Avodah Zarah 003

15:
After all the introductory comments we can now turn our attention to the mishnah itself. We can only understand this mishnah against the background of a certain mitzvah in the Torah – one of those designed to keep Jews far from pagan customs and observances. The Torah [Exodus 23:13] commands:

The sages, of course, could not accept that the second part of the verse is artistic tautology, for the purposes of emphasis. They asked in what way is the command "they shall not be heard on your lips" different from the command "make no mention of the names of other gods".

The first clause of the command they interpreted in the Gemara [Sanhedrin 63b] as warning a Jew not to mention the name of a pagan deity even incidentally. For example, a Jew should not say to another Jew, "Wait for me tomorrow beside the statue of Zeus in the town square."

16:
Regarding the second clause in the command of the Torah the sages first noticed that the verb is in the passive form [Nif'al]: "they shall not be heard". Secondly, they offered for the Hebrew for "on your lips" a different interpretation. The passive form of the verb, say the sages, indicates that not only may you yourself not mention the name of a pagan deity (as commanded in the first clause), but you must be careful not to cause others to mention the name of such a deity. The phrase "on your lips" they understand as meaning "from your lips". In other words, "You, yourself, should make no mention of the names of other gods, even incidentally; and you should not be the cause of others mentioning the name of a pagan god because of something you have said or done."

17:
During all the years that we have been studying Mishnah together we have noted again and again that the sages had no compunctions about manipulating the text of the Torah to make it say what they wanted it to say (or to make it not say what they did not want it to say). So this kind of 'liberal' interpretation of the text of the Torah should not surprise us.

(I have said on several occasions that the classic example of the sages turning the clear intention of the Torah on its head is to be found in what the sages did in Tractate Sanhedrin, Chapter Eight, starting at Sanhedrin 106 through to Sanhedrin 113.)

Thus it is axiomatic that rabbinic Jews do not live their religious lives according to the dictates of the Torah, but according to the dictates of the Torah as expounded by the rabbis.

18:
If a Jew in Eretz-Israel does a pagan neighbour a favour of some kind the pious reaction of the neighbour will be to offer thanks to his god at the next opportunity. Thus the Jew will, unwittingly and unintentionally, have contravened the command of the Torah not to be the cause for others, even non-Jews, mentioning the name of a pagan god. The 'next opportunity' that the pagan neighbour is likely to have of offering thanks to his god is on a pagan holy day. This is the reason why our mishnah forbids a Jew from doing a pagan neighbour a favour – monetary or material – immediately prior to a pagan holy day.

19:
The Hebrew word for 'festival' used in our mishnah is most unusual. Clearly the author of the mishnah did not want to use any term that is usually used by Jews to describe a holy day. The Hebrew word used is eyd. In the Gemara [Avodah Zarah 2a] the sages offer etymologies for this strange expression. One suggestion is to connect the Hebrew with the word for a witness. The prophet [Isaiah 44:9] says of the pagan person's idols:

The pagan himself will testify that his idol is ineffective, thus the word eyd (testify) becomes a derogatory term for the idol itself.

20:
Another suggestion is to connect the word eyd with the Hebrew word for calamity. The Torah [Deuteronomy 32:35] says of idols:

21:
Both of these etymologies of the sages are weak, unconvincing and – as we shall see – wrong.

To be continued.