We’re in Perek Chet, and we’re in Mishnah Yud. They once said in front of Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Eliezer used to say: “If somebody eats the bread of the Goyim (non-Jews), or of the Kutim—these converts who didn’t convert to l’shem shamayim (for the sake of Heaven). The rabbis made a gezerah (rabbinic decree) against eating their bread because they did not want us to break bread with them, in order to keep a distance. Especially when Ezra the Sofer came up to build the second Beit HaMikdash, the Kutim protested and tried to stop him. So the rabbis made a gezerah called Pat Akum (bread of the Goyim), or Pat Kutim. Rabbi Eliezer supposedly said that whoever eats Pat Kutim—the bread of these Kutim—it’s like he’s eating chazir (pig).”
I guess he wanted to impress upon the people how serious it is. Now, of course, it’s not like eating chazir, because chazir is an issur min haTorah (Torah prohibition). Pat Kutim is only an issur derabbanan (rabbinic prohibition). But he wanted to stress that it’s not negotiable, that it’s assur, and that it’s totally forbidden. Anyway, when Rabbi Akiva heard that statement, he told them, “Be quiet. Don’t continue to say that in Rabbi Eliezer’s name. I’m not going to make public what Rabbi Eliezer actually says.” Because actually, Rabbi Eliezer is of the opinion that after the Kutim made Teshuvah (repentance), their bread became permissible again. So Rabbi Akiva says, “I know you’re quoting him to say that it’s like eating chazir. I’m not going to tell you what he really said,” because he didn’t want to publicize the leniency. But at a certain point, Rabbi Eliezer was actually more lenient regarding Pat Kutim than the other rabbis. He felt that the gezerah was undone, as I said, when they made Teshuvah.
Now we go to the next Mishnah, which is Mishnah Yud Alef. We’re talking about a bathhouse that was heated by burning straw or stubble that had Shemitah (Sabbatical year) sanctity. You’re not allowed to burn Shemitah produce that’s fit for human consumption or fit for animal consumption. The Torah says: If it’s fit for animal consumption, you must feed it to the animals, and you must not burn it. It says… So the person over here committed an issur, because this straw and stubble are fit for animal consumption. Instead, what did he do? He used them as fuel to heat the water for the merchatz, the bathhouse. So the question is: Are you allowed to benefit and go into this bathhouse? The Mishnah says that it’s permitted to bathe in the bathhouse, even though the straw should not have been used. The person may bathe there because it’s indirect benefit. The straw has already been burned and the water heated, so you’re not directly benefiting from the Shemitah product.
However, the Mishnah makes one condition. If the person is respectable, respectable people have to be extra careful in their ways, and we’re not going to allow him to bathe. Why? Because people are not going to know; they’re going to think that the respectable person actually burned the straw, and they’re going to come to think that you’re allowed to burn straw of Shemitah. They’re not going to know that somebody else burned it and that he went in just to use the hot water. They’re going to think he did it himself. Whatever a rabbi does, the people learn from him. So a rabbi has to be extra careful: even with certain things that might be permissible for other people, he has to be extra strict. Therefore, Bartenura writes, “If the people learn from him, he has to be more strict on himself.”