Avodah Zarah

R. Johanan said on behalf of R. Bana'ah: What is the meaning of the verse, Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth the feet of the ox and the ass?  [It means this: [Blessed is Israel; when they occupy themselves with Torah and acts of kindness their inclination is mastered by them, not they by their inclination,  as it is said, Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters. For what is meant by 'sowing' but doing kind deeds, as it is said,  Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to mercy; and what is meant by 'water' is Torah, as it is said, Oh ye who are thirsty come to the water.  [The phrase,] that send forth the feet of the ox and the ass, [was explained in the] Tanna debe Eliyyahu  thus: In order to study the words of the Torah one must cultivate in oneself the [habit of] the ox for bearing a yoke and of the ass for carrying burdens. ON THE THREE DAYS PRECEDING THEIR FESTIVALS IT IS FORBIDDEN TO DO ANY BUSINESS TRANSACTION WITH THEM. Is all this period necessary? Have we not learnt:  'At four periods of the year it is necessary for one, when selling cattle to another for slaughter, to let him know if its dam had been sold or if its young had been sold to be slain [the same day]:  namely, the eve of the last day of the Feast [of Tabernacles].  the eve of the first day of Passover, the eve of Pentecost, and the Eve of the New Year,  and, according to R. Jose the Galilean, also on the day preceding the Eve of the Day of Atonement, in Galilee'?  — In those cases where the animals are bought for consumption, one day is enough, but in the case where these are required for sacrifices, three days are needed.  But are three days enough in the case of sacrifices? Have we not learnt';  'The laws relating to Passover should be discussed for thirty days before the Passover; R. Simeon b. Gamaliel says two weeks'? — We, with whom blemishes [disqualifying a sacrifice] abound, since we disqualify an offering even because of a blemish in the eye-lid, require thirty days; but for the heathen, who only take note of a missing limb, three days suffice. And so also R. Eleazar said: How do we know that [an animal] short of a limb is forbidden to Noachides [for use as a sacrifice]? — Because it is written, Of every living thing of all flesh two of every sort shall thou bring into the ark.  The Torah thus says. 'Bring such cattle whose principal limbs are living [i.e. sound]'. But is not this phrase needed to exclude such animals as are trefa,  so that they were not [brought into the ark]? — Trefa is excluded by the phrase, to keep seed alive.  This answer holds good according to the one who is of the opinion that an animal which is trefa cannot bear any young;