Avodah Zarah, Daf Yod Zayin, Part 1

 

Introduction

Last week s sugya brought up the topic of apostasy. It also contained a story of potential martyrdom R. Eliezer gets himself acquitted. This week s daf will continue with these themes.

 

(משלי ל, טו) "לעלוקה שתי בנות הב הב" מאי הב הב?

אמר מר עוקבא [קול] שתי בנות שצועקות מגיהנם ואומרות בעוה"ז הבא הבא ומאן נינהו מינות והרשות

 

The leech has two daughters: Give, give (Proverbs 30:15): What is meant by Give, give ? Mar Ukba said: It is the voice of the two daughters who cry from Gehenna calling to this world: Bring, bring! And who are they? Apostasy and the ruling authority.

 

In this interpretation the leech s two daughters are the embodiments of apostasy and service to the Roman government, both of whom beckon from Gehenna (hell), trying to seduce Jews.

 

איכא דאמרי אמר רב חסדא אמר מר עוקבא קול גיהנם צועקת ואומרת הביאו לי שתי בנות שצועקות ואומרות בעולם הזה הבא הבא.

 

Others say: R. Hisda said in the name of Mar Ukba: It is the voice of Gehenna crying and calling: Bring me the two daughters who cry and call in this world, Bring, bring.

 

This is a slightly different version of the previous material here Gehenna itself beckons to the two daughters, apostasy and the ruling authority, calling them down to hell.

 

(משלי ב, יט) "כל באיה לא ישובון ולא ישיגו אורחות חיים": וכי מאחר שלא שבו היכן ישיגו?

ה"ק ואם ישובו לא ישיגו אורחות חיים

 

Scripture says, None that go to her return neither do they attain the paths of life (Proverbs 2:19). But if they do not return, how could they attain [the paths of life]?

This is what it means: Even if they do turn away from it they will not attain the paths of life.

 

The rabbis interpret Proverbs 2:19, whose simple meaning seems to refer to a prostitute or some sort of seductress, as referring to apostasy. According to this reading of the verse, when one abandon s apostasy, one dies. It is not easy to understand why one should die when one performs teshuvah from apostasy. One answer is that separating from apostasy is so painful that it causes one to die.

This will open an extended passage on apostasy. As is almost always the case, there are conflicting sources. Below I will use the Hebrew term minut which is difficult to translate, instead of apostasy.

 

למימרא דכל הפורש ממינות מיית? והא ההיא דאתאי לקמיה דרב חסדא ואמרה ליה קלה שבקלות עשתה בנה הקטן מבנה הגדול ואמר לה רב חסדא טרחו לה בזוודתא ולא מתה

מדקאמרה קלה שבקלות עשתה מכלל דמינות [נמי] הויא בה

ההוא דלא הדרא בה שפיר ומש"ה לא מתה

 

Does it mean then that those who repent from minut die? Was there not a woman who came before R. Hisda confessing to him that the lightest sin that she committed was that her younger son is the offspring of her older son? Whereupon R. Hisda said: Get busy in preparing her shrouds but she did not die.

Now, since she says that this was the lightest of her sins, it may be assumed that she had also acted had minut in her [and yet she did not die]!

That one did not altogether renounce her evil-doing, that is why she did not die.

 

The story brought here is of a woman whose least sin was having a child with her son. Since this is the least of her sins, she is presumed to have also acted in the ways of minut. So why didn t she die when she repented?

The answer is that she did not wholeheartedly repent. Somewhat bafflingly, partial repentance does not cause a person to die, but full repentance does.

 

איכא דאמרי ממינות אין מעבירה לא? והא ההיא דאתאי קמיה דרב חסדא וא"ל [ר"ח זוידו לה זוודתא] ומתה מדקאמרה קלה שבקלות מכלל דמינות נמי הויא בה

 

Some say as follows: [Is it only] from minut that one dies if one repents, but not from other sins? Was there not a woman who came before R. Hisda who said, Prepare her shrouds and she died?

Since she said that this was the lightest of her sins, it may be assumed that she was guilty of minut as well.

 

This is a different version of the above material. The midrash had said that one who repents of minut dies. But if one repents of another sin, one does not die? But didn t R. Hisda say to the woman who came to repent of incest that she was going to die? And in this version she does die.

The answer is that since she said this was her lightest sin, we can presume that she also performed acts of minut from which she was also repenting. The woman died because of minut, not because of incest.