A Yissachar / Zebulun Partnership in Loving Memory of Yishak ben Simcha A"H & Felicia bat Miriam A"H
Rabbi Joseph Dana

Torah Lecture

Mishnah Avodah Zarah 4-3

Lectured by Rabbi Joseph Dana

Published
May 2, 2025
Duration
1:35
Lecture code
RJD-MAVDZRA-4-3

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Here we'll talk about the ability to use property that was sort of dedicated to in Avodah Zarah. The Mishnah says: If an idol had a garden or a bath built for it or dedicated to it, it was not a way of serving the idol; rather, it was built to produce income that would support the idol. You are allowed to benefit from the garden or the bath if you are not providing any gain to the priests—that is, if you do not have to pay an entrance fee to use them. But if using and benefiting from them requires paying an entrance fee that benefits the priests, you are not allowed to do that, because the fee you pay is going to support the idol's priests.

But if the garden or the bathhouse was held in partnership by the idol and others, you are allowed to benefit from them whether or not you are providing a gain to the priests. Since the priests here are not the only ones benefiting from the payments, it is permitted to use the garden or the bath even when you have to pay for it. When you do so, you could sort of have kavanah (intention) that the money is not going to the priest, but will go to the other partners. Therefore, it is permitted in that situation, as long as the fee is small enough and you are not providing some sort of massive benefit to the priests.