Sanhedrin 63b — the Talmud in English

to say that one is not flogged for it; these are the words of Rabbi Yehuda.

And this means that the Torah revealed that the punishment of one who leaves it over is the burning punishment that the Torah imposed upon him, and not a punishment of lashes.

Rabbi Yaakov says: This is not the essential reason,

this is not the principal reason,

but because it was

the prohibition against leaving it over

a prohibition that has no action associated with it, and every

prohibition that has no action associated with it, one is not flogged for it.

By implication, Rabbi Yehuda holds that one is flogged for it.

We learned in the Mishna:

One who vows in its name and one who fulfills [a vow] in its name—this is a prohibition.

“One who vows in its name and one who fulfills [a vow] in its name”

that it is a prohibition,

from where do we know this?

As it was taught:

[Exodus 23]

“And the name of other gods you shall not mention”—

that a person should not say to his fellow, “Keep for me”

wait for me

beside such-and-such an idolatry.

“It shall not be heard upon your mouth”—

that he should not vow in its name, nor fulfill [a vow] in its name, nor cause others

idolaters

to vow in its name and fulfill [a vow] in its name.

Alternatively: “It shall not be heard upon your mouth”—

a warning concerning one who incites

individuals

and one who leads astray

the inhabitants of a condemned city.

And the Gemara asks:

One who incites—

it is explicitly written concerning him

a prohibition [Deuteronomy 13]:

“And all Israel shall hear and fear,

and they shall not again do anything like this evil thing in your midst”!

Rather: It is a warning concerning one who leads astray

the inhabitants of a condemned city only.

“Nor cause others to vow in its name and fulfill [a vow] in its name”—

This supports the view of Shmuel’s father, for Shmuel’s father said: It is forbidden for a person to enter into a partnership with an idolater, lest he become liable to him for an oath, and he swear by his idolatry; and the Torah said: “It shall not be heard upon your mouth.”

When Ulla came, he spent the night

with

in

a city named after the idolatry in it, called

Kalnevo.

Rava said

to Ulla:

And where did you spend the night,

where did the Master spend the night,

sir?

He said to him: In Kalnevo.

He said to him: But it is written, “And the name of other gods you shall not mention”!

He said to him: This is what Rabbi Yohanan said: Every idolatry that is written in the Torah—it is permitted to mention its name.

But this,

the idolatry named Kalnevo,

where is it written

in the Torah?

For it is written

[Isaiah 46]

“Bel crouches, Nevo collapses.”

And the Gemara proves:

And if it were not written

in the Torah,

no!

It would be forbidden to mention the name of a city named after idolatry.

Rav Mesharshiya raised an objection

from the words of the Mishna in tractate Zavim [1:5]:

A man with a discharge who saw a discharge three times cannot become pure from his discharge, after the discharge has ceased, through immersion alone; rather, he must bring an offering.

If he saw

one sight

that was extended,

continuing in such a manner that the discharge flowed without interruption,

like

the measure of

three

sights

, which

continues and flows without interruption for a period of time lasting

as from Magdion to Shiloh,

the time required to walk from the idolatry called Magdion to Shiloh,

which are

the duration of

two immersions and two sponge-dryings,

according to the Sages’ determination that the duration of an extended discharge is equivalent to the time required for two immersions and for drying oneself afterward—

he is a confirmed zav!—

And it is thereby proved that it is permitted to mention the name of a place called after idolatry even if it is not written in the Torah!

Ravina said: “Gad” too is indeed written, for it is written

[Isaiah 65]

“Those who set a table for Gad.”

Rav Naḥman said: Every mockery is forbidden, except for mockery of idolatry, which is permitted.

And the proof is:

For it is written, “Bel crouches,

which is idolatry, upon its knees, because it was filled with excrement.

Nevo collapses,

Nevo defecated, because it could not hold the excrement within it.

They collapsed, they crouched,

Bel and Nevo

together,

because

“they could not rescue the burden.”

And this is the mockery of idolatry: the verse depicts how the idols crouched upon their knees and discharged excrement because they could no longer rescue the burden of excrement within them.

And it is written

[Hosea 10]

“Speak to the calves of Beth-aven,

concerning the calves of idolatry that were in Beth-el.

The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear,

the inhabitants of Samaria shall worry,

for its people shall mourn over it,

because Sennacherib will take them,

and its priests,

the bearers of the idolatry,

shall exult over it, over its glory, because it has departed from it.”

For from now on they will no longer suffer from the heavy burden that had been imposed upon them to carry.

Do not read “its glory,” but rather “its heaviness,”

which is the weight of the burden of its hindquarters and the excrement within it.

And this is mockery of idolatry, since those calves were not living creatures and did not have excrement; rather, the verse mocks them as though they had extremely heavy excrement, which made it burdensome for their priests to carry them.

Rabbi Yitzḥak said: What is the meaning of that which is written

[Hosea 13]

“And now they continue to sin, and they make for themselves a molten image from their silver, idols according to their form,” and so on.

What is the meaning of “idols according to their form”?

It teaches

the verse

that each and every one made an image of his deity and placed it in his pocket.

And

when he remembered it, he would take it out from his bosom, embrace it, and kiss it.

What is the meaning of “the sacrifices of man—they kiss calves”?

Rabbi Yitzḥak of the school of Rabbi Ami said: The priests,

who sacrificed human beings to the idolatry of calves,

would set their eyes upon the wealthy, and

would

starve the calves and make images of idols,

images of the wealthy,

and place

these images

beside their feeding troughs

of the calves; and the calves would become accustomed to recognizing those images as those who fed them,

and they would bring them out,

the calves,

outside.

Once they saw them,

the wealthy people whose images had always stood beside their feeding troughs,

they would run

the calves

after them,

after the wealthy people,

and paw at them.

And then they would

say to him

the priests to the wealthy man, after he himself saw that the calves had run after him and pawed at him:

“The idolatry

[this calf]

desires you! Come,

sir,

and sacrifice yourself to it,

to the calf!

And when he agreed to sacrifice himself, the priests would take his property.

Rava

objected

and said

about Rabbi Yitzḥak’s words, for the meaning of the verse is that

this “sacrifices of man,”

the priests who sacrifice the man, they are

“kissing calves,”

they kiss the calves afterward!

But according to Rabbi Yitzḥak,

“calves kiss”—

“for the sacrifice of man” would have been required

to say! That is, the priests would say to the wealthy men that these calves, which kiss you, intend to show their desire that you sacrifice yourselves to them.

Rather, Rava said,

this is the explanation of the verse:

Anyone who sacrifices his son to idolatry—the priest says to him,

the priest:

“He has offered it a great gift; come,

the one who sacrifices his son,

and kiss it,

the calf.

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav:

The verse said in the Second Book of Kings [chapter 17], concerning those nations whom Sennacherib settled in Samaria and its cities, who made for themselves all kinds of forms of idol worship:

“And the men of Babylon made

for themselves for idolatry

the Sukkot Benot”—and what is it?

What is the form of the idolatry called “Sukkot Benot”? It is

a hen.

“And the men of Cuth made Nergal”—and what is

Nergal?—

a rooster.

“And the men of Hamath made Ashima”—and what is “Ashima”?—

a hairless sheep

[flock]

that is bald

[bald], that is, a goat that does not have much wool and is considered bald of wool.

“And the Avvites made

(the) Nibhaz

and Tartak”—and what are

Nibhaz and Tartak?—

a dog

[Nibhaz],

and a donkey.

“And the Sepharvites burn their sons

(and

their daughters) in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim”—and what are they,

who are Adrammelech and Anammelech?—

the mule and the horse.

And the Gemara explains:

Adrammelech

is the donkey, so called because

it honors its master through carrying,

it repays and honors its master [who is its king] by carrying and bearing the burden in place of its master.

And Anammelech,

this is the horse,

because it answers its master in battle.

It responds [that is, fulfills its master’s requirements] in wartime, during battle.

Hezekiah, king of Judah, too, his father requested

Ahaz

to do this to him,

to burn him in fire like the Sepharvites,

but his mother anointed him

with the blood of

a salamander,

which protects against fire so that he would not burn.

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: The Israelites knew that idolatry has no substance, and they worshiped idolatry only

in order

to permit illicit sexual relations for themselves publicly.

When the evil inclination overcame them to transgress the prohibitions of illicit sexual relations, they completely cast off the yoke of Torah from themselves and worshiped idolatry so that they would not be reproved concerning the prohibitions of illicit sexual relations. But the evil inclination did not overcome them concerning idolatry.

Rav Mesharshiya raised an objection

from the words of the verse, which imply that the evil inclination also overcame them to worship idolatry, for it is written [Jeremiah 17]:

“As a remembrance of their sons

their altars,” and so on,

and Rabbi Elazar said: Like a person who has longing for his son.

And this means that they longed for their altars that they had made for idolatry as a person longs for his son, and sighed from his longing. And it is thereby proved that the evil inclination overcame them concerning this.

And the Gemara answers: This verse was stated

after they had become attached to it,

after they themselves had attached themselves to it, they began to cherish it, and from then on their inclination overcame them to worship it.

Come and hear

a proof against the words of Rav Yehuda in the name of Rav, from that which is written in the passage of rebuke [Leviticus 26]:

“And I shall place your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols.”

They said

the Sages:

Elijah the Righteous would go around

at the time of the siege of Jerusalem

among

people who were

swollen with hunger,

swollen from hunger,

in Jerusalem.

Once he found a child who was swollen and lying in a refuse heap. He said to him: “From which family are you?”—

He said to him: “I am from such-and-such a family.”

He said to him: “Has anything at all remained of that family?”—

He said to him: “No, except for me.”

He said to him: “If I teach you something by which you will live, will you learn it?”—

He said to him: “Yes.”

He said to him: “Say every day: Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One!”