Yesterday, the story of Rabban Gamliel in the bathhouse of Aphrodite demonstrated that despite the rabbinic ideal of completely separating from idol worship, this was not always practical or even possible. Today, we are given another example: Whether they witnessed or imagined their neighbors worshiping the high places that surrounded them, the rabbis intuited that the biblical obligation to destroy objects of idol worship did not apply to geological features. The mishnah states:
When gentiles worship the mountains and the hills, the mountains and hills are permitted, but what is upon them is forbidden.
The mishnah differentiates between the mountains themselves and objects of idol worship that are erected on them. Only the latter are forbidden and should be destroyed. The former, created by God, are permitted and one is even allowed to derive benefit from them.
This rule is practical, as the rabbis lacked the capacity to obliviate mountains. But how is it textually justified? Rabbi Yosei HaGelili points us to Deuteronomy 12:2, which states: “You shall destroy all the places where the nations that you are to dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every leafy tree,” noting:
The mitzvah to destroy objects of idol worship applies to “their gods, upon the high mountains,” but not to the mountains themselves that are their gods. Similarly it applies to “their gods … upon the hills” but not to the hills themselves that are their gods.
The mishnah notices that the verse from Deuteronomy also mentions leafy trees, and asks if an ashera (a tree that is used for idol worship) is also exempt from destruction like the mountains and hills. The answer:
It is because it is the product of human involvement and did not grow by itself, and the law is that anything that is the product of human involvement is forbidden.
In other words, an ashera is not naturally occurring. Because it is not placed by God but cultivated by humans, Jews are obligated to remove it.
Rabbi Akiva, perhaps bothered by the inconsistent reading of the verse, suggests that the purpose of Deuteronomy 12:2, part of a speech of Moses given to the wilderness generation, is not to explain exactly which objects must be destroyed, but rather to inform the Israelites about where to look for objects of idol worship after they enter the land of Israel:
Everywhere that you find a high mountain, or an elevated hill, or a leafy tree, know that there is idol worship there.
In other words, when you get to the land and begin to eradicate idol worship, look to the mountains and places with leafy trees — that is where you will find what you are looking for.
Although Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yosei disagree about how to read this verse, they agree that trees worshipped as asherot must be destroyed. A matter that the Torah states explicitly on more than one occasion. (see Deuteronomy 7:5 and 12:3).
A key takeaway from today’s daf is that human actions have the power to transform an object, whether formed by human hands or natural, into an idol. But that power has its limits — the entire landscape cannot be claimed for idolatry. In the conversation that follows, the Gemara will test and define those limits more explicitly. We’ll explore that tomorrow.
Read all of Avodah Zarah 45 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on August 2, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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