Avodah Zarah, Daf Yod Tet, Part 6

 

Introduction

Today s sugya deals with the next section of the Mishnah the prohibition of participating with the idolater in building the cupola.

 

הגיע לכיפה מקום שמעמידין בה עבודת כוכבים:

א"ר אלעזר אמר רבי יוחנן אם בנה שכרו מותר.

 

When he reaches the cupola in which the idol is placed [he must not build].

R. Elazar said in the name of R. Yohanan: If he did build, the pay he received is permitted.

 

The mishnah prohibits participating in building the cupola because that is where the idol is placed. This is too close to abetting idol worship.

If a Jew transgressed this law and did help build the cupola, he may make use of the pay he received.

 

פשיטא משמשי עבודת כוכבים הן ומשמשי עבודת כוכבים בין לרבי ישמעאל בין לרבי עקיבא אינן אסורין עד שיעבדו

 

This is obvious: it is a case of things used in the worship of idols, and things used in the worship of idols, whether according to R. Ishmael or according to R. Akiba, are not forbidden till actually worshipped.

 

The Talmud argues the R. Yohanan s ruling is overly obvious. R. Ishmael and R. Akiva will argue later in the tractate over idols themselves are they prohibited before they are actually worshipped. But they would both agree that if the item is not itself an idol, it is not prohibited until it is actually worshipped.

 

אמר רבי ירמיה לא נצרכה אלא לעבודת כוכבים עצמה.

 

R. Yirmiyah said: It is necessary in the case of the idol itself.

 

R. Yirmiyah says that R. Yohanan was referring to a Jew who helped build the idol itself, not just the cupola. His pay is still permitted, despite the fact that he helped make an idol.

הניחא למ"ד עבודת כוכבים של ישראל אסורה מיד ושל עובד כוכבים עד שתעבד שפיר אלא למ"ד של עובד כוכבים אסורה מיד מאי איכא למימר

 

This accords with the one who holds that it is prohibited to derive benefit from an idol made for an Israelite immediately, but if the idol is made for an idolater, [it is not prohibited] until it is worshipped. In that case the statement goes well. But according to the one who holds that even when made for an idolater [any benefit] is forbidden immediately, what can be said?

 

There is a debate about whether an idol made for an idolater becomes prohibited immediately when it is made, or only when it is worshipped. If the rule is that any benefit derived from it becomes prohibited only once it is worshipped, then R. Yohanan s statement makes sense. The Jew made this idol for the idolater, but until the idolater actually worships it, the Jew may use the wages. But if the prohibition begins immediately, then how can the wages be permitted?

 

אלא אמר רבה בר עולא לא נצרכה אלא במכוש אחרון. עבודת כוכבים מאן קא גרים לה? גמר מלאכה. ואימת הויא גמר מלאכה? במכוש אחרון

מכוש אחרון לית ביה שוה פרוטה, אלמא קסבר ישנה לשכירות מתחלה ועד סוף:

 

Rather Rabbah b. Ulla said the statement is necessary in regard to the last stroke of work; for what is it that makes the idol fit for worship? It is its completion; And when is work completed? With the last stroke.

But the last stroke does not constitute the value of a perutah. Thus he holds that the wage is earned from the beginning to the end [of the work].

 

Rabbah b. Ulla explains R. Yirmiyah s reasoning. The prohibition of the benefit derived from the idol begins only when the last stroke in making the idol is completed, for only then is it an idol. The benefit derived from that last stroke would be prohibited, but the value of this last stroke is less than a perutah it is negligible. The amount he was paid for the work done prior to this point is considered to have already been paid before the work was completed. This means that these wages, which are essentially all of the wages, are permitted.

There is a dispute in Tractate Kiddushin about how we conceive of wages paid to a person being paid not by the hour but by the project. Are all of the wages thought of as being paid at the completion of the project or piece by piece as the project is created? Rabbah b. Ulla says that R. Yirmiyah holds by the latter position.