Yerushalmi Avodah Zarah 1:4 ירושלמי עבודה זרה א׳:ד׳

MISHNAH: Outside a town with pagan worship it is permitted¹¹⁴In a village or small town, if there is a pagan festival, or a fair dedicated to a pagan deity, which is celebrated by everybody there, the restrictions of trade spelled out in Mishnah 1 do apply in the town but not in its surroundings.. If the pagan worship was outside, inside is permitted. May one go there? If the road was dedicated to this place¹¹⁵The place where trade with the Gentiles would be forbidden. it is forbidden, but if one could go there also to another place it is permitted. If a town has pagan worship and there were stores decorated and not decorated; there was a case in Bet Shean and the Sages said that the decorated ones are forbidden, the not decorated ones are permitted¹¹⁶To trade there since they do not participate in the festivities..

HALAKHAH: “Outside a town with pagan worship,” etc. Therefore inside it is forbidden. Because in it there is one statue all of it should be forbidden? Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish says, they taught this about a fair¹¹⁷The fair is a once yearly affair in honor of some divinity and its temple receives a fee from every transaction at the fair. Trading at the fair is directly subsidizing pagan worship. Babli 11b.. What is the difference between inside and the surroundings? Inside where it profits from the toll it is forbidden. Outside it is permitted because it does not profit from the toll, but if outside it also profits from the toll it is forbidden. But was it not stated⁴⁰Tosephta 1:8; Babli 13a.: “One goes to fairs and buys there slaves, slave girls, and animals.” Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, not only Jewish slaves⁴¹Circumcised slaves who were property of another Jew. This cannot refer to Jews sold as slaves since it is very meritorious to redeem Jews from slavery and does not need special permission. but even Gentiles, because he brings them under the wings of the Shekhina⁴²The Divine Presence. Since the slave becomes a semi-Jew, in the words of the Babli (13b) buying Gentile slaves “diminishes the number of idolators in the world.”. But was it not stated¹¹⁸Babli 13a.: If he bought there a garment, it should be burned, an animal should be castrated, coins should be brought to the Dead Sea? One understands that a garment should be burned, coins should be brought to the Dead Sea. An animal should be castrated¹¹⁹The statement is unacceptable first because it contradicts the Tosephta and second because there is a biblical prohibition to castrate any animal (Lev. 22:24). The Babli 13a explains “castrating” as “making unfit for agricultural work” similar to the meaning of the root عقر “to starve an animal” in Arabic.? But was it not stated⁴⁰Tosephta 1:8; Babli 13a.: One goes to fairs and buys there slaves, slave girls, and animals.” Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, not only Jewish slaves⁴¹Circumcised slaves who were property of another Jew. This cannot refer to Jews sold as slaves since it is very meritorious to redeem Jews from slavery and does not need special permission. but even Gentiles, because he brings them under the wings of Heaven? Explain it, Israel, Israel¹²⁰He bought from a Jew who was a vendor at the fair. This shows that only the strictly religious persons followed the rules on trade with Gentiles.. But was it not stated: If somebody sells his slave to Gentiles the proceeds are forbidden¹²¹The Babli (Giṭtin45a) requires the communal court to force the seller to buy the slave back for up to 10 times the sale price. It is forbidden to sell a circumcised slave, who has to keep the Sabbath and eat kosher, to a Gentile. On the other hand, a slave who refuses to be circumcised and become a semi-Jew may be sold to Gentiles without penalty.. Again explain it, Israel, Israel. One buys from an Israel who goes to a fair because he is like one salvaging from their hands. On his return it is forbidden since he profits from pagan worship¹²²Babli 33a, Tosephta 1:15.. But from Gentiles it is permitted whether they are going or coming. Rebbi Abba the son of Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: If it was a hostelry¹²³Greek πανδοκεῖον, πανδόκιον. Since the hostelry is a place for strangers, even at the time of a fair it is exempt of the rules restricting participation of Jews. it is permitted. Rebbi Ze‘ira asked: at a fair it is forbidden, in a hostelry it is permitted? Maybe Rebbi Joḥanan said this about merchandise¹²⁴Greek πραγματεία.. Rebbi Abba the son of Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba came in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: If it was a hostelry, merchandise is permitted¹²⁵The Babli 13a, b explains that any kind of merchandise one may buy there if no fee is paid to the organizers of the fair., said Rebbi Joḥanan¹²⁶This clause is superfluous but this is not sufficient reason to delete it from the text..

Rebbi Abbahu in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: If one bartered an animal for an idol it becomes forbidden. Rav Ḥisda asked: If he had worshipped it he would not have made it forbidden¹²⁷Animals used in pagan worship are forbidden as sacrifices (Mishnah Temurah6:1), but living things cannot become forbidden for all use. Why should barter make the living animal forbidden?. Because he bartered an animal for an idol he made it forbidden? Maybe it was said about merchandise assembled before the fair¹²⁸It is forbidden to give animals (or any other article which might be used in pagan worship) specifically for the purpose of assembling merchandise for sale at the pagan fair. The proceeds would be forbidden as the money of a Jew returning from dealing at the fair.. There came Rebbi Ze‘ira, Rebbi Abbahu in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: If one bartered an animal for an idol it becomes forbidden. This was said about merchandise assembled before the fair. Rebbi Abbahu said, it is forbidden to make a group visit to a fair¹²⁹As stated in the following Tosephta, it is forbidden to greet a celebrant of a pagan rite in public where it increases his prestige on the day of his celebration. Since a group constitutes a public, a person meeting a Gentile of his acquaintance would automatically violate this prohibition., as we have stated¹³⁰Tosephta 1:2.: “One should not greet him at a place where it gives him prestige. If he meets him on his way, he greets him gravely.”

Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba sent to buy sandals for himself at the fair of Tyre. Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa said to him, are you a buyer at fairs¹³¹The head of the Academy should not be violating rabbinic decrees; Babli 13b.? He answered him, did you never buy a loaf of bread¹³²Greek κόλλιξ.? He said to him, there is a difference, since Rebbi Joḥanan said, they did not forbid the necessities of life. Rebbi Simeon ben Joḥanan sent to ask Rebbi Simeon ben Josadaq, did you not check out the nature of the fair at Tyre? He told him, yes. He gave two pounds¹³³Cf. Ševuot6:3, Note 34. of peppers to an ¹³⁴An unexplained word. The proposed etymologies by Perles (scrinarius, a document keeper), Levy (a small oven), and Kohut (Persian eskodār, a courier) are unsatisfactory.איסקרנדה. He went and found an inscription there, “I, King Diocletian, settled this fair at Tyre to the genius of my brother Heraklius¹³⁵Title given by Diocletian Jovius to his co-emperor Maximian. As a government sponsored fair, it should be permitted (Tosephta 1:7); the dedication to the genie of an Emperor would not make it prohibited since no pagan temple would profit from the sales., eight days.” Rebbi Isaac bar Naḥman asked Rebbi Ḥanina: What is the nature of the fair at Gaza? He said to him, did you ever go to Tyre and see a Jew and a Gentile sharing a pot, and he does not worry that the Gentile pour something into the pot? This is difficult. He asked him; what did he answer him? But since Rebbi Ḥanina never said something that he had not heard, for that reason when he asked him this he responded with that¹³⁶Babli 11b/12a.. Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun came, Abba bar bar Ḥana in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: They forbade only the fair at Botnah¹³⁷Identified by Eusebius as the biblical town of Betonim in the territory of the tribe of Gad., as it was stated thus: There are three fairs, the fair at Gaza, the fair at Acco, the fair at Botnah. The clearest of them¹³⁸As unquestionably pagan, organized for the benefit of pagan worship. is the fair at Botnah.

“May one go there?” If he was a guest¹³⁹An Aramaic word formed from Greek ξένος “stranger.” The rule of the Mishnah was made for visitors., it is forbidden; a town dweller is permitted¹⁴⁰As explained in Mishnah 3:6, real estate cannot become forbidden by being used for worship. A taxpayer of the place cannot be deprived by pagan worship of his right to use public roads.. A caravan is permitted since caravans go everywhere¹⁴¹Long distance travellers cannot be expected to know all local happenings; they may continue on their road..

How are they decorated? Rebbi Joḥanan said, with myrrh; Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, with any kind¹⁴²Not necessarily with flowers.. In the opinion of Rebbi Joḥanan, all is forbidden¹⁴³Since only myrrh is used, any myrrh used as decoration of any store in town is forbidden as pagan offering, whether or not it was intended as such.; in the opinion of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish only the addition is forbiddden. How is this done? If he usually takes five boxes outside and he took ten. If you say as a decoration, it is forbidden. If you say as sales practice¹⁴⁴Greek πρᾶξις, read פרקסיס for פרקסים. If the store expects to do more business because of the fair but outside the fairgrounds, this is not pagan worship., it is permitted.