Study Avodah Zarah folio 15B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ומנא תימרא דאמרינן כי האי גוונא? דתנן: בית שמאי אומרים: לא ימכור אדם פרה החורשת בשביעית, ובית הלל מתירין, מפני שיכול לשוחטה.
Rav Huna added: And from where do you say that in a case like this we say that the animal will be slaughtered, and one is not concerned about placing a stumbling block before the blind, despite the fact that the animal could be used to violate a prohibition? As we learned in a Mishnah (Shevi’it 5:8) that Beit Shammai say: A person may not sell a cow that plows in the Sabbatical Year, as it is prohibited to plow during the Sabbatical Year and the buyer presumably wants it for this purpose. And Beit Hillel permit selling the cow, since the buyer can slaughter it rather than use it for plowing. This shows that according to Beit Hillel, whose opinion is accepted as halakha, one may assume that an animal will be used for a permitted purpose, rather than for a prohibited action.
אמר רבה: מי דמי? התם אין אדם מצווה על שביתת בהמתו בשביעית, הכא אדם מצווה על שביתת בהמתו בשבת.
Rabba said: Are these matters comparable? There, with regard to the Sabbatical Year, a person is not commanded to let his animal rest during the Sabbatical Year, as there is no prohibition against his animal performing labor. Therefore, there is no reason to decree that the sale is prohibited lest he lend, lease, or test the animal. As for the concern that he is misleading the buyer and encouraging him to sin, he may rely on the fact that the buyer probably intends to slaughter the animal. But here, with regard to selling an animal to a non-Jew, a person is commanded to let his animal rest on Shabbat, and therefore the rabbis decreed the sale prohibited in case he comes to lend, lease, or test the animal.