Study Avodah Zarah folio 34A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
להו: אנא חזינא להו דמדייתי, וכיון דמדייתי ודאי בלעי ואסירי. מאי טעמא? התורה העידה על כלי חרס שאינו יוצא מידי דופנו לעולם.
to them: I observe that they sweat, i.e., they exude liquid from their exterior. And since they sweat, they certainly absorb, and are therefore prohibited. The Talmud asks: What is the reason that they cannot be rendered permitted by purging with hot water? It is because the Torah attested with regard to an earthenware vessel that substances absorbed in it are never expelled from its walls.
The Talmud reiterates its question: Mareimar ruled that glazed earthenware absorbs leavened bread permanently, but he did not rule likewise with regard to wine. But in what way is leavened bread different from wine used for an idolatrous libation? Why is it that Mareimar taught with regard to them: All glazed earthenware vessels are permitted, even if they have contained wine of non-Jews?
וכי תימא: חמץ דאורייתא, יין נסך דרבנן — והא כל דתקון רבנן כעין דאורייתא תקון! זה תשמישו בחמין, וזה תשמישו בצונן.
The Talmud adds: And if you would say that these cases are different, as leavened bread is prohibited by Torah law whereas wine used for a libation is prohibited by rabbinic law, that is difficult: But there is a principle that all ordinances that the rabbis instituted, they instituted them parallel to Torah law. Although this wine is prohibited by rabbinic law, it is subject to the same halakhot as leavened bread. The Talmud answers: This one’s use is with hot substances, and that one’s use is with cold substances. Wine is drunk while it is cold and is therefore absorbed to a lesser extent than leavened bread, which is often cooked in the vessel.
רבי עקיבא איקלע לגינזק, בעו מיניה: מתענין לשעות או אין מתענין לשעות? לא הוה בידיה. קנקנים של גוים אסורין או מותרין? לא הוה בידיה. במה שימש משה כל שבעת ימי המלואים? לא הוה בידיה.
The Talmud relates: R' Akiva happened to come to the city of Ginzak, whose residents asked him 3 questions to which he did not know the answer: First, does one fast for hours, or does one not fast for hours? The answer to the question was not available to R' Akiva. Second, are clay jars that belong to non-Jews permanently prohibited, or can they be rendered permitted? The answer was not available to him. Third, in what garments did Moses serve all 7 days of the Tabernacle’s inauguration, as acting priest when Aaron and his sons were initiated into the priesthood? Moses presumably did not wear the priestly vestments, as he himself was not a priest. Once again, the answer was not available to him.