After relating stories of Jews imprisoned by the Roman authorities, today’s daf takes up the issue of Jewish participation in Roman cultural events. One scriptural frame for this discussion is Psalms 1:1, which I translate literally:
Happy is the man who has not
walked according to the counsel of the wicked
or stood on the path of sinners
or sat in the seat of the scornful.
The Gemara applies the phrase moshav leitzim, the “seat of the scornful,” to the following people:
The sages taught: With regard to one who goes to stadiums (where people are killed in contests with gladiators or beasts), or to a camp of besiegers (where different forms of entertainment are provided for the besieging army), and he sees there the acts of the diviners and those who cast spells, or the acts of the clowns … this is categorized as the company of the scornful. With regard to such places the verse states: Happy is the man who has not walked according to the council of the wicked, or stood in the way of sinners, or sat in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the Torah of the Lord. (Psalms 1:1–2) You learn from here that these matters bring a person to dereliction of the study of Torah.
In places of Roman entertainment, the Gemara relates, clowning, conjuring and cruelty mix freely. The rabbis wanted Jews to avoid them, particularly so as to not waste time that could be used for Torah study.The Gemara then examines other teachings that seem to offer exceptions to this rule. These new beraitot permit attendance at Roman venues if by going there a person might be able to save a fellow Jew from gladiatorial contests, one’s community from immediate danger or a woman from becoming an agunah by testifying that her husband died in the gladiatorial ring. Nonetheless, these are exceptions. For the most part, the rabbis would prefer Jews not go watch chariot racing or gladiatorial matches. The text then takes up again the discussion about leitzanut, the scornful behavior of those who ditch Torah study for frivolity under the Roman big top. Rabbi Shimon then offers his interpretation of why these activities are so strongly discouraged:
The verse serves to say to you: If he walked with the wicked, he will ultimately stand with them. And if he stood with them, he will ultimately sit in their company. And if he sat, he will ultimately scorn along with them.
Psalms 1:1, Rabbi Shimon explains, describes the slippery slope of the Roman cultural context. You walk to the circus, the colosseum or the “clown show,” which seems harmless enough. Once there, you stand around, intrigued by all the fun, and before you know it, you sit among the scornful and participate in the conversation, engaged in dangerous nonsense instead of in lives of Torah. The text goes on to warn about the dire consequences of leitzanut — individual and communal deprivation and even extermination.
The entire talmudic passage evokes what one of my teachers calls Jewish minority anxiety. The sages were deeply concerned about Roman entertainments seducing Jews away from the life of Torah, especially given the predominance (and excesses) of Roman culture and political power. This is a familiar anxiety to many of us. We too make choices in our life to attend and participate in the cultural events and activities of broader society. Should we worry that they will detract from Torah study? That they will ultimately draw us into leitzanut, scornful behavior? Many modern religious Jews take a softer line than today’s Gemara, working hard to integrate a life of Torah with the best of our dominant secular culture. Yet we can hear our ancestors’ worries echoed in our ongoing struggles to assimilate that culture without being assimilated by it.
Read all of Avodah Zarah 18 Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on July 6, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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