Study Avodah Zarah folio 22B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
גמ׳ ורמינהי: לוקחין מהן בהמה לקרבן, ואין חוששין לא משום רובע, ולא משום נרבע, ולא משום מוקצה, ולא משום נעבד.
Talmud: With regard to the assumption that non-Jews are suspected of bestiality, the Talmud raises a contradiction from a baraita (Tosefta 2:1): One may purchase an animal from non-Jews for use as an offering, and there is no concern that it might be unfit due to it being an animal that had sex with a person, or due to is being an animal that was the object of bestiality, or due to it having been set aside for idol worship, or due to the animal itself having been worshipped.
בשלמא מוקצה ונעבד, אם איתא דאקצייה ואם איתא דפלחיה — לא הוה מזבין ליה, אלא רובע ונרבע לחוש! אמר רב תחליפא אמר רב שילא בר אבינא משמיה דרב: גוי חס על בהמתו שלא תעקר.
The Talmud analyzes this ruling: Granted, there is no concern that the animal was set aside for idolatry or was itself worshipped. The reason is that if it is so that it was set aside, or if it is so that it was worshipped, then the non-Jew would not have sold it to the Jew in the first place. But with regard to the possibility that it is an animal that had sex with a person or an animal that was the object of bestiality, let one raise a concern in line with the ruling of the Mishnah. The Talmud explains: Rav Taḥlifa says that Rav Sheila bar Avina says in the name of Rav: A non-Jew protects and thereby spares his own animal so that it will not become barren. Since an act of bestiality may cause an animal to become barren, there is no concern that the non-Jew engaged in immoral behavior with it. Therefore, one may use an animal purchased from a non-Jew as an offering.