Avodah Zarah 63

Sex work was part of the ancient Israelite economy whether religious leaders liked it or not. Indeed, while Deuteronomy 23:18 explicitly prohibits Israelites from engaging in sex work, the very next verse assumes it is happening and that the money from it circulated in the economy: “You shall not bring the fee of a female sex-worker or the pay of a dog [or male sex worker] into the house of your God in fulfillment of any vow, for both are abhorrent to your God. ”

The Torah assumes that a sex worker of any gender might receive payment and then choose to use it to support the Temple by bringing an offering with it or using it to fulfill a vow. The Talmud interrogates what exactly constitutes the kind of payment for services rendered forbidden to be used in this way. On yesterday’s daf, we learned in a beraita: 

If he gave payment but did not engage in intercourse with her, or if he engaged in intercourse with her but did not give her payment, her payment is permitted (to serve as an offering in the Temple).

According to this teaching, if a man paid a woman for sex but they did not actually have sex, the woman can use the payment in the Temple. Today the Talmud asks  what if he does in fact perform both actions, but with some time between them. What would the law be then?

He gave her and afterward engaged in intercourse with her, then when he engaged in intercourse with her, the prohibition of payment (to a prostitute) should apply to it retroactively. 

Prepaying for services is still a form of payment. So just because the man paid in advance, the prohibition on paying for sex should still apply and the woman’s money should not be permitted for use in the temple. 

Rabbi Eliezer says: When she sacrificed first (before intercourse).

What are the circumstances? If that he said to her: Acquire this from now, it is obvious that it is permitted (to sacrifice it), as it is not extant at the time of the intercourse, and it is merely a gift that he gave her. 

If the man gives the sex worker money days before any intercourse, she fully acquires it then and it’s not really payment as much as a gift. And the prohibition in Deuteronomy is specific to the payment of a sex worker, so it wouldn’t apply here. 

Rather, where he said to her: Let it be with you until the time of intercourse, and if you need it, acquire it from now. 

In this extremely limited case, a sex worker is permitted to “early acquire” her payment and still use it to fulfill a vow or bring a sacrifice to the Temple. While it’s interesting to consider exactly how close payment and services rendered must be in order for them to be legally linked, it’s even more interesting to consider the very premise at the root of this discussion: sex workers existed in Israel and they too want to fulfill their vows to God and offer sacrifices in the Temple.

It’s possible that the rabbis think this case is entirely theoretical, an interesting gray area with which to tease out other questions. But given what we know from other parts of the Talmud, that seems unlikely. Instead, what we see here is that even in the rabbinic world, people’s identities can be multifaceted and complicated. Sex workers are engaged in the spiritual community and its ritual life. Those who violate one prohibition might deeply care about another and still be committed to having a relationship with God. And while that might make us ask particular halakhic questions about their payment, it also reminds us that none of us can be reduced just to what we do for work.

Read all of Avodah Zarah 63 Sefaria.

This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on August 20, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.