Study Avodah Zarah folio 50B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מותרות, ישראל שהביא אבנים מן המרקוליס וחיפה בהן דרכים וסרטיאות — אסורות, ולית נגר ולא בר נגר דיפרקינה.
they are permitted, as the non-Jew nullified their prohibited status. In the case of a Jew who brought stones from a pile dedicated to Mercury and paved paths and streets with them, they are prohibited. And there is neither a carpenter [naggar] nor a son of a carpenter who can resolve this, i.e., no one can resolve the difficulty inherent in this statement, not a Torah scholar, and not even a scholar who is the son of a scholar.
אמר רב ששת: אנא לא נגר אנא ולא בר נגר אנא, ופריקנא ליה: מאי קושיא ליה? דרב גידל. בעינא כעין פנים, וליכא.
Rav Sheshet said: As for me, I am not a carpenter, nor am I the son of a carpenter, and yet I will resolve the difficulty. What is the difficulty that Rabba bar Yirmeya finds in the baraita? The baraita is difficult because of the statement of Rav Giddel, that the prohibited status of offerings brought in idol worship can never be revoked. This is not difficult, as in order for idol worship to prohibit an offering I require the offering to be like those offerings sacrificed inside the Temple, and there is not a parallel offering of stones in the Temple.
אמר רב יוסף בר אבא: איקלע רבה בר ירמיה לאתרין, ואתא ואייתי מתניתא בידיה: מתליעין ומזהמין בשביעית, ואין מתליעין ומזהמין במועד.
§ Rav Yosef bar Abba said: Rabba bar Yirmeya happened to come to our locale, and when he came he brought the following baraita with him: One may remove worms from a tree and place manure on a cut in a tree during the Sabbatical Year, but one may not remove worms or place manure on a cut during the intermediate days of the Festival.
כאן וכאן אין מגזמין, וסכין שמן לגזום, בין במועד בין בשביעית. ולית נגר ולא בר נגר דיפרקינה.
The baraita continues: Both here, in the case of the Sabbatical Year, and there, in the case of the intermediate days of the Festival, one may not prune the trees. But one may smear oil on the previously pruned tree on the place where one pruned it in order to prevent the tree from being damaged, both during the intermediate days of the Festival and during the Sabbatical Year. And there is neither a carpenter nor a son of a carpenter who can resolve this.