Avodah Zarah 16

As we see on today’s daf, there’s a sizable list of things that Jew are forbidden to sell to gentiles. The list includes large livestock, calves, foals, bears, lions, or anything else that can cause public injury. But there’s some rabbinic ambivalence around one item: shields.

What is the reason? If we say it is because they protect them (in wartime), if so, then even wheat and barley should not be sold. Rav said: If possible, indeed it would be prohibited.

The Gemara posits two possible rationales. First, it could be that shields offer protection in combat. But if that were the case, then the sale of other essentials that don’t serve an offensive purpose in war should also be prohibited, like food supplies. Rav offers a practical response: Refusing to sell food staples would inflame tensions with the surrounding gentile community, and this outcome is bad for Jews. But if there weren’t such consequences, then sales of wheat and barley should be banned as well.

Today, we tend to think of shields as defensive items, but the Gemara questions this in considering a second rationale:

There are those who say: With shields, this is the reason they are not sold: As when their weapon is finished, they kill with these. And some say one may sell shields to them as when their weapon is finished they flee, rather than use their shield as a weapon. Rav Nahman says that Rabba bar Avuh says: The halakhah is in accordance with “some say.”

The second rationale suggests that shields can be used as deadly weapons if more traditional weapons are lost or broken. And since we know that selling weapons to gentiles is forbidden, this would place shields in the banned category. But the Gemara deems this a tad far fetched. A soldier without a sword would likely flee rather than fight with a shield. As a result, the rabbis conclude that there’s no reason to ban sales of shields, and later codes adopt this holding.

While we’re on the topic of weapons, what about sales of iron?

Rav Adda bar Ahava says: One may not sell blocks of iron. What is the reason? Because they forge weapons from them. If so, even hoes and axes. Rav Zevid said: With regard to Indian iron, (which is of a superior quality and used only for crafting weapons). And as for the fact that nowadays we do sell (weapons), Rav Ashi said: We sell to the Persians, who protect us.

The Gemara gives us several responses and clarifications. To start, Rav Adda articulates a ban on selling iron to gentiles precisely because it could be forged into weapons. The Gemara points out that other iron implements could serve the same purpose, to which Rav Zevid narrows Rav Adda’s original prohibition to apply only to superior-quality, weapons-grade Indian iron.

But this conclusion seems to contradict the reality of the time, in which all weapons were vendable. Rav Ashi explains that selling weapons to Persians was permitted because they protect the Jewish community. Indeed, both the Shulchan Aruch and the Mishneh Torah are more lenient when it comes to weapons sales; the former allows such transactions with soldiers when there are friendly relations between Jews and non-Jews, while the latter permits sales to soldiers in the country where one lives because they protect the local Jewish community.

There continue to be restrictions on what Jews can sell to gentiles. However, when it comes to weapons, there’s a lot more flexibility than you might think.

Read all of Avodah Zarah 16 Sefaria.

This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on July 4, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.