Study Avodah Zarah folio 17A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
והנאך, ועליו נתפסת? אמר לו: עקיבא, הזכרתני, פעם אחת הייתי מהלך בשוק העליון של ציפורי, ומצאתי אדם אחד מתלמידי ישו הנוצרי, ויעקב איש כפר סכניא שמו. אמר לי: כתוב בתורתכם: ״לא תביא אתנן זונה וגו׳״, מהו לעשות הימנו בית הכסא לכהן גדול? ולא אמרתי לו כלום.
and you derived pleasure from it, and because of this you were held responsible by Heaven. R' Eliezer said to him: Akiva, you are right, as you have reminded me that once I was walking in the upper marketplace of Tzippori, and I found a man who was one of the students of Jesus the Nazarene, and his name was Ya’akov of Kefar Sekhanya. He said to me: It is written in your Torah: “You should not bring the payment to a prostitute, or the price of a dog, into the house of YHWH your God” (Deuteronomy 23:19). What is the halakha: Is it permitted to make from the payment to a prostitute for services rendered a latrine for a High Priest in the Temple? And I said nothing to him in response.
אמר לי: כך לימדני ישו הנוצרי, כי ״מאתנן זונה קבצה ועד אתנן זונה ישובו״, ממקום הטנופת באו, למקום הטנופת ילכו.
He said to me: Jesus the Nazarene taught me the following: It is permitted, as derived from the verse: “For of the payment to a prostitute she has gathered them, and to the payment to a prostitute they should return” (Micah 1:7). Since the coins came from a place of filth, let them go to a place of filth and be used to build a latrine.
והנאני הדבר, על ידי זה נתפסתי למינות, ועברתי על מה שכתוב בתורה: ״הרחק מעליה דרכך״ — זו מינות, ״ואל תקרב אל פתח ביתה״ — זו הרשות. ואיכא דאמרי: ״הרחק מעליה דרכך״ — זו מינות והרשות, ״ואל תקרב אל פתח ביתה״ — זו זונה. וכמה? אמר רב חסדא: ארבע אמות.
And I derived pleasure from the statement, and due to this, I was arrested for heresy by the authorities, because I transgressed that which is written in the Torah: “Remove your way far from her, and do not come near the entrance of her house” (Proverbs 5:8). “Remove your way far from her,” this is a reference to heresy; “and do not come near the entrance of her house,” this is a reference to the ruling authority. The Talmud notes: And there are those who say a different interpretation: “Remove your way far from her,” this is a reference to heresy and the ruling authority; “and do not come near the entrance of her house,” this is a reference to a prostitute. And how much distance must one maintain from a prostitute? Rav Ḥisda said: 4 cubits.