Avodah Zarah 21A

Study Avodah Zarah folio 21A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.

Text Excerpt

משכירין להם בתים אבל לא שדות, ובחוצה לארץ מוכרין להם בתים ומשכירין שדות, דברי רבי מאיר. רבי יוסי אומר: בארץ ישראל משכירין להם בתים אבל לא שדות, ובסוריא מוכרין בתים ומשכירין שדות, ובחוצה לארץ מוכרין אלו ואלו.

one may rent houses to non-Jews, but one may not rent fields. And outside of Eretz Yisrael one may sell houses and rent fields to non-Jews; this is the statement of R' Meir. R' Yosei says: In Eretz Yisrael one may rent houses to non-Jews but one may not rent fields. And in Syria one may sell houses to them and rent fields, and outside of Eretz Yisrael one may sell both these, houses, and those, fields.

אף במקום שאמרו להשכיר, לא לבית דירה אמרו, מפני שהוא מכניס לתוכו עבודה זרה, שנאמר: ״לא תביא תועבה אל ביתך״, ובכל מקום לא ישכיר לו את המרחץ, מפני שהוא נקרא על שמו.

Even in a place with regard to which the rabbis said that it is permitted for a Jew to rent a house to a non-Jew, they did not say that one may rent it for use as a residence, because the non-Jew will bring objects of idol worship into it, as it is stated: “You should not bring an abomination into your house” (Deuteronomy 7:26), and this is still considered the house of a Jew. And for the same reason, in every place, one may not rent a bathhouse to a non-Jew, since it is called by the name of the owner, and onlookers will think that the Jew is operating it on Shabbat.

גמ׳ מאי ״אין צריך לומר שדות״? אילימא משום דאית בה תרתי: חדא, חניית קרקע; וחדא, דקא מפקע לה ממעשר.

Talmud: What is the meaning of the Mishnah’s statement: Needless to say one may not allow non-Jews to rent fields? Why is the halakha with regard to fields more obvious than the halakha of houses? If we say that it is because allowing a non-Jew to rent a field entails two problems, one of which is aiding non-Jews in encamping in the land, and the other one is that doing so releases the land from the mitzva of separating tithe, this cannot be correct.

Text data via Sefaria: William Davidson Edition - English and William Davidson Edition - Vocalized Aramaic, CC-BY-NC; edition provenance: Koren. Display terminology has been modernized for readability.