No les vendemos osos o leones ni nada que pueda causar daño al público, [como armas de guerra, espadas y lanzas]; no construimos con ellos basílicas [torres altas donde se sientan para juzgar a los hombres, y de donde los arrojan a su muerte, un gardom [un edificio donde juzgan casos capitales], estadios [estadios deportivos, donde traen toros de corral para matar hombres], y una bima [una torre alta y estrecha, de donde empujan a los hombres a su muerte]. Pero construimos con ellos bimusioth [edificios que no son con el propósito de idolatría o ejecución] y casas de baños. Cuando llegan a la cúpula, donde se colocan sus ídolos, está prohibido continuar construyendo.
Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
כל דבר שיש [בו] נזק לרבים – as, for example, military utensils, swords and spears.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
Introduction
This mishnah teaches that one is forbidden to assist a non-Jew in any way that may injure the public.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
בסילקי – a tall palace/villa where they sit to judge people and they cast them from there and they die (see Talmud Avodah Zarah 16b).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
One should not sell them bears, lions or anything which may injure the public. A Jew is not allowed to sell bears or lions to non-Jews, lest the non-Jew not take proper care of the animal and the animal cause damage to the public. This section may also be understood as referring to the gladiator exhibitions which often involved lions and bears. The Rabbis were opposed to these violent exhibitions and to the culture that encouraged the enjoyment of bloodshed. A Jew should certainly not attend such events nor sell animals to non-Jews that might be used in these events.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
גרדום – one building and it is made to judge capital cases.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
One should not join them in building a basilica, a scaffold, a stadium, or a platform. A Jew may not join non-Jews in building any of the structures listed in this section. The basilica served as a courtroom. The scaffold was used for executions. The platform was used for judges to make speeches. We can see from this mishnah that the Jews had a deep distrust for the non-Jewish law system. This law system is considered damaging to the public and therefore a Jew should not aid in building this system.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
איצטדיא – a place of sport that they bring a goring ox and they kill a man.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
But one may join them in building public or private bathhouses. When however he reaches the cupola in which the idol is placed he must not build. A Jew is allowed to join non-Jews in building bathhouses, since bathhouses are for the public good. Indeed in other Talmudic sources the Romans are praised for building bathhouses, marketplaces, roads and bridges. From other stories in the Talmud and a famous story that will appear in our tractate, it is clear that Jews and non-Jews shared public bathhouses. [Note: the version of the mishnah upon which my interpretation is based is “dimasaot” and not “bimasaot”, as recommended by Albeck.] A Jew may not aid in building the cupola of the bathhouse since that is the place where the idol is placed. As we have learned already in the previous mishnayoth, a Jew may not perform any action which would aid in idolatrous practice.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
בימה – a kind of short or tall tower made in order to push a person down from them and he dies.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
דימוסיאות – buildings that are not for the needs of idolatry, nor to kill people.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
כיפה – in the foreign language “Arkayultav;” it is the manner of idolaters to place idolatry in their bathhouses.
