Julian Ungar-Sargon

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Daf Ditty

A wide-ranging commentary on the daily page of Talmud.

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Avodah Zarah 43: כְּמִין זַכְרוּת עָשְׂתָה לָהּ

jyungar July 31, 2025

For the source text click/tap here: Avodah Zarah 43

To download, click/tap here: PDF

Our Daf preserves a fascinating rabbinic debate that illuminates both the enduring significance of Maacah bat Absalom's story and the complex halakhic questions it raises. In this passage, Rabbi Yosei cites the destruction of Maacah's Asherah image as a precedent in a discussion about the disposal of idolatrous objects:

Rabbi Yosei said to them: But isn't it already stated concerning Asa: "And he also removed Maacah his mother from being queen, because she had made an abominable image [miflatztah] for an ashera; and Asa cut down her image, and burned it at the Kidron River" (see I Kings 15:13)?

It seems that Asa was unconcerned that the ground-up idol may provide fertilization. They said to him: You seek to bring proof from there? The Kidron River does not grow vegetation,so even if the idol would have fertilized the soil, it would have been of no benefit.

This rabbinic exchange reveals how later Jewish interpretation grappled with the practical and theological implications of Maacah's idolatry.

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Julian Ungar-Sargon

This is Julian Ungar-Sargon's personal website. It contains poems, essays, and podcasts for the spiritual seeker and interdisciplinary aficionado.​