Avodah Zarah 047

1:
We are still discussing the Asherah. This last mishnah on that subject is concerned with the question whether a tree which was once an Asherah can become just an ordinary tree.

2:
The answer to that question is quite simple. A tree becomes an Asherah because some non-Jew or non-Jews invested it with sanctity. It is forbidden to Jews because of what it means to the non-Jews. If the non-Jews do anything to indicate that for them the tree is no longer sacred then, for a Jew, its status as an Asherah has been annulled.

3:
It is important to understand that the 'he' of the first clause of our mishnah refers to a non-Jew. In other words, as we have said, it is only a non-Jew who can remove from an Asherah its sacred religious status.

4:
It is not necessary that there be some formal declaration on the part of the non-Jews that a certain tree is no longer sacred to them. What the Jew looks for is how the non-Jews relate to the tree. If the Jews see a non-Jew cutting off branches from the tree to serve some secular purpose, such as serving as firewood as we saw in the previous mishnah, then he is demonstrating thereby that for him the tree is not sacred.

5:
What counts here is not the size of what is lopped off the tree or indeed what exactly is removed. What counts is that the act should demonstrate the secular nature of the tree for the non-Jew. Thus, even pulling from it just a leaf could serve that purpose if the action demonstrates the secular nature of the tree.

6:
However, one must be careful. Sometimes a non-Jew will remove something from an Asherah to beautify it. He might smooth down the trunk, or lop off some branches to give it a better shape. Such actions, obviously, are intended to enhance the sanctity of the tree, not to annul it.

7:
This ends our study of Chapter 3 of this tractate. God willing, in our next shiur we shall commence our study of Chapter 4.

In AZ 044 we noted that If a building was originally erected to serve as a non-Jewish place of worship there is no way in which a Jew can derive material benefit from it. He may not buy it, rent it, shelter in it and so forth.. Israel Man asks two questions:

How is it possible that in America old church buildings are bought and turned to synagogues? This is an occurrence that happened in all streams of Judaism. How is it that some Conservative and Reform congregation conduct their services in parts of a church building?

Haim Halpern also asks Israel's first question and in addition offers the following information:

There's a Bet Knesset in Manhattan that was bought from a church and converted. They discovered Hebrew memorial plaques from a former synagogue that had stood on the site.

I respond:

If one holds the view of Rambam [AZ 006] that Christianity is tantamount to idolatry because of its deification of Jesus and its trinitarian depiction of the deity then I am at a loss to explain the conversion of a church into a synagogue. However, we must remember that many European sages in the middle ages held that Christianity was not idolatry [see, for example, AZ 001]. No doubt, the modern rabbis who sanction converting a church into a synagogue rely on the opinion of those medieval sages – such as Me'iri. It stands to reason that if Christianity is not idolatry then it is not forbidden to derive benefit from their places of worship.

However, it also occurs to me that even according to the opinion of Rambam one can understand the permission granted to convert a church into a synagogue. Surely, the very fact that non-Jews strip their building of all its religious appurtenances and are prepared to sell it to the members of a different religion knowing that it will serve a religious purpose, surely that is enough to demonstrate that for them the building is now secular. This would just be a modern application of what we have learned above in this shiur.

I do not know how to interpret the information supplied by Haim Halpern. Does this mean that there was on the site originally a synagogue that had been pulled down and a church was built on the site which was later reconverted into a synagogue? Or does it mean that a synagogue was converted into a church which was then converted once again into a synagogue. In either case the reasoning must have been as I have indicated above.

And now to Israel's second question. I am not aware of Jewish congregations using churches for worship – though I am sure that Israel is correct with his information. Relying on the opinion of the Me'iri and others about Christianity it would not be completely inappropriate to use a church hall for Jewish worship if that is the only option. I am assuming that the church hall has no religious significance for the Christians but only serves their communal purposes. However, if the hall has religious emblems or has some other religious significance I would not know how to explain its use by Jews for religious purposes – even if those emblems are temporarily removed.

I understand that in the US military there are buildings which serve for worship for all faiths. Presumably religious symbols are put up and removed according to the present use of the building. I can see no objections to Jews and Moslems sharing the same building, but using a building which has displayed Christian symbols seems to me to be problematic. Perhaps there is a participant who can enlighten us in this matter.