Avodah Zarah 004

22:
We have seen that the author of our present mishnah uses a very recondite Hebrew word to represent the holy days of idolators: he uses the Hebrew word eyd. We also saw that the sages in the Gemara had some very fanciful suggestions as to the etymology of that Hebrew word – none of which are correct.

23:
Surely, nothing can give a teacher greater pleasure than when his teaching is anticipated by those with whom he is learning. I was most gratified to receive emails from two people, both explaining – each in his own way – the etymology of the Hebrew word eyd. Amnon Ron'el pointed out that the Arabic word for a festival is idh. Mark Lautman in his email even ventured into Arabic script! Not only did Mark tell me that idh in Arabic means 'festival', but he also taught me that idh mubarak means the same as Ĥag Samé'aĥ in Hebrew, A gut YomTov in Yiddish and happy holiday in English.

24:
Now that Islam and its customs are becoming so well know in the world many people will have heard of at least two great Moslem feasts: Idh el Adha and Idh ul Fitr. The festive day of Idh el Adha [Festival of Sacrifice] commemorates the near-sacrifice of his son by Abraham. (The identity of that son is beyond the scope of our present shiur.) Idh ul Fitr [Break-fast Feast] is the feast day that marks the conclusion of the fast of the month of Ramadan.

25:
Thus it now becomes apparant that the Hebrew word eyd used by the Tanna of our Mishnah is just a very recondite Semitic word for a festival. Rambam, in his commentary on our present mishnah, is surely right when he suggests that the word was deliberately chosen to avoid using to describe a non-Jewish festival a term which is familiar to Jews.

26:
Our mishnah states that it is forbidden to do business with non-Jews for three days prior to one of their festivals. The Gemara [Avodah Zarah 6a] explains that these three days are exclusive: that is to say, that the three days do not include the day of the festival itself, which constitutes a fourth day on which it is forbidden for Jews to do business with non-Jews.

Several times so far I have rendered the Hebrew Ovdey Avodah Zarah as 'idol worshippers'.

Shir-El bat Yeshayahu writes:

The Hebrew for idol worshippers is literally "ovdey elillim": ovdey = worshippers, or more closely "those giving service to" + elilim = gods, idols. The phrase Ovdey Avodah Zarah is more comprehensive in scope: ovdey = worshippers + Avodah = worship/service + Zarah = strange/foreign or in other words "worshipping anything other than the Lord." Perhaps it is time to find new translations in English. "Idol worshippers" may be more economical in space than "those who give strange service" – but Aaron's two sons were were incinerated on the spot for presenting esh zarah = strange fire, in the Tabernacle.

I respond:

The sages had many terms (some derogatory) to designate non-Jews, but they all had the same intention, so there is little point in carefully examining possible differences. I used the translation 'idol worshippers' in order to remind us that these people are not just 'non-Jews' who have a different religion. (We discussed this in Avodah Zarah 001 and 002.)

The term elil (whose literal meaning is 'godling') is a biblical term. It appears only three times in the Gemara: once it is part of a biblical quotation; another time is is used to describe a Jew who worships idols; and a third time it describes what we would call a 'shaman'.

The favourite term the sages used for non-Jews was quite simply goy. Sometimes they used ovedey kokhavim umazalot [almost always abbreviated to akum]. This term indicates 'worshippers of planets and astrolological signs'. In the middle ages the Christian censors of the Talmud almost always struck out the word goy and replaced it with akum.

However, Shir-El's comment about Aaron's sons who were killed for offering 'strange fire' is wide of the mark. Rashbam, Rashi's grandson, in his commentary on Leviticus 10:1, adheres most clearly to the contextual meaning: they were not engaging in 'foreign' worship; it was just that the fire should not have been offered to God at that particular time.

The next shiur in this series will be, God willing, on Tuesday 22nd July.