Avodah Zarah 4

The opening mishnah of Tractate Avodah Zarah asserted that a Jew may not engage in business with a gentile in the three days preceding an idolatrous festival. Following a series of pages that wandered into a discussion of more philosophical issues about the end of days, sin, and reward and punishment, on today’s daf the rabbis provide an explanation for the mishnah’s rule. Actually, two explanations:

A dilemma was raised before the sages: Is the reason because the gentile might profit? Or perhaps it is because this is a violation of the prohibition: “And you shall not put a stumbling block before the blind” (Leviticus 19:14), as one who sells an animal to a gentile thereby aids him in engaging in prohibited idol worship.

The Talmud presents two explanations for the mishnah’s rule: Perhaps pre-festival transactions are likely to contribute to the gentile’s financial success, which would increase both his joy and his enthusiasm for worshipping a false god during the upcoming festival. Or perhaps the causation is more direct: The transaction might provide the gentile with an animal suitable for sacrifice, thereby abetting idolatry and violating the levitical prohibition on putting a stumbling block before the blind. These answers seem similar, so this prompts another question:

What is the practical difference between the two options? The practical difference is in a situation where the gentile already has an animal of his own. If you say that the reason for the prohibition is because he might profit, here too the Jew causes him to profit. But if you say that the reason for the prohibition is due to the prohibition: “You shall not put a stumbling block before the blind,” since the gentile has his own animal (therefore the Jew is not helping him to sin).

According to the first interpretation, every transaction with a gentile in the days leading up to a festival has the potential to abet idolatry. But according to the second interpretation, if the gentile already has an animal, then providing funds or perhaps another animal will not materially change what that gentile does at the festival. It’s the difference between claiming that all such transactions abet idolatry and the competing idea that only someof them do.

But is the latter the correct application of an important verse that is difficult to interpret? To explore the prohibition on putting a stumbling block before the blind further, the Gemara cites a beraita taught in Rabbi Natan’s name:

From where is it derived that a person may not extend a cup of wine to a nazirite, who is prohibited from drinking wine, and that he may not extend a limb severed from a living animal to descendants of Noah? The verse states: “And you shall not put a stumbling block before the blind.” (Leviticus 19:14) 

This beraita takes an expansive view of the prohibition on putting a stumbling block before the blind, interpreting it as any action that helps a person to sin — whether handing wine to a nazirite (who is forbidden to consume it) or a limb from a living animal to any person (who is forbidden to eat it under the Noahide Code). This seems like a high bar, as the Gemara comments that in both these cases, even if one doesn’t hand over the wine or limb, the person in question could take it for themselves. This is too high a bar, apparently, because the Gemara amends the beraita by reimagining the context:

Here we are dealing with a case where they are standing on the two sides of a river, and therefore the recipient could not have taken it himself. Since his help was instrumental, the one who conveyed the item has violated the prohibition of putting a stumbling block before the blind. 

Imagine, says the Gemara, that the person extending the forbidden object is on the far side of a river that the potential sinner cannot cross. This is what it means to put a stumbling block before the blind: to enable a sin that otherwise would not have taken place.

So where does this leave it with regard to the reason for the mishnah’s rule? The Talmud doesn’t give us a definitive answer. Even if we’re not clear on the exact logic, however, the rule stands: Whether or not it demonstrably enables the gentile’s idolatrous practice, and therefore constitutes putting a stumbling block before the blind, refrain from making that deal until after the festival.

Read all of Avodah Zarah 6 Sefaria.

This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on June 24, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.