S'il en prenait (des morceaux de) bois, [l'asheirah], aucun avantage ne pouvait en être tiré. S'il a tiré le four avec eux—s'il était neuf, il fallait le casser; s'il était vieux, il fallait qu'il refroidisse. [Car le premier allumage d'un poêle le renforce, de sorte que (dans ce cas) il profite de ce qui est interdit. Cette Mishnah est en accord avec l'idée que (le résultat de) «ceci et cela contribue» est interdit. (Ce n'est pas la halakha.) Par conséquent, un nouveau four et un ancien four doivent refroidir, afin que le pain ne soit pas cuit par cette cuisson.—jusqu'à ce que le four refroidisse, pour ne pas tirer avantage du bois interdit.] S'il y cuit un pain, il est interdit d'en tirer profit. [La Gemara qualifie cela, à savoir: Il en est ainsi, uniquement lorsque la torche (de bois interdit) est en face de lui, c'est-à-dire que tant que le pain cuit, il (la torche) brûle dans la bouche du four et cuit au four, de sorte qu'il tire profit de ce qui est interdit tant qu'il est intact et que le bénéfice du bois est inhérent au pain.] S'il (le pain asheirah) s'est mélangé avec d'autres pains, ils sont tous interdits dans (dérivation de) avantage. R. Eliezer dit: Laissez-le jeter ses avantages [c'est-à-dire la valeur du pain mélangé] dans la mer Morte—sur quoi ils lui dirent: L'idolâtrie ne peut être rachetée. S'il en a pris (l'asheirah, un morceau de bois à utiliser comme) la navette d'un tisserand, il ne peut pas en tirer de bénéfice. S'il a tissé un vêtement avec lui, aucun avantage ne peut en être tiré. S'il (le vêtement) s'est mélangé avec d'autres, et les autres avec d'autres, ils sont tous interdits en (dérivation de) bénéfice. R. Eliezer dit: Qu'il jette son avantage [c'est-à-dire la valeur des vêtements mélangés] dans la mer Morte—sur quoi ils lui dirent: L'idolâtrie ne peut être rachetée. [La Michna présente l'argument entre R. Eliezer et les rabbins dans ces deux cas (le pain et la navette). Car s'il n'apportait que le premier, je pourrais penser que c'est seulement dans ce cas (celui du pain) que R. Eliezer a dit (que son bénéfice peut être jeté dans la mer Morte, etc.), car à l'époque où le pain était terminé (cuisson), son issur (le bois) était brûlé; mais dans le cas de la navette, où l'issur reste intact, peut-être qu'il concéderait aux rabbins (qu'il ne soit pas jeté dans la mer Morte.) Et s'il n'apportait que le second, je pourrais penser que seulement dans ce cas (celui de la navette) ont dit les rabbins (qu'il ne peut pas être racheté), mais dans le cas du pain, ils concéderaient à R. Eliezer (que son bénéfice pourrait être jeté dans la mer Morte). Par conséquent, il est nécessaire d'ajouter les deux instances. Et la halakha est conforme à R. Eliezer. Et même si une cruche de vin interdit est mélangée à des cruches de vin autorisé, il peut jeter sa valeur dans la mer Morte et le bénéfice peut être tiré de tous les autres.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
נטל הימנה – from the Asherah.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
Introduction
Mishnah nine discusses the prohibition from deriving benefit from the wood of an asherah tree.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
חדש יותץ – for the first making of the flame when they kindle the oven glazes it and strengthens it and it is improved through prohibited forms of benefit, but our Mishnah comes according to the one states that combined causes are prohibited, and this is not the Halakha. Therefore, whether it is new or old, it must be cooled down.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
If one took pieces of wood from it [the asherah tree], they are forbidden to be used. If he heated an oven with them if it was new it must be broken to pieces; if it was old, it must be allowed to cool. It is forbidden to use pieces of wood that come from an asherah tree. This mishnah teaches that the forbidden status of the tree remains in the pieces of the tree that are separated from it. If one used this wood to heat a new oven, the oven must be destroyed. Since the first heating of an oven helps shape and finish the oven, the oven itself was built through the aid of an idolatrous object, and it itself is therefore forbidden. However, if the oven was old, one merely needs to let the oven cool before using it again. In such a case the heat produced by the burning of the asherah wood is forbidden but not the oven itself.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
הפת אסורה – in the Gemara it states (Tractate Avodah Zarah 49b) that a torch is opposite him, for all the while that the bread is baking, he would kindle the torch at the mouth of the oven and bake it, for he would benefit from the prohibition a the time when the prohibition is clearly visible and there is and there is improvement to the wood with the bread.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
If he baked bread [in an oven heated with wood from an asherah], it is forbidden to be used, and if [the loaf] became mixed with other loaves, they are all prohibited. Rabbi Eliezer says: let him cast the advantage [he derives] into the Dead Sea. They said to him: there is no process of redemption for an idol. If he baked bread in an oven heated by the wood from an asherah, the bread is forbidden. Furthermore, if that loaf should be mixed in with other loaves, they are all forbidden, since each one may be the loaf which was made in the oven heated by the asherah wood. We should note that in some other cases mixtures of prohibited and permissible goods can be fixed. For instance if one pound of terumah flour should be mixed in with 100 pounds of terumah flour, one may take out one pound of terumah and give it to the kohen, even though that one pound is not the same pound that fell in. Through this process the remainder becomes permitted to anyone to eat. Our mishnah is especially stringent with idolatrous items. Rabbi Eliezer does make an attempt to remedy the situation without causing the loss of the bread. If he baked a loaf using asherah wood to heat his oven, he may throw the value of the wood into the Dead Sea, thereby nullifying any benefit he received from that wood. Afterwards the loaf may be eaten by a Jew. The Sages disagree. According to their opinion there is no way to redeem something that was made by using an idolatrous item.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
יוליך הנאה לים המלח – the cost of the loaf that was combined.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
If one took [a piece of wood] from it [to use as] a shuttle, it is forbidden to be used. If he wove a garment with it, it is forbidden to be used. If [the became mixed with others, and these with others, they are all forbidden to be used. Rabbi Eliezer says: let him cast the advantage [he derives] into the Dead Sea. They said to him: there is no process of redemption for an idol. This section teaches the same thing that was learned in the previous section, only it uses a different example. Here the wood was used to make a shuttle, a piece of wood used on a loom to weave cloth. Rabbi Eliezer and the Sages have the same dispute on this section of the mishnah as they did in the previous one.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
כרכור – there is for weavers a piece of wood made in the form of a needle of sack-makers and they pass it over the warp/longitudinal direction when it is stretched before them in the weaving. And our Mishnah teaches us the dispute between Rabbi Eliezer and the Rabbis in these two things, for had it taught only the first one, I might state that in this [only], Rabbi Eliezer stated it because at the time when the bread is completed, the prohibition is disregarded, but a whorl [of a spindle] which has a prohibition of its own, I would state that he agrees with the Rabbis. But had he only stated the other one, it would have been this one alone that the Rabbis stated, but in the first, I would say that they agree with Rabbi Eliezer. Therefore, it is necessary to teach both. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Eliezer, even with a jug of wine known or suspected to have been manipulated by an idolater, that became combined with jugs of permitted wine – they bring the costs of that jug to the Dead Sea and the remainder are permitted to derive benefit from it.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
Questions for Further Thought: • Why might the mishnah have taught both sections two and three even though they both teach the same principles?
