Avodah Zarah 8a — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Joshua held: We derive it,

we learn from the ways of

Moses

to arrange first the praise of the Place; therefore he holds that a person asks for his needs only after he has prayed the Eighteen Benedictions prayer —

whereas

Rabbi Eliezer held: We do not derive from Moses, because Moses is different,

different

for his greatness is great,

the greatness of his deeds and his wisdom was great, and it was fitting for him to praise first and to give precedence to the praise of the King of Kings, but another person who does this appears to be arrogant ["it appears to be arrogance"].

Therefore Rabbi Eliezer holds that a person should first ask his needs, and afterward pray.

These are the words of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua.

Whereas

the Sages say: Not in accordance with the words of this one and not in accordance with the words of that one,

not before the prayer and not after the prayer.

Rather, a person asks for his needs

within the prayer, in the blessing of

Who hears prayer.

And they are the “great cedars,” after whom we practice. [

Rav Judah said in the name of Samuel: The halakha

has been decided:

A person asks for his needs in Who hears prayer,

in accordance with the opinion of the Sages].

Rav Judah, son of Rav Samuel bar Shilat, said in the name of Rav: Even though they said that a person asks for his needs in Who hears prayer,

that is specifically for his other needs.

But if he comes to say at the end of each blessing something resembling

a request similar

to each blessing, he may say it.

For example, if he had forgotten his learning, he is permitted to ask that he remember [in whatever wording he wishes] in the blessing “You graciously grant knowledge”; and if he is a penitent, he prolongs [his prayer] in “Restore us”; and likewise in each and every blessing.

Rav Hiyya bar Ashi said in the name of Rav: Even though they said that a person asks for his needs in Who hears prayer, if he has a sick person in his house, he says

his supplication

in the blessing “Heal us,” which is the blessing of

“Heal us,” which is the blessing of

the sick.

And if he needs livelihood, he says it in the blessing of “Who blesses

“Bless”

the years.”

And likewise in each and every blessing .

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: Even though they said that a person asks

his other

needs in Who hears prayer,

and not within the prayer, that is specifically within the prayer.

But if he comes to say it after his prayer, even

a long prayer

like the order of Yom Kippur, he may say it.

Mishna:

After we learned the prohibition against conducting business before their festivals, the Mishna comes to teach us which are the festivals of the gentiles, which the gentiles observed in the days of the Sages of the Mishna.

And the Mishna likewise explains which of them are forbidden for the three days preceding them, and which of them are forbidden only on that day.

And these

are

the festivals of the idolaters

that are forbidden for the three days preceding them:

Kalenda, Saturnura, and Kratesis [

explained in the Gemara ],

and the day of the genusia of kings,

the day of the coronation of the king, on which the gentiles observe a festival every year,

and the day of his birth

of the king, every year,

and the day of his death

of the previous king, on which the gentiles observe a festival day for idolatry every year during the days of his son [the Bakh’s version in Rashi: all the days of his mourning],

the words of Rabbi Meir.

But the Sages disagree with Rabbi Meir, who said simply “the day of death,” without distinction:

And the Sages say: Every death

of the king

in which there is burning,

for they burn his royal utensils for him, as is the way of kings,

has idolatry in it,

and they are forbidden.

And

a death

in which there is no burning—

there is no idolatry in it.

Until here, it is speaking of general festivals for all the inhabitants of the country.

And now the Mishna explains the private festivals of each individual, on which it is forbidden to conduct business with that person on that day .

But

the private festival day that is

the day of the shaving of his beard,

for every gentile on his day, and likewise the day of the shaving of

his forelock,

because when the gentile has his hair cut, many times he leaves a forelock behind him and shaves it from year to year, and on this day he makes a festival day for it,

and

likewise

the day on which he emerged from the sea, and the day on which he left prison,

for on these days he offers sacrifices for his rescue,

and an idolater who made a banquet

of marriage

for his son.

In all these private festival days,

it is not forbidden

to conduct business with them

except on that day,

and not for the three days preceding it, because they are not festivals of such importance.

And

likewise, it is forbidden only with

that person alone.

Gemara:

The Gemara explains the two festivals, “Kalenda and Saturnura”: at what time they occur, and for what reason the gentiles established them as festival days.

Rav Hanan bar Rava said: “Kalenda

is

eight days

in succession

after the turning-point—

the winter turning-point; and

‘Saturnura’

is

eight days before the turning-point.”

And

the following verse

is your sign,

so that one should not err and say that Kalenda is before the turning-point, since it is written earlier in the Mishna—

It is said in the Book of Psalms [139]:

“Behind and before You formed me,”

and in this verse too the later is mentioned first.

The Sages taught: Since Adam the first

from Tishrei, in which he was created, until Tevet, saw the

day becoming progressively shorter, he said: “Woe is me! Perhaps because I sinned

I sinned with the sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge—

the world is becoming dark for me, and

the world

is returning to chaos and void, and this is the death that was decreed upon me from Heaven.”

Therefore he

arose,

he decreed upon himself,

and sat for eight days in fasting

and prayer .

When he saw the winter turning-point, and saw

the

day becoming progressively longer, he said: “This is the way of the world!” He went and made eight good days.

The following year, he made both these and those

the days before the turning-point and the days after the turning-point

good days .

He,

Adam the first,

established them for the sake of Heaven

to give thanks to the Holy One, blessed is He.

And they,

the idolaters,

established them for the sake of idolatry.

And the Gemara discusses:

Granted,

this exposition is understandable

according to

the opinion

of the one who says that the world was created in Tishrei,

therefore at first

he saw short days,

he saw the short days, which were becoming progressively shorter; but

the long days he had not yet seen,

he had not yet seen the long days, which were becoming progressively longer.

But according to

the opinion

of the one who says that the world was created in Nisan,

it is difficult:

he had seen it,

for he had seen

short days,

short days during the Nisan turning-point,

and long days,

long days during the Tammuz turning-point, and he should have known that this is the way of the world; so why did he think that the world was becoming dark for him?

And we answer: Although he saw short days during the Nisan turning-point, nevertheless

that they were

so entirely short,

as short as during the Tevet turning-point,

he did not see,

he had not seen. Therefore he thought that the world was becoming dark for him .

The Gemara brings a beraita that also on the first day of his creation he thought that the sun was setting because of his sin.

The Sages taught: On the day on which Adam the first was created, when

the sun set upon him,

at the time of sunset,

he said: “Woe is me! Because I sinned—

the world is becoming dark for me, the world will return to chaos and void, and this is the death that was decreed upon me from Heaven.”

Therefore he

sat

in fasting

and wept all night, and Eve

his wife

wept opposite him.

When the dawn pillar rose, he said: “This is the way of the world!”

for the Holy One, blessed is He, rolls light away before darkness, and darkness before light—

he arose and offered a bull

that had been created during the six days of Creation,

whose horns preceded its hooves.

That is, every bull is born with its hooves, and afterward its horns grow. But this bull was created in its full stature and form. And since its head first emerged from the earth, it follows that its horns were created before its hooves—

as it is said [Psalms 69], King David said: “I shall praise the name of God with song, and magnify Him with thanksgiving.

[Psalms 69]. King David said: “I will praise the name of God with song, and magnify Him with thanksgiving.

And it shall be better for the Lord than a bullock, horned and hoofed.”

That is, my thanksgiving will be better to the Lord than the offering of Adam the first’s bull, for that bull was created complete, like a three-year-old bullock. And as it says first, “horned,” and afterward, “hoofed.”

And the Gemara expounds another exposition on the verse, “And it shall be better for the Lord than a bullock, horned and hoofed.”

What is the meaning of

“horned”?

And [the Bakh’s version:

[the version of the Bach is:

“said”]]

Rav Judah said

in the name of Samuel: The bull that Adam the first offered had one horn

for it

in its forehead. As it is said: “And it shall be better for the Lord than a bullock, horned and hoofed.”

And we expound “horned” in the singular, to indicate that it had only one horn.

And we object: Surely

“horned” implies two,

it is an expression of the plural!?

And we answer:

Rav Nahman bar Yitzhak said: “Horn” is written,

although the reading is with a hiriq under the resh, nevertheless the written form is without a yod, and it can be read “from a horn,” with a hiriq under the mem, a segol under the qof, and a segol under the resh, implying one horn .

And now the Gemara discusses the towns near Rome, which are subjugated to it and bring it tribute, but do not observe their festivals, whether they are forbidden together with the inhabitants of Rome.

The reason for forbidding them, although they do not observe their festivals, is the concern that perhaps what they purchase they will bring to Rome, where the inhabitants of Rome will offer it. And the reason not to forbid them is that they themselves do not offer [anything].

Rav said [another version:

[another version:

asked]

Rav Mattana: Rome

observed Kalenda, and all the towns near it are subjugated to it—

are those towns forbidden or permitted?

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: Kalenda—

is forbidden to everyone,

including the nearby towns.

Rabbi Yohanan said: It is forbidden only to its worshippers,

the inhabitants of Rome,

alone.

It was taught in a beraita in accordance with Rabbi Yohanan: Even though they said: Rome observed Kalenda, and all the towns near it are subjugated to it—

it itself,

the very essence of the prohibition,

is forbidden only to its worshippers alone.

And the beraita continues [and it will be explained later in the Gemara]:

Saturnalia

[Saturnura]

and Kratesis,

and the day of the genusia of their kings, and the day on which a king was made king—

before it is forbidden, after it is permitted.

And an idolater who made a banquet

of marriage

for his son,

and on that day worships his idol—

is forbidden only on that day and with regard to that person.

Rav Ashi supports Rabbi Yohanan, who holds that the subjugated towns are permitted.

Rav Ashi said: We too have learned this,

we have learned in accordance with Rabbi Yohanan in our Mishna.

And Rav Ashi proves it:

for it teaches

in our Mishna:

“the day of his shaving his beard and his forelock, and the day on which he came up from the sea, and the day on which he came out of prison” [

the version of the Bach:

“and a gentile who made a banquet for his son”]—

“it is forbidden only on that day alone and to that man.”

And Rav Ashi infers:

Granted

what they said,

“that day,”

means

to exclude before it and after it,

for the prohibition does not apply on them.

But

what they said,

“that man,”

is obvious, is it not?! Why would another person who did not shave and did not make a banquet for his son be forbidden?! If so,

to exclude what,

whom does “that man alone” come to exclude?

Is it

no—to exclude his servants,

the people bound to that man who makes a festival on the occasion of his shaving and the like? For it could have been said that his servants, too, should be forbidden to him, because of the concern that they would bring them to him, and he would offer them to idols. Therefore the Mishna comes to teach that the Sages did not forbid his servants.

Infer from it

support for the words of Rabbi Yohanan, that the servants are not rendered forbidden.

It was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Ishmael says: Israelites who are outside the Land of Israel—

are idol-worshippers in purity.

That is, they worship idolatry without intention and do not take notice of it—

How so?—

A gentile who made a banquet for his son, and invited

the

all the Jews in his city, even though

they eat from their own and drink from their own,

and they do not defile themselves with the uncleanness of gentiles and libation wine,

and their attendant

of the Jews

stands before them

and serves them, nevertheless

Scripture considers them

to be

as though they had eaten from “the sacrifices of the dead,”

the offering of idolatry.

As it is stated [Exodus 34]: “Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitant of the land, and they go astray after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods

and he invite you, and you eat from his sacrifice.”

“and he invite you, and you eat from his sacrifice.”

And we raise an objection:

But perhaps

one is not called one who eats “the sacrifices of the dead”

until he eats

actually from the offering of idolatry. But if he eats his own food, from Jewish food, the Torah does not call him “and you eat from his sacrifice,” even though he eats at the gentile’s banquet?

And we answer:

Rava said: If so,

according to your words, that the Torah was particular only about eating the sacrifices of the gentiles,

let the verse say,

it would have been sufficient for the Torah to say

“and you eat from his sacrifice”—

What

why did the Torah say,

“and he invite you”?

Rather, the verse comes to teach us that

from the time of the invitation

Scripture considers it against him as though the gentile sacrifices to idolatry, and the Israelite who responds to his invitation and joins him in the banquet is considered as one who eats from his sacrifices, even though he is eating Jewish food.