Divine Beauty or Prohibited Gaze? The Talmud on Admiring Non-Jewish Women (Avodah Zarah 20a-b)

Outline

1. Rav: prohibited to point out a non-Jewish woman’s beauty

2. Stories of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and R’ Akiva Revealing Their Attitudes on the Beauty of Non-Jewish Women

3. Forbidden Gaze: Prohibition on Looking at Women and Mating Animals

The Passage

Avodah_Zarah.20a.9-20b.1

Rav: prohibited to point out a non-Jewish woman’s beauty

The Talmud discusses the prohibition against praising the beauty of non-Jewish women, homiletically rooted in the biblical verse "You should not show them favor" (לא תחנם).

It cites Rav’s opinion that one should not say, "How beautiful is this non-Jewish woman!"¹

אמר רב: אסור לאדם שיאמר: "כמה נאה עובדת כוכבים זו"

Rav says: It is prohibited for a person to say: How beautiful is this gentile woman!

Accounts of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and Rabbi Akiva Highlighting Their Attitude Towards the Beauty of Non-Jewish Women

The Talmud cites an incident where Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, upon seeing a particularly beautiful non-Jewish woman while looking out from the Temple Mount (מעלה בהר הבית),² praised God, quoting Psalms 104:24: "How great are Your works, O God!" 

Similarly, R' Akiva, upon seeing Tineius Rufus’s wife,³ responded with three actions: he spat, acknowledging her creation from a lowly origin; he laughed, knowing she would eventually convert and marry him; and he cried, recognizing that her beauty would ultimately decompose.⁴

The Talmud then quotes an idea that one who sees beautiful creatures (בריות טובות) should recite a blessing, praising God for creating such beings in the world (ברוך שככה ברא בעולמו).

[...]

מעשה ברשב"ג, 

שהיה על גבי מעלה בהר הבית 

וראה עובדת כוכבים אחת נאה ביותר, 

אמר (תהלים קד, כד): "מה רבו מעשיך ה'" 

ואף ר"ע ראה אשת טורנוסרופוס הרשע 

רק, שחק, ובכה 

1. רק -- שהיתה באה מטיפה סרוחה 

2. שחק -- דעתידה דמגיירא ונסיב לה 

3. בכה -- דהאי שופרא בלי עפרא

[...]

אמר מר: הרואה בריות טובות, אומר: ברוך שככה ברא בעולמו

[...]

There was an incident involving Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, 

who was on a step on the Temple mount, 

and he saw a certain gentile woman who was exceptionally beautiful 

and said: “How great are Your works, O Lord!” (Psalms 104:24). 

And R' Akiva too, when he saw the wife of the wicked Turnus Rufus he spat, laughed, and cried. 

1. He spat, as she was created from a putrid drop; 

2. he laughed, as he foresaw that she was destined to convert and he would marry her; 

3. he cried, as this beauty would ultimately be consumed by dirt.

[...]

the Master said: One who sees beautiful or otherwise outstanding creatures recites: Blessed be He, Who has created such in His world.

Forbidden Gaze: Prohibition on Looking at Women and Mating Animals

The Talmud discusses the prohibition of gazing (יסתכל) at women⁵ and other inappropriate sights.

It cites a verse from Deuteronomy (23:10) to homiletically derive that one should not gaze at a beautiful woman, even if she is unmarried (פנויה - literally: “available”), or at a married woman, even if she is ugly (מכוערת).

Additionally, one should not look at a woman's colored garments, or at animals (e.g., donkeys, pigs, birds) when they are mating (נזקקין זה לזה). 

(דברים כג, י) "ונשמרת מכל דבר רע" 

שלא יסתכל אדם 

1. באשה נאה, ואפילו פנויה 

2. באשת איש, ואפי' מכוערת 

3. ולא בבגדי צבע [של] אשה 

1. ולא בחמור ולא בחמורה 

2. ולא בחזיר ולא בחזירה 

3. ולא בעופות 

בזמן שנזקקין זה לזה 

[...]

The verse states: “And you shall keep yourself from every evil thing” (Deuteronomy 23:10); 

this teaches that a person should not gaze upon

1. a beautiful woman, even if she is unmarried; 

2. and a person should not gaze upon a married woman, even if she is ugly; 

3. and a person should not gaze upon the colored garments of a woman; 

1. and a person should not gaze at a male donkey, at a female donkey, 

2. at a pig, at a sow, 

3. or at fowl, 

when they are mating; 

[...]

1. In the print edition: עובדת כוכבים.

See what I wrote here:

Note: The term עובד כוכבים, as found in the standard traditional printed editions of the Talmud (which serve as the base text here), is a result of Christian censorship of Jewish books in pre-war Europe and should actually be גוי / נכרי. For more on this, refer to Hillel Gershuni:

לכל לומדי התלמוד הבבלי, שאין חפצם לילך אחר הצנזור הנוצרי / הלל גרשוני

2. Presumably, before the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel was killed by the Romans around the time of destruction. See Hebrew Wikipedia, “רבן שמעון בן גמליאל הזקן“.

Compare also the story told about his father Rabban Gamliel (early 1st century CE), which I quote here in a footnote, where the same term is used - על גב מעלה בהר הבית - “on a rise (מעלה) on the Temple Mount”:

דתניא

מעשה ברבן גמליאל

שהיה יושב על גב מעלה בהר הבית

והיה יוחנן סופר הלז עומד לפניו

ושלש איגרות חתוכות לפניו מונחות

As it is taught in a baraita (Tosefta 2:6):

There was an incident involving Rabban Gamliel,

who was sitting on a step on the Temple Mount,

and Yoḥanan, that scribe, was standing before him,

and three blank documents cut from parchment and ready for writing were set before him.

And see Berakhot.58a.3:

בן זומא ראה אוכלוסא על גב מעלה בהר הבית,

אמר: ״ברוך … חכם הרזים וברוך … שברא כל אלו לשמשני״.

Ben Zoma once saw a multitude (אוכלוסא) of Israel while standing on a stair on the Temple Mount.

He immediately recited: “Blessed…Who knows all secrets” (ברוך חכם הרזים) and “Blessed…Who created all these to serve me”.

And see Pesachim.57a.6:

ולרגל היו מקפלין אותן,

ומניחין אותן על גב מעלה בהר הבית,

And when the people assembled for the Festival pilgrimage they would remove the [gold] tablets

and place them on a stair of the Temple Mount

And see Chagigah.15a.3:

תנו רבנן:

מעשה ברבי יהושע בן חנניה

שהיה עומד על גב מעלה בהר הבית,

וראהו בן זומא, ולא עמד מלפניו.

אמר לו: מאין ולאין בן זומא?

the Sages taught:

There was once an incident with regard to R’ Yehoshua ben Ḥananya,

who was standing on a step on the Temple Mount,

and ben Zoma saw him and did not stand before him to honor him, as he was deep in thought.

R’ Yehoshua said to him: From where do you come and where are you going, ben Zoma, i.e., what is on your mind?

So the best translation of מעלה in the context of the Temple Mount would be "height, rise, ascent, elevation", meaning a prominent position, with a panoramic view of Jerusalem, nikud מַעֲלֶה. (Cf. the toponym מעלה אדומים. As opposed to Steinsaltz's translation of "stair", nikud מַעֲלָה).

3. On other appearances of Tineius Rufus in the Talmud, see my pieces here and here.

4. בלי עפרא - literally: “decay into dirt”, meaning, after her death.

5. For more on this talmudic prohibition, see Hebrew Wikipedia, “איסור הסתכלות בערווה“.