Pt1 Idolatry in Speech, Practice, and Desire: Naming Foreign Gods, Mocking Idols, and Israel’s Attachment to Idol Worship (Sanhedrin 63b-64a)

This is the first part of a two-part series. The outline of the series is below.¹

Part 1

This sugya develops a sustained discussion of idolatry from several different angles: the legal prohibition against invoking the names of foreign gods, the permitted use of ridicule against idols, descriptions of idolatrous images and cultic practices, and finally a broader account of how Israel could become deeply attached to a form of worship that the rabbis regard as intrinsically empty.

The sugya begins from Exodus 23:13, “make no mention of the name of other gods; let it not be heard on your mouth.” A baraita interprets this prohibition expansively: A person may not casually use an idol as a landmark, saying, for example, “wait for me beside such-and-such idol.” In addition, one may not make a vow or swear an oath in the name of an idol, nor cause another person to do so. The same verse is alternatively connected with the prohibitions against inciting an individual or subverting an entire city to idolatry. Shmuel’s father extends the concern into ordinary commercial relations: he prohibits entering a partnership with a non-Jew, because a later financial dispute might require the non-Jewish partner to swear by his god, making the Jewish partner indirectly responsible for the invocation of an pagan god’s name. The prohibition thus reaches beyond worship itself to speech and even to circumstances likely to cause prohibited speech.

The Talmud then defines an important limitation: R. Yohanan rules that the name of an idol explicitly mentioned in Scripture may itself be spoken. This permits Ulla to refer to a place called Kalnevo, since Nevo (נבו = Nabu) appears in Isaiah’s description of the Babylonian gods Bel (בל) and Nevo. Ravina similarly explains that the placename “Gadyon” (גדיון) is used by the Mishnah because the pagan deity Gad is mentioned in Isaiah. Biblical usage effectively neutralizes the ordinary prohibition against pronouncing these particular divine names.

Part 2

The discussion of Hosea 13:2 continues this interest in the embodied and emotional character of idolatry. R. Yitzhak imagines individual worshippers manufacturing small images of their gods, keeping them in their pockets or bosoms, and periodically taking them out to embrace and kiss them. The next interpretations turn the verse’s reference to human sacrifice and kissing calves into elaborate descriptions of cultic manipulation. According to R. Yitzhak of the school of R. Ami, pagan priests targeted wealthy men by training sacred calves to recognize their images; when the animals later ran toward the men, the priests claimed that the god desired them as (human) sacrifices. Rava rejects this reading on grammatical grounds, and proposes instead that a man who sacrifices his son receives the privilege of approaching and kissing the calf-idol. Both interpretations associate idolatry with an extreme inversion of ordinary human values: affection toward the idol accompanies manipulation, human sacrifice, and the surrender of family bonds.

The Talmud next turns to the foreign gods listed in II Kings 17. Rav Identifies the foreign gods of II Kings with animal forms: Succoth-Benoth as a hen, Nergal as a rooster, Ashima as a bald billy goat, Nibhaz and Tartak as a dog and donkey, and Adrammelech and Anammelech as a mule and horse, to whom the Sepharvites burn their children. The Talmud then connects this practice with Hezekiah, whose father is said to have attempted to burn him as a pagan sacrifice; Hezekiah survived because his mother had protected him with salamander blood.² The sequence combines biblical interpretation with rabbinic traditions about the grotesque forms and violent rites attributed to foreign worship.

The final part of the passage turns inward and asks why Israel itself practiced idolatry. Rav states that Israel originally knew that idolatry “had no substance”; they adopted it because it allowed them to legitimize forbidden sexual behavior publicly. Idolatry, on this account, began instrumentally: theological commitment followed desire rather than causing it. Rav Mesharshiyya challenges this explanation from R. Elazar’s interpretation of Jeremiah 17:2, which describes Israel remembering its altars with the longing of a parent for a child. Such language implies genuine emotional attachment rather than cynical convenience.

The Talmud reconciles the two accounts chronologically: Israel initially adopted idolatry to satisfy other desires, but afterward “became attached to it”; repeated practice created genuine devotion. A baraita about the biblical Elijah and a starving child in Jerusalem supplies an extreme illustration. The child has been trained by his parents to refuse even to pronounce the name of YHWH. Instead, he takes his idol from his bosom, embraces and kisses it, and finally dies upon it. The imagery deliberately recalls the earlier description of idolaters carrying portable gods against their bodies. What began in Rav’s account as a convenient mechanism for sexual license has become an inherited and emotionally intense religious commitment.

The sugya therefore presents idolatry as a process operating simultaneously through speech, ritual, social practice, and desire. Its legal opening attempts to prevent even verbal normalization of foreign gods. Its satirical middle section attacks their prestige by rendering them ridiculous. Its concluding traditions address a harder problem: ridicule and intellectual recognition of idolatry’s emptiness do not necessarily prevent attachment to it. The rabbis explain that attachment historically and psychologically: behavior initially adopted for instrumental reasons can become habitual, emotionally charged, and eventually transmitted as an unquestioned commitment to the next generation.

Outline

Intro

The Passage

1. Baraita - The prohibition on mentioning other gods includes saying things such as “wait for me beside such-and-such idol”; it also prohibits vowing or swearing in an idol’s name and causing others to do so - Exodus 23:13

   1. Alternatively, “let it not be heard from your mouth” prohibits inciting or subverting others to idolatry; the Talmud concludes that the verse is specifically needed for one who subverts an entire city - Exodus 23:13; Deuteronomy 13:12

2. Shmuel’s father - One may not form a partnership with a non-Jew, lest a dispute cause the non-Jew to swear by his idol, thereby making the Jew responsible for causing an idol’s name to be invoked - Exodus 23:13

3. R’ Yohanan, cited by Ulla - The name of any idol explicitly mentioned in Scripture may itself be mentioned - Isaiah 46:1

4. Ravina - The idol Gad is also explicitly mentioned in Scripture, explaining why the Mishnah uses a place-name derived from it - Isaiah 65:11

Part 2

1. Rav Yitzhak - Hosea describes people making portable images of their own gods, carrying them in their pockets, and embracing and kissing them - Hosea 13:2

2. R’ Yitzhak of R’ Ami’s school - Idolatrous priests targeted wealthy men by training sacred calves to run toward them, then claiming that the idol desired them as human sacrifices so that the priests could inherit their property - Hosea 13:2

3. Rava - Rejects the previous reading of Hosea: the verse means that someone who sacrifices his son to an idol is rewarded by being permitted to kiss the calf-idol - Hosea 13:2

4. Rav Yehuda citing Rav - Identifies the foreign gods of II Kings with animal forms: Succoth-Benoth as a hen, Nergal as a rooster, Ashima as a bald billy goat, Nibhaz and Tartak as a dog and donkey, and Adrammelech and Anammelech as a mule and horse - II Kings 17:30–31

5. Hezekiah’s father attempted to burn him as a pagan sacrifice, but his mother protected him with salamander blood

6. Rav Yehuda citing Rav - Israel originally knew that idolatry was insubstantial, and practiced it only as a means of publicly permitting forbidden sexual relations

7. R’ Elazar - Israel later remembered its idolatrous altars with the emotional attachment of a person longing for his child, showing that they eventually became genuinely attached to idolatry - Jeremiah 17:2

8. The Talmud reconciles Rav with R’ Elazar: Israel initially adopted idolatry for sexual license, but afterward became genuinely attached to it

9. Baraita - Elijah encountered a starving child in Jerusalem whose family had taught him to reject even mentioning God’s name (=‘YHWH’)

   1. The child instead embraced his idol, until he died upon it - Leviticus 26:30; Deuteronomy 6:4; Amos 6:10

Appendix - Greco-Roman context

The Passage

Sanhedrin/63b#4 thru 64a#2

Baraita - The prohibition on mentioning other gods includes saying things such as “wait for me beside such-and-such idol”; it also prohibits vowing or swearing in an idol’s name and causing others to do so - Exodus 23:13

1. הנודר בשמו

2. והמקיים בשמו --

הרי זה בלא תעשה.

§ The Mishnah teaches with regard to

1. one who vows in the name of an idol

2. and one who affirms (מקיים) his statement by an oath in its name --

that this person is in transgression of a prohibition.

הנודר בשמו והמקיים בשמו, מנלן?

דתניא:

• ״ושם אלהים אחרים לא תזכירו״ –

  • שלא יאמר אדם לחבירו ״שמור לי בצד עבודה זרה פלונית״.

• ״לא ישמע על פיך״ –

  • שלא ידור בשמו, ולא יקיים בשמו,

  • ולא יגרום לאחרים שידרו בשמו, ושיקיימו בשמו.

The Talmud asks: From where do we derive that one who vows in the name of an idol and one who affirms his statement by an oath in its name transgresses a prohibition?

The Talmud answers: As it is taught in a baraita that

• the meaning of the verse: “And make no mention of the name of the other gods, neither let it be heard out of your mouth” (Exodus 23:13),

  • is that a person may not say to another: Wait for me next to such and such an object of idol worship.

• The meaning of the statement “neither let it be heard out of your mouth”

  • is that one may not vow in the name of an idol, nor affirm his statement by an oath in its name,

  • nor cause others to vow in its name, or affirm their statements by an oath in its name.

Alternatively, “let it not be heard from your mouth” prohibits inciting or subverting others to idolatry; the Talmud concludes that the verse is specifically needed for one who subverts an entire city - Exodus 23:13; Deuteronomy 13:12

דבר אחר:

״לא ישמע על פיך״ –

אזהרה

1. למסית

2. ולמדיח.

[...]

Alternatively,

the statement “neither let it be heard out of your mouth”

can be interpreted as a prohibition

1. against one who incites³ another to worship idols

2. and against one who subverts⁴ an entire city to do so.

The prohibition against inciting others to engage in idol worship can be derived from this verse.

[...]

Shmuel’s father - One may not form a partnership with a non-Jew, lest a dispute cause the non-Jew to swear by his idol, thereby making the Jew responsible for causing an idol’s name to be invoked - Exodus 23:13

ולא יגרום לאחרים שידרו בשמו, ושיקיימו בשמו.

מסייעא ליה לאבוה דשמואל,

דאמר אבוה דשמואל:

אסור לאדם שיעשה שותפות עם הנכרי,

שמא יתחייב לו שבועה

ונשבע בעבודה זרה שלו,

והתורה אמרה:

״לא ישמע על פיך״.

The baraita teaches: And one may not cause others to vow in the name of an idol, or affirm their statements by an oath in its name.

The Talmud comments: The baraita supports the opinion of Shmuel’s father,

as Shmuel’s father says:

It is prohibited for a person to enter into a partnership with a non-Jew,

lest their joint ventures lead them to quarrel, and his non-Jew partner will be obligated to take an oath to him,

and he will take an oath in the name of his object of idol worship (i.e. his pagan god);

and the Torah states:

“Neither let it be heard out of your mouth,”

which includes causing a non-Jew to take an oath in the name of a pagan god.

Ulla citing R’ Yohanan - The name of any idol explicitly mentioned in Scripture may itself be mentioned - Isaiah 46:1

כי אתא עולא,

בת בקלנבו.

אמר ליה רבא: והיכא בת מר?

אמר ליה: בקלנבו.

When Ulla came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia,

he lodged in a place called Kalnevo.⁵

Rava said to him: And where did the Master lodge?

Ulla said to him: In Kalnevo.

אמר ליה:

והכתיב ״ושם אלהים אחרים לא תזכירו״?

Rava said to him:

But isn’t it written: “And make no mention of the name of the other gods”?⁶

אמר ליה,

הכי אמר רבי יוחנן:

כל עבודה זרה הכתובה בתורה –

מותר להזכיר שמה.

Ulla said to him:

This is what R’ Yoḥanan said:

With regard to any object of idol worship that is written in the Torah --

it is permitted to mention its name.

Since one may mention the idol while reading the Torah, it is permitted to mention it altogether.

והא היכא כתיבא?

דכתיב:

״כרע בל קרס נבו״.

Rava asked: And where is this idol written?

Ulla answered: As it is written:

“Bel bows down,

Nevo stoops” (Isaiah 46:1).

Ravina - The idol Gad is also explicitly mentioned in Scripture, explaining why the Mishnah uses a place-name derived from it - Isaiah 65:11

ואי לא כתיבא – לא?

מתיב רב משרשיא:

ראה אחת מרובה כשלש,

שהיא כמגדיון לשילה,

שהן שתי טבילות ושני ספוגין –

הרי זה זב גמור.

The Talmud asks: And does this mean that if an idol is not written in the Torah, it is not permitted to mention its name?

Rav Mesharshiyya raises an objection to this premise from a Mishnah in tractate Zavim (1:5):

If a man saw, i.e., experienced, one gonorrhea-like discharge that lasted as long as 3 regular gonorrhea-like discharges,

which is like the amount of time it takes to walk from the location of the idol Gadyon to Shiloh,

which is the amount of time it takes to perform two immersions and two dryings⁷ with a towel —

he is ritually impure with the impurity status of a full-fledged zav,

even though a man generally becomes a zav only after 3 separate discharges. In any event, the Mishnah uses the the placename Gadyon, which is based on the name of the pagan deity “Gad”.

אמר רבינא:

גד נמי מכתב כתיב,

דכתיב ״הערכים לגד שלחן״.

[...]

Ravina says:

The pagan deity Gad is also written in the Bible;

as it is written: “That prepare a table for Gad” (Isaiah 65:11).

[...]⁸

1. For the next part of this aggadic sugya, see my “Taming the Fire and The Cost of Desire: The Dramatic Talmudic Story of the Quelling of Human Inclinations for Idolatry and Incest (Yoma 69b = Sanhedrin 64a)”

For another later part of this aggadic sugya, see my “Automated Extraction of 3000 Talmudic Names”, section “Sabbeta ben Alas (Sanhedrin 64a)”.

2. See Wikipedia, “Salamanders in folklore”, section “Jewish and Early Christian”.

3. מסית - mesit.

4. מדיח - madiach; see Wikipedia, “Ir nidachat“.

5. קלנבו.

On this word, see Jastrow (modernized), entry “קַלְנְבוֹ”:

Kalnebo in Babylonia.

• Sanhedrin 63b (Manuscripts Florence and Karlsruhe) - קל נבו (see Rabbinowicz, ‘Dikdukei Sofrim’ there, note 50).

• Zevachim 96a:2 - שמעיה מקלנבו (רב) (not בקלנבו, see Rabbinowicz, ‘Dikdukei Sofrim’ there, note 40) - “(Rav) Shemaya of Kalnebo”

• Yoma 21a (see Rabbinowicz, ‘Dikdukei Sofrim’ there, note 9);

• Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 490 (correct accordingly).

And see the discussion in Nurit Shoval-Dudai and Joseph Geiger, “קלנבו“, in Lĕšonénu, Vol. עג; No. ג/ד (אלול התשע”א), pp. 343-345.

6. The place name Kalnevo derives from the name of the pagan deity Nabu, a Babylonian god mentioned in the Bible; see the next section, which cites Isaiah 46:1.

7. ספוגין - literally: “sponges/sponging”, from Greek.

8. The Talmud cites the subsequent statement elsewhere as well, see my “Public Bible Reading, Translation, and Decorum: Regulating Sensitive Scripture in the Synagogue (Mishnah Megillah 4:10; Megillah 25a-b)”, section “Rav Naḥman - General rule: mockery/obscenity is forbidden except mockery of idol worship, which is permitted” and on; I therefore elide it here.