Study Avodah Zarah folio 11B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
המנשר פרסותיה מן הארכובה ולמטה. תרגמה רב פפא: בעגלה המושכת בקרון.
One who cuts the hooves of the animal, severing the legs from the knee and below, does not render the animal a tereifa. It is evident from the baraita, which discusses the cases in which an animal is rendered a tereifa and is therefore unfit to eat, that it is discussing kosher animals. The Talmud answers: Rav Pappa interpreted the baraita as referring to the calf that pulls the king’s coach, a kosher animal of which the king made use.
יום תגלחת זקנו. איבעיא להו, היכי קתני? יום תגלחת זקנו והנחת בלוריתו, או דלמא יום תגלחת זקנו והעברת בלוריתו? תא שמע, דתניא תרוייהו: יום תגלחת זקנו והנחת בלוריתו, יום תגלחת זקנו והעברת בלוריתו.
§ The Mishnah teaches: The day of shaving his, i.e., the non-Jew’s, beard and his locks. A dilemma was raised before the rabbis: What is the Mishnah teaching here? Is it referring to the day of shaving his beard and head, when he cuts the hair of his head and as a result his long locks at the back of his head are left as a form of idol worship? Or perhaps the Mishnah is speaking of the day of shaving his beard and removing his locks, which are removed some time after they were left on the head? The Talmud responds: Come and hear an answer, as both opinions are taught in baraitot: One baraita mentions the day of shaving his beard and head when his long locks at the back of his head are left, whereas a different baraita specifies the day of shaving his beard and removing his locks.
אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל: עוד אחרת יש [להם] ברומי, אחת לשבעים שנה מביאין אדם שלם, ומרכיבין אותו על אדם חיגר, ומלבישין אותו בגדי אדם הראשון, ומניחין לו בראשו קרקיפלו של רבי ישמעאל,
The Talmud continues to discuss Roman festivals. Rav Yehuda says that Shmuel says: They have another festival in Rome: Once every 70 years they bring a man who is whole and free from any defect and have him ride on a lame man, to symbolize the healthy Esau ruling over Jacob, who walked with a limp after his fight with the angel. And they dress him in the garments of Adam the first man and place on his head the scalp [karkifelo] of R' Yishmael, which the Romans flayed when they executed him.