Julian Ungar-Sargon

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Daf Ditty

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

Avodah Zarah 21: מזוזה חובת הדר הוא

jyungar July 9, 2025

For the source text click/tap here: Avodah Zarah 21

To download, click/tap here: PDF 

According to the Mishna on our daf, there are a number of restrictions on selling or renting houses or fields to non-Jews. These restrictions may stem from concern that the places that are given to the non-Jews may lose the opportunity for fulfillment of mitzvot – e.g. that tithes will no longer be separated from the produce of the field – or that there is a prohibition against giving a non-Jew a stakehold in the land, based on the interpretation of the passage in Sefer Devarim (7:2) that concludes with the words lo teḥanem.

Rabbi Yosei distinguishes between three different areas: The Land of Israel itself, where these laws are most severe, Syria, and area to the north of Israel, where some of these laws apply while others do not, and Ḥutz la’aretz – the Diaspora – where both houses and fields can be sold to non-Jews.

we explore Selling Land in the Talmud: Property Transfer and Acquisition in Jewish Law as well as "Contested Territory: Israeli and Palestinian Land Claims from Ottoman Rule to Modern Statehood.”

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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.​