Avodah Zarah 018

1:
In the Babylonian Talmud this mishnah and the previous mishnah are divided up into several mishnayot. Clearly, our present mishnah continues the topic that was broached in the previous mishnah.

2:
In Mishnah Eight we found varying opinions concerning the permissibility of leasing a house to a non-Jew. Rabbi Me'ir stated quite clearly that

However, in that same mishnah we learned that

3:
Our present mishnah now seeks to clarify what was implied in that mishnah. The term 'house', says the Tanna of our mishnah, should not be understood in the sense of a place of residence; it should be understood in the sense of a building for non-residential purposes. The Tanna quotes a phrase from the Torah [Deuteronomy 7:26]:

The context of that phrase makes it quite clear that the verse is speaking of idols and their appurtenances:

Thus, a Jew is forbidden to allow into his house anything that is associated with idolatry. As we explained in the previous shiur, when a Jew leases his house to someone he is not relinquishing his ownership of the place: it still belongs to him and the occupant is using it in exchange for payment. It is inevitable that an idolater will bring with him into his home his gods and their physical representations.

4:
For example: in Roman mythology the penates were originally patron gods of the storeroom, later becoming household gods guarding the entire household. They are also indications of the pedigree of a Roman family, penates being the spirits of the ancestors. Roman houses used to have a little shrine at the entrance dedicated to the goddess Vesta (goddess of the home). In this shrine statuettes of the penates were kept.

5:
Then there were Lares. Lares were also ancient Roman deities protecting the house and the family – household gods. They were deeply venerated by pagan Romans through statuettes, usually put in higher places of the house, far from the floor, or even on the roof. The lar was presumed to take part in all that happened inside the house, and a statuette was also put on the table during the meals. In early Roman times, in every house there was at least one statuette. Later, a sort of confusion connected their figure with those of the most virtuous dead persons of the family. Finally the confusion included the penates as well.

6:
I have described the lares and penates only as examples. It is well known that other religions had and have similar artifacts and customs. The idea persists to this day. My late mother was a dressmaker. I well remember as a child following our neighbour back to her home next door with her new dress. She would curtsey in front of a statuette in her living room and say, "Mary, do you like my new dress?"

7:
In his commentary on our present mishnah Rambam writes:

8:
In a previous shiur we described the central task of the local bath house in the social life of the ancients. Obviously, the Jews too had bath houses. These served as places where people might perform their regular ablutions; it also housed the local mikveh, of course. These Jewish bath houses were often not publicly owned but privately owned. Our mishnah states that the Jewish owner of a bath house may not sell or lease his bath house to a non-Jew. In AZ 016 paragraph 7 we described the functioning of a bath house and that explanation should make abundantly clear what kind of activities went on in a non-Jewish bath house.

9:
When a bath house is privately owned it becomes known as the bath house of the owner: "Reuben's bath house" or Yehudah's bath house". A person frequenting such a place will say something such as "Yesterday I was at Dan's bath house." If a Jew were to sell his bath house to a non-Jew the building would still be associated with his name. Rambam clarifies:

Therefore, our mishnah forbids a Jew to sell his bath house to a non-Jew or to lease it to one.

10:
We have now completed our study of the first chapter of Tractate Avodah Zarah. God willing, in our next shiur we shall begin our study of chapter 2.