Avodah Zarah 040

1:
In many ways our present mishnah is quite fascinating because it brings us a picture of real life. Rabban Gamli'el, while bathing in a public baths, is accosted by Proclus – obviously a non-Jew – who asks how Rabban Gamli'el can permit himself to frequent a bath house named for the goddess Aphrodite, and which is adorned with her statue. The main part of our mishnah is the rather equivocating response of Rabban Gamli'el.

2:
There were two great sages who bore the title and name Rabban Gamli'el: Rabban Gamli'el the elder and his grandson Rabban Gamli'el of Yavneh. It seems to me, for reasons that will become apparent almost immediately, that our mishnah is concerned with the grandson and not the grandfather.

3:
Proclus is described as being the son of a philosopher. Some scholars have suggested that the word 'philosopher' here is a corruption of some personal name. I do not think so. Proclus seems to know about Jewish law in some detail: I think he learned this from his father. In several places in the Talmud the word 'philosopher' is used as a euphemistic reference to a Christian cleric. We must remember that in the time of Rabban Gamli'el (towards the end of the first century) Christianity was still in the very early stages of its development and in many respects its adherents were almost indistinguishable from Jews. The sages – and Rabban Gamli'el in particular – made great efforts to create a clear demarcation between Jews and Christians. There is a delightful story told in the Gemara [Shabbat 116a-b] which unfortunately was heavily 'edited' by the Church in the middle ages. I present here the non-bowdlerized version:

4:
The title "Imma" – 'old mother' – is the female equivalent of "Abba" – 'old father'. 'Old Mother Shalom' is an expression of reverence for a learned woman who was not a sage, just as, for example, 'Old Father Sha'ul" was for a learned man who was not a sage. The fact that in this story the brother and sister are working together suggests that the incident occurred earlier in the career of Rabban Gamli'el rather than later. We see clearly from this story that the term 'philosopher' is used to designate a Christian cleric. The term that the Gemara uses for 'gospel' is Avon Gilayon. Literally this should be rendered 'Sinful Document' but it is clearly a play on words based on the Greek word for gospel evangelion. The medieval 'editors' replaced the term with 'a different book' (which is still to be found in many uncritical texts of the Gemara). Perhaps most surprising of all is the fact that we have here in the Gemara a direct quote from Christian scriptures: Matthew 5:17.

5:
So, Proclus is probably the son of a Christian (or Christianized) cleric and therefore is familiar with Jewish Law. He quotes to Rabban Gamli'el the verse from the Torah that the sages quoted to Rabbi Yosé in the previous mishnah. Indeed, we probably have here an example of how the early Christians in Eretz-Israel, in the last quarter of the 1st century CE, were playing the game of 'one-up-man-ship' with the Jews.

6:
Basically, Proclus was saying to Rabban Gamli'el 'What are you doing here in the Aphrodite baths? Your Torah forbids you to derive any material benefit from this godess.' Rabban Gamli'el does not give an immediate reply. The Gemara [AZ 44b] says that this was because one may not speaks words of Torah in a place where people are appearing naked. (Of course, it is also possible that Rabban Gamli'el was embarrassed to have been caught out in this manner and had to think of his response.)

7:
Rabban Gamli'el gives two answers to the challenge. Firstly, he claims that the term 'Aphrodite baths' does not mean that the baths are dedicated to the Greek goddess of sex, Aphrodite, but that her statue was erected in the baths as mere decoration. Furthermore, he says, that Proclus should look at where the statue of the goddess is situated: right above the cesspool where the patrons of the baths evacuated their bowels and their bladders. (In Roman buildings of the period public latrines had no privacy whatsoever, just a series of seats with a hole into the cesspool. Patrons would sit there and chat about this and that while performing their bodily functions. On the right is a picture of a Roman latrine found in the port of Ostia) Surely, argues Rabban Gamli'el, no pagan would behave this way in a temple of Aphrodite, and this proves that the statue of the goddess is just for decoration and not for reverence. In which case, as we have seen in the previous shiur, it is permitted for a Jew to derive benefit from such a statue.