Study Avodah Zarah folio 49B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מתני׳ נטל ממנה עצים — אסורין בהנאה. הסיק בהן את התנור, אם חדש — יותץ, ואם ישן — יוצן. אפה בו את הפת — אסורה בהנאה.
Mishnah: If one took wood from an ashera, it is prohibited to derive benefit from it. In a case where one kindled a fire in an oven with the wood, if it is a new oven and by kindling the fire he hardened the oven and made it stronger for use in the future, then the oven must be shattered. Since forbidden items were used in the process of forming the oven, one may not derive benefit from the use of the forbidden items. But if it is an old oven it may be cooled; it is prohibited to use the oven only while it is still hot. If one baked bread with wood from the ashera as the fuel, it is prohibited to derive benefit from the bread.
נתערבה באחרות — כולן אסורות בהנאה, רבי אליעזר אומר: יוליך הנאה לים המלח, אמרו לו: אין פדיון לעבודה זרה.
If this bread was intermingled with other bread, it is prohibited to derive benefit from all the bread. R' Eliezer says: One must take the benefit and cast it into the Dead Sea. In other words, one is not required to destroy all of the loaves. Instead, one should designate money equal in value to the wood that he used from the ashera, and he should destroy this money to offset the benefit he derived from the forbidden wood. The Rabbis said to him: There is no monetary redemption for objects that are forbidden due to idol worship. Once the bread becomes forbidden, it cannot be redeemed by having the value of the forbidden wood cast into the Dead Sea.
נטל הימנה כרכור — אסור בהנאה. ארג בו את הבגד — אסור בהנאה. נתערב באחרים ואחרים באחרים — כולן אסורין בהנאה. רבי אליעזר אומר: יוליך הנאה לים המלח. אמרו לו: אין פדיון לעבודה זרה.
If one took wood from an ashera for use as a weaving shuttle [karkor], it is prohibited to derive benefit from it. If one wove a garment with it, it is prohibited to derive benefit from the garment. If the garment was intermingled with other garments, and those other garments were intermingled with others, it is prohibited to derive benefit from all of them. R' Eliezer says: One must take the benefit and cast it into the Dead Sea. The Rabbis said to him: There is no monetary redemption for objects that are forbidden due to idol worship.