the ban of Rav Yehuda,

they went on and committed

continued and carried out

thefts

thefts for

twenty-two years

twenty-two years,

but they did not succeed

in their thefts!

When they saw

this,

they all came and requested the annulment of their ban

they all came and requested that the ban and nidui imposed upon them be lifted.

And there was among them one weaver

one of the bandits was a weaver,

who did not come to have his ban released

and did not come to have his nidui released.

And a lion devoured him

A lion devoured him! And the Gemara adds:

This is what people say

as the proverb says:

“A weaver who does not feel shame but acts brazenly loses a year from his life”

a weaver who is not ashamed but acts brazenly loses a year from his life.

The Gemara adds:

Come and see

:

what

is the difference

between

the thieves of Babylonia

and

the

bandits of Eretz Yisrael

The thieves of Babylonia, who plotted against Rav Menashe, insulted a great man—Rav Yehuda.

Whereas the bandits of Eretz Yisrael—even though bandits are more violent than thieves—who plotted against the students of Rabbi Akiva, spoke in his praise! -

This is to recount the praise of Eretz Yisrael!

Mishna:

This Mishna is a continuation of the previous Mishna, adding further matters from which one must distance oneself from gentiles because of the danger. As part of the general obligation to distance oneself from them, one must also refrain from assisting idolatry. This is the ruling of the Mishna before us: it is forbidden to deliver a child for idolatry.

A Jewish woman may not deliver the child of an idolatrous woman

,

because she is delivering a child for idolatry. But an idolatrous woman may deliver the child of a Jewish woman. A Jewish woman may not nurse

the child of an idolatrous woman,

but an idolatrous woman may nurse the child of a Jew

in her presence

that is, in the home and at the location of the Jewish mother of the infant. However, the infant’s mother may not hand him over to an idolatrous woman so that she will nurse him in her own home, lest she kill him!

Gemara:

We learned in our Mishna that a Jewish woman may not deliver the child of an idolatrous woman, and we find a dispute concerning this matter.

The Sages taught: A Jewish woman may not deliver the child of an idolatrous woman, because she is delivering a child for idolatry.

And an idolatrous woman may not deliver the child of a Jewish woman, because they are suspected of bloodshed—

the statement of Rabbi Meir.

And the Sages say: An idolatrous woman may deliver the child of a Jewish woman

only

when

other Jewish women

stand over her

and supervise her so that she does no harm.

But she may not

deliver her

when she is alone with her

without the presence of other women.

And Rabbi Meir says: Even if

there are women

standing over her—

even so, she may not

deliver the child in this manner.

Because

sometimes

the

midwife

midwife

places

her

hand on the forehead

of the infant, where the infant’s skull is soft—

and kills him, without it being apparent.

She kills him, but it is not apparent that she killed him, since his death can be attributed to another cause.

As in the incident involving a certain woman

and the incident that once occurred involving a gentile woman,

who said to her companion

who said to her fellow midwife, using a derogatory expression:

“You deliver Jewish women, the daughter of one who delivers Jewish women.”

You deliver Jewish women, the daughter of one who delivers Jewish women!

She said to her

that midwife:

“Many evils will befall that woman”

many troubles will come upon that woman who insults me, corresponding to the number of Jewish infants’ lives

“whose blood I have spilled, like the foam of a river.”

I killed them and extracted their blood like the foam of a river ! And if so, we have no greater proof than this that gentile midwives are capable of killing!

And what will the Sages, who permit delivering a child in the presence of a gentile woman when other women stand over her, answer to this?

And the Sages said to him

they answer this as follows:

“That is not so;

one should not take this woman’s words seriously, since

she said it merely as a statement.”

It was mere speech on the part of that midwife. It was nothing more than empty boasting.

We learned in our Mishna:

A Jewish woman may not nurse the child of an idolatrous woman.

This matter, too, is the subject of a dispute—

the Sages taught: A Jewish woman may not nurse the child of an idolatrous woman, because she raises a child for idolatry.

And an idolatrous woman may not nurse the child of a Jewish woman, because she is suspected of bloodshed—

the statement of Rabbi Meir. And the Sages say: An idolatrous woman may nurse the child of a Jewish woman when other women stand over her.

But she may not

nurse him

when he is alone

with the infant

and she is alone

and the two of them are by themselves.

And Rabbi Meir says: Even if

there are

other women standing over her, even so

also

she may not nurse.

Sometimes

sometimes

she applies poison to the breast from the outside,

the gentile woman smears a poisonous substance on the outside of her breast—

and kills him

thereby killing the infant!

It is necessary to understand why it was necessary to state the dispute between Rabbi Meir and the Sages both with regard to delivery—Rabbi Meir prohibits delivering a child in the presence of a gentile midwife, whereas the Sages permit it—and with regard to nursing.

Since Rabbi Meir is concerned about danger, should we not have the same concern both with delivery and with nursing?

The Gemara resolves this:

And it is necessary,

we need to state both of these disputes.

Because

if it had taught us

only their dispute concerning

a midwife,

and not their dispute concerning nursing, we would say that only with regard to a midwife

in that case

concerning her

the Sages said

the Sages said

that it is permitted

to have a child delivered by a gentile midwife, because

it is not possible

for her to kill the infant

because other women see her.

But

with regard to

a wet nurse, who can apply

who smears

it

a poison

to the breast from the outside,

on the breast from outside the body,

and kill him

and thereby kill the infant,

I would say

we would say that in this matter

they agree with him

the Sages agree

with Rabbi Meir,

and prohibit nursing the infant by a gentile woman.

And if it had taught us

only the dispute concerning

a wet nurse,

we would say that only

in that case

with regard to nursing

Rabbi Meir says that it is forbidden

to nurse from the gentile woman,

because she can apply poison to the breast from the outside,

smearing poison on the outside of her breast,

and kill him

and kill the infant. Therefore, she may not be allowed to nurse him.

But

with regard to

a midwife, since it is not possible

for her to kill the infant

when other women stand over her, I would say

we would say that

he agrees with them

Rabbi Meir agrees

with the Sages

that it is permitted to have a child delivered by a gentile midwife. -

It is necessary!

Therefore, we need to state both disputes.

a. We need the dispute between Rabbi Meir and the Sages concerning nursing, since it might have been said that the Sages agree with Rabbi Meir that nursing by a gentile woman is forbidden, because she can kill the infant with poison without this being noticed; the Mishna therefore teaches us that even in this case the Sages permit it when other women stand over her,

b. We need the dispute between Rabbi Meir and the Sages concerning delivery by a gentile midwife. Since it might have been said that Rabbi Meir agrees with the Sages that it is permitted to have a child delivered by a gentile woman, because she cannot kill him without being noticed by all those standing over her, the Mishna teaches us that Rabbi Meir prohibits it even in this case.

We learned in our Mishna that a Jewish woman may not deliver the child of an idolatrous woman [and there is no dissenting opinion concerning this].

The Gemara raises an objection:

But we find a contradiction

to this ruling, as we learned in a beraita:

A Jewish woman

may deliver the child of an idolatrous woman for payment, but not for free.

The Gemara answers:

Rav Yosef said—

for payment it is permitted

to deliver her child

because of enmity.

Since if she refuses to deliver the child even for payment, this will increase hatred toward the Jewish people, and for this reason it is permitted.

Whereas our Mishna is speaking of a case in which she is forbidden to deliver the child for free, since this does not increase hatred, as the Jewish woman can say: “I need payment for my sustenance, and I do not perform these services for free!”

And likewise

Rav Yosef was inclined to say

that

delivering the child of an idolatrous woman

on Shabbat

on Shabbat

for payment—

is permitted

it is permitted,

because of

so that there will be no

enmity!

Abaye said

to Rav Yosef: There is no necessity to say that there would indeed be enmity if the Jewish woman refused to deliver the child on Shabbat. Since

she could

evade the gentile woman and

say

to her:

“To her”:

Our own

our people

who observe Shabbat

who keep Shabbat,

we desecrate it for them.

We are permitted to desecrate it for the sake of childbirth. However,

for you, who do not observe Shabbat

for you, who do not keep Shabbat—

we do not desecrate it.

We do not desecrate Shabbat for you!

And this claim has substance, so the gentile woman will accept it, and there will be no enmity on account of it.

Further,

Rav Yosef thought to say: Nursing for payment

nursing the infant of an idolater for payment—

is permitted, because of enmity.

So as not to increase hatred.

Abaye said

to Rav Yosef:

She could

the Jewish wet nurse

say

to evade the gentile woman and say to her: -

If she is unmarried,

if the Jewish woman is unmarried and not married, she should say:

“I wish to marry;”

I wish to marry, and therefore I do not nurse.

And

if

if

she is a married woman,

the Jewish woman should say to the gentile woman:

“I do not want to become soiled”

I do not want to become soiled through this nursing, [as it sometimes leads to filth

before my husband

in the presence of my husband]! And since she can evade her with these claims, her refusal does not involve enmity.

Further,

Rav Yosef thought to say: That which was taught

what we learned in the beraita, that

the idolaters

and the shepherds of small animals [

Jews who shepherd small animals—they are robbers, because they shepherd and feed their animals in the fields of others. ] who fell into a pit, the law is

that one does not bring them up

and does not rescue them from there.

On the other hand:

one does not lower them

there in order to cause them to die. And with regard to what we said, that one does not bring them up from there,

bringing them up for payment—

is permitted

it is permitted to bring them up from the pit in exchange for payment

because of enmity

because if the gentile sees that the Jew refuses to rescue him even for payment, the hatred will increase.

Abaye said

to Rav Yosef: Even here,

he can

the Jew evade the gentile in a manner that will prevent hatred on account of his refusal.

Since he can

say to him

to the gentile:

“My son is standing on the roof.”

My son is currently on the roof, and if I do not bring him down, he may die. It is preferable for me to save my son than to accept your payment.

Alternatively,

another way in which the Jew can evade the gentile is to say to him:

“I have an appointment at the royal court.”

I am scheduled to go now to the royal palace. If I do not go immediately, I will suffer a loss. Therefore, I am foregoing the payment that you are offering me.

With both of these methods of evasion, there is no enmity.

He taught

he recited

Rabbi Abbahu before

before

Rabbi Yohanan: Idolaters and the shepherds of small animals

who fell into a pit—

one does not bring them up

one does not bring them up from there to rescue them!

and

also

one does not lower them

into the pit in order to cause them to die.