Study Avodah Zarah folio 8B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
כל תלתין יומין, בין אמר ליה מחמת הלולא ובין לא אמר ליה מחמת הלולא — אסור, מכאן ואילך, אי אמר ליה מחמת הלולא — אסור, ואי לא אמר ליה מחמת הלולא — שרי.
during all the 30 days that follow the wedding celebration, if the non-Jew invites a Jew to a feast, whether he said to the Jew that the feast is due to the wedding celebration or whether he did not say to him that the feast is due to the wedding celebration, it is prohibited to attend, as it is assumed the festivity is part of the wedding celebration. From this point forward, if he said to him that the feast is due to the wedding celebration, it is prohibited to participate, but if he did not say to him that the feast is due to the wedding celebration, it is permitted to do so.
וכי אמר ליה מחמת הלולא, עד אימת? אמר רב פפא: עד תריסר ירחי שתא. ומעיקרא מאימת אסור? אמר רב פפא משמיה דרבא: מכי רמו שערי באסינתי.
The Talmud asks: And in a case where he said to him that the feast is due to the wedding celebration, until when is the feast assumed to be connected to idol worship? Rav Pappa said: Until 12 months of the year have passed since the wedding. The Talmud asks: And initially, before the wedding, from when is it prohibited? Rav Pappa said in the name of Rava: From the time when they cast barley into the mortars [ba’asintei] to prepare beer for the wedding.
ולבתר תריסר ירחי שתא שרי? והא רב יצחק בריה דרב משרשיא איקלע לבי ההוא גוי לבתר תריסר ירחי שתא, ושמעיה דאודי, ופירש ולא אכל! שאני רב יצחק בריה דרב משרשיא, דאדם חשוב הוא.
The Talmud asks: And after the 12 months of the year have passed since the wedding, is it always permitted to participate in a feast? But Rav Yitzḥak, son of Rav Mesharshiyya, happened to come to the house of a certain non-Jew after 12 months of the year had passed since his son’s wedding, and he heard the non-Jew giving thanks to his idol for the marriage of his son, and he withdrew from the feast and did not eat there. The Talmud answers: Rav Yitzḥak, son of Rav Mesharshiyya, is different, as he is an important person and therefore his presence caused the non-Jew to rejoice.