Sanhedrin 60b — the Talmud in English

Mishna:

A. A person who worships idolatry is liable to death:

B. If he worshiped the idolatry “in its customary manner,” in the manner in which they are accustomed to worship it, he is liable to death for all its forms of worship. And even if the worship is performed in a degrading manner, he is liable for it by death if this is its customary manner.

C. But if he worshiped it not in its customary manner, there is a distinction among the forms of worship: if this was worship by slaughtering, burning an offering, pouring a libation, or bowing down, he is liable to death even though it is not the manner in which it is worshiped.

But if he worshiped it through other forms of worship, and they were not its customary manner, he transgresses only a prohibition, “You shall not worship them,” but he is not liable to death for them.

D. If the person accepts the idolatry upon himself as a deity, he is liable to death for this even without performing any act of worship.

A.

One who worships idolatry,

is liable to death for it—

Whether one who worships

it in its customary manner, through whatever types of worship they may be, and even if he worships it in a degrading manner, if this was its customary manner.

And whether one who worships it not in its customary manner, provided that the worship not in its customary manner is one of the following four forms of worship:

Whether one who sacrifices,

one who slaughters an offering to idolatry,

and whether one who burns an offering,

offers the sacrificial portions of the offering upon the fire,

and whether one who pours a libation

of wine or blood to idolatry,

and whether one who bows down

to it.

B. And now the Mishna explains the liability for accepting the divinity of idolatry even without worship:

And whether one who accepts it upon himself as a deity,

who explicitly says that he accepts it upon himself as a deity,

and

whether one

who says to it

without qualification:

“You are my deity!”

All these are liable to death.

C.

But

one who worships idolatry not in its customary manner through other forms of worship [apart from the four forms of worship above], such as

one who embraces, one who kisses, one who cleans, one who sweeps, one who bathes, one who anoints, one who clothes, and one who puts shoes on—since the worship was not in its customary manner,

since the worship was not its customary manner,

he transgresses

only

a prohibition.

D.

One who vows in its name

of an idol, for example, forbids an object to himself through a konam, “in the name of idolatry,”

and one who confirms

who swears

in its name—

transgresses a prohibition,

the prohibition of “And the name of other deities you shall not mention” [Exodus 23]; but he is not liable to death, because he did not accept it as a deity and did not perform through this an act of worship for idolatry.

E.

One who defecates before Baal-Peor,

defecates opposite it—

this is its worship,

and he is liable to death for it, even if he intends to worship it in a degrading manner.

F.

One who throws a stone at Markulis,

for they would place two stones on the sides [firmly in the ground], with one stone above them, and this is “Markulis,” and they throw stones at it—

this is its worship,

and he is liable for it even if he intends to worship it in a degrading manner.

Gemara:

The Gemara discusses:

What is the meaning of “whether one who worships,”

and “whether one who sacrifices” and “whether one who burns an offering”? Is one who sacrifices or burns an offering not included in the general category of “one who worships”?

Rabbi Yirmeya said: This is what it is saying: Whether one who worships it in its customary manner,

in the manner of worship of this idolatry, through whatever type of worship it may be, even embracing and kissing, and even if the worship is performed in a degrading manner, since this is its customary manner, he is liable to death.

And the warning not to perform any type of worship that is its customary manner is derived from the words of the verse [Deuteronomy 12]: “And lest you inquire concerning their deities, saying: How do these nations worship their deities?” The verse teaches that every customary manner of worship is prohibited. And liability to death is derived from the words of the verse: “And he went and worshiped other deities”—“and you shall stone them with stones.”

And whether one who sacrifices, and whether one who burns an offering,

and whether one who pours a libation,

and whether one who bows down—

and even

if these forms of worship

were not in its customary manner,

not in the manner of worship of the idolatry, he is liable to death.

Since these forms of worship are also performed inside, in the Temple, for the sake of the Holy One, blessed be He.

And below, in the Gemara, it will be explained that the verse taught concerning the forms of worship performed inside that if one performed them for idolatry, he is liable to death for them even if they were not the customary manner of worship of this idolatry.

The Gemara discusses:

And let it also count one who throws

the blood upon the altar, who is liable even if throwing is not its customary manner of worship, since the service of throwing is also performed inside—!?

Abaye said: One who throws is the same as one who pours a libation,

one who throws the blood is included in “one who pours a libation” stated in the Mishna, as we find in the words of the verse that pouring blood is called pouring a libation,

as it is written [

Psalms 16]

“I will not pour their libations from blood.”

And the Gemara explains:

From where are these matters

that one is liable for these four forms of worship even when they are not performed in the customary manner?

As the Sages taught: If it were stated [

Exodus 22]

“The one who sacrifices shall be put to death,”

I would say:

Concerning which sacrifice did the verse come to impose liability to death?

The verse is speaking of one who sacrifices consecrated animals outside

since we find that the verse warned against this, and this verse comes to say that he receives the punishment of death, because “shall be put to death” means death.

Therefore

the verse states,

“One who sacrifices”

“to deities”

“shall be put to death”—

the verse is speaking of one who sacrifices to idolatry.

For “one who sacrifices to deities” means to any deities. And the verse comes to punish one who sacrifices to idolatry with the punishment of death.

And even if the sacrifice was not in its customary manner, he is liable for it. We learn this from the fact that the verse changed its wording: it did not say, “One who worships deities shall be put to death,” but rather, “One who sacrifices to deities shall be put to death.” The verse teaches that for slaughtering an offering one is liable even if it was not in its customary manner.

I have derived only one who sacrifices.

One who burns an offering and one who pours a libation—

from where?

The verse states

at the continuation of the verse

“Except to the Lord alone”—

the verse emptied

all

the forms of worship for the Unique Name,

so that all forms of worship appropriate to the Lord are for Him alone, and not for idolatry.

Since slaughtering was singled out

from the general category of forms of worship, to be written explicitly [“One who sacrifices to deities shall be put to death”],

to be adjudicated through the forms of worship inside,

to teach concerning all forms of worship performed inside that if one performed them outside for idolatry, he is liable to death even when they are not performed in the customary manner.

From where is bowing down included,

which is not among the forms of worship performed inside, so that nevertheless one is liable for it even when it is not performed in its customary manner?

The verse states: [

Deuteronomy 17]

“And he went and worshiped other deities.”

And the verse added and said:

“And he bowed down

to them.”

Thus the verse did not include bowing down in “and he worshiped.” Necessarily, the verse came to include bowing down when it is not in its customary manner. For if it is in its customary manner, it is included in “and he worshiped other deities.”

And adjacent to it

is the punishment of death, as it is written:

“And you shall take out that man...

and you shall stone him

,” and so on.

Punishment—

we have heard; from where is the warning?

The verse states [

Exodus 34]

“For you shall not bow down to another deity.”

This verse is superfluous. Therefore, if it is not needed for worship in its customary manner, apply it to worship not in its customary manner.

And since bowing down went out from all the forms of worship to be written separately,

I might say that I include

from it also

one who embraces, one who kisses, and one who puts shoes on

when not in its customary manner, according to the principle that anything which went out from the general category went out to teach about the entire general category. And it could be said that just as for bowing down, which is worship by way of honor, one is liable even when it is not performed in its customary manner, so too for all forms of worship performed by way of honor one would be liable to death even when they are not performed in their customary manner.

The verse states: “One who sacrifices

to deities shall be put to death.”

And if it is said that bowing down went out to teach about the entire general category, this is difficult: After all,

slaughtering, in the general category

of forms of worship that are by way of honor,

was.

And we could learn it from bowing down.

And why did slaughtering go out

to be written separately!?

Rather, necessarily,

to draw an analogy to it and say to you: Just as slaughtering is distinctive—

that it is a form of worship inside, and one is liable to death for it,

when it is performed outside for idolatry,

so too, everything that is a form of worship inside

is like it,

and one is liable to death for it

when it is performed outside for idolatry, in every circumstance, even when it is not performed in its customary manner.

And therefore

bowing down went out,

which is not a form of worship inside,

to be adjudicated separately,

to impose liability for it also when it is not performed in its customary manner.

Slaughtering went out—

to be adjudicated for the entire general category,

that one is liable for it when it is not performed in its customary manner, specifically with forms of worship performed inside.

The Master said:

If the verse had said “One who sacrifices shall be put to death,”

I would say, the verse is speaking of one who sacrifices consecrated animals outside,

to impose liability upon him for death.

And the Gemara is astonished: How could there have been such a hava amina?

But

one who sacrifices consecrated animals outside—

is liable for karet,

not death!

And the Gemara answers:

It might enter your mind to say: If they warned him,

he would be liable for

execution; if they did not warn him,

he would be liable for

karet.

Therefore

it teaches us

that the verse is not speaking of one who slaughters consecrated animals outside, but of one who slaughters for idolatry.

Rava bar Rav Hanan said to Abaye: Say

the opposite:

Bowing down went out to teach about the entire general category,

that one is liable for every type of worship by way of honor, even when it is not performed in its customary manner.

And if you would say,

after all, we raised the difficulty: If so,

“slaughtering,”

which went out from the general category,

why do I need it,

since it can be learned from bowing down?

It may be said that it went out

for itself,

to teach

that one calculates from one form of worship to another

in order to become liable for it. For the thought at the time of slaughtering to throw the blood for idolatry already renders him liable at that moment for the slaughtering.

As it was stated: One who slaughters an animal

with the thought

to throw its blood for idolatry, and

with the thought

to burn its fat for idolatry,

but did not have the thought during the slaughtering itself that it would be for the sake of idolatry, and ultimately did not throw the blood for the sake of idolatry.