OIL OF NOCHRIM
(Mishnah): Their oil.
(Rav): Daniel decreed against their oil.
(Shmuel): It was forbidden because it is put in the Nochri's Tamei Kelim.
Objection: One may eat Tamei food!
Correction: Rather, it was forbidden because it absorbs forbidden taste from the Nochri's Kelim.
Question (Shmuel): R. Simla'i taught that R. Yehudah and his Beis Din voted and permitted it, because Nosen Ta'am li'Fgam (if forbidden food or taste was mixed with permitted food and detracts from the taste, the mixture) is permitted. (Note: in some places (right below this, 37a, 38b) the Gemara says that 'R. Yehudah ha'Nasi', i.e. Rebbi, permitted oil. In some places (37a, Gitin 76b) it says that 'R. Yehudah Nesi'ah (the grandson of Rebbi) permitted Magen Avos (Avos 2:2) says that Rebbi permitted, but people did not accept this, and his grandson permitted, and it was accepted.)
We understand according to me, for the Isur was due to forbidden absorption (and they concluded that the absorptions do not forbid);
According to you (Rav), how could Rebbi permit what Daniel forbade?
(Mishnah): A Beis Din cannot be Mevatel the enactment of another Beis Din, unless it is bigger in Chachmah and number (Rambam - of Chachamim that agree to be Mevatel it; Ra'avad (on Idiyos) - and age).
Answer (Rav): Do not ask questions from R. Simla'i of Lud. People there do not respect mid'Rabanan laws (Rebbi did not permit it).
Shmuel: We can send to Rebbi to ask!
Rav was embarrassed.
Rav: Perhaps Rebbi did not expound the verse, but I will! "Va'Yasem Daniel Al Libo Asher Lo Yisga'al... uv'Yein Mishtav (plural)" refers to two liquids, wine and oil.
Rav explains that he put the matter to his heart, and made a ruling for all of Yisrael;
Shmuel explains that he put the matter to his heart, but he did not rule for all of Yisrael.
Question: Did Daniel really decree about oil?!
(Beili citing Rav): The Isurim of Nochri bread, oil, wine and (intermarriage with Nochri) girls are among the 18 decrees (made on the day of heated fighting between Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel).
Suggestion: Perhaps Daniel decreed, and it was not accepted, and they (Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel) decreed, and it was accepted!
Rejection: Rav would not say that Daniel decreed about oil if it was not accepted.
Answer: Rather, Daniel decreed against eating their oil in the city, and they decreed even in the field.
Question #1: How could Rebbi permit what Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel forbade?
(Mishnah): A Beis Din cannot Mevatel the enactment of another Beis Din, unless it is bigger in Chachmah and number.
Question #2 (Rabah bar bar Chanah): A (greater) Beis Din can always Mevatel the decree of another Beis Din, except for the 18 decrees, even Eliyahu and his Beis Din cannot be Mevatel them.
Version #1 - Answer (to both questions - Rav Mesharshiya): The stringency of the 18 decrees (and the requirement for the Beis Din that is Mevatel to be greater than the Beis Din that decreed) applies only if the decree spread through most of Yisrael. The decree against oil had not spread.
Version #2 (Rav Mesharshiya): The 18 decrees are more stringent because they spread through most of Yisrael.
Answer (to both questions): The decree against oil did not spread. (End of Version #2)
(R. Shmuel bar Aba): Chachamim checked and found that the decree against oil did not spread through most of Yisrael;
Chachamim (that permitted oil) relied on R. Shimon ben Gamliel and R. Eliezer, who say that we only make a decree if the majority of Yisrael can fulfill it.
(Rav Ada bar Ahavah): "Ba'Me'erah Atem Ne'arim... ha'Goy Kulo" - if the entire nation can fulfill the decree, it is a proper decree. If not, it is not.
THE DECREE AGAINST NOCHRI WOMEN
(Beili citing Rav): The Isurim of Nochri bread, oil, wine and girls are among the 18 decrees.
Question: What was the decree about Nochri girls?
Answer #1 (Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak): They decreed that every Nochris is Tamei (mid'Rabanan) like a Nidah from the day of her birth.
Answer #2 (Geneiva): All the decrees are due to idolatry;
(Rav Acha bar Ada): Nochri bread was forbidden due to their oil...
Interjection: Why should the Isur of their oil be more basic than the Isur of their bread?!
Correction: Rather, their bread and oil were forbidden due to their wine. Their wine was (forbidden) due to their daughters. Their daughters were due to another matter (idolatry). Another matter was due to another matter (this will be explained).
Question: Their daughters are forbidden mid'Oraisa - "v'Lo Sischaten Bam (Bitecha Lo Siten li'Vno u'Vito Lo Sikach li'Vnecha)"!
Answer #1: The Torah forbids only the seven Kena'ani nations. They (Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel) decreed against all other Nochrim.
Question: According to R. Shimon, "Ki Yasir Es Bincha me'Acharai" includes all Nochrim (all would sway a Yisrael away from Hash-m). How can we answer?
Answer #2: Mid'Oraisa, one may not conduct with a Nochris like a wife. They decreed against Zenus (extramarital relations).
Question: The Beis Din of Shem already decreed against Zenus of Yisraelim with Nochrim - "Hotzi'uha v'Sisaref" (Yehudah was about to kill Tamar for this)!
Answer: The Torah (i.e. the allusion to Shem's decree) forbids Zenus of a Yisraelis with a Nochri, for she will be drawn after him. They (Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel) decreed against Zenus of a Yisrael with a Nochris.
Question: A tradition from Moshe from Sinai forbids Zenus of a Yisraelis with a Nochris!
We learned that if a Yisrael has Bi'ah with a Nochris, zealots may kill him (during the act).
Answer: That is only if the Bi'ah is in public; like when Pinchas killed Zimri. They (Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel) decreed even against Zenus in private.
Question: The Beis Din of Chashmona'im already decreed against such Bi'ah in private!
(Rav Dimi): The Chashmona'im's Beis Din decreed that if a Yisrael has Bi'ah with a Nochris, he is liable on four counts. It is as if he had relations with a Nidah, slave, (Nisu'in with a) Nochris and a married woman;
(Ravin): The Chashmona'im decreed that he is liable for Bi'ah with a Nidah, slave, (Nisu'in with a) Nochris and (if he is a Kohen he is liable also for) Zonah.
Answer: The Beis Din of Chashmona'im decreed against Bi'ah. Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel decreed against seclusion.
Question: David's Beis Din decreed against seclusion!
(Rav Yehudah): After Amnon raped Tamar, they decreed against seclusion.
Answer: David's Beis Din decreed against seclusion with a Yisraelis. Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel decreed against seclusion with a Nochris.
Question: The Torah forbids seclusion!
Question (R. Yochanan): "If your brother, the son of your mother will entice you (to serve idolatry)" - do only maternal brothers entice?!
Answer (R. Yochanan): Rather, this hints that a man may be secluded with his mother, but not with other Arayos.
Answer: The Torah forbids seclusion with a married woman. David's Beis Din decreed against seclusion with an unmarried woman. Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel decreed against seclusion with a Nochris.
THE DECREE AGAINST BOYS
Question: Beili said that tey decreed about 'another matter due to another matter.' What did he refer to?
Answer (Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak): They decreed that Nochri boys are Tamei like Zavim, lest Yisrael boys regularly be with them, and they come to homosexuality.
(R. Zeira): I had to ask Rav Asi many times before he could tell me from what age Nochri boys are considered Zavim (and he asked R. Yochanan many times, who asked R. Yanai, who asked R. Noson ben Amram, who asked Rebbi). He told me that it is from birth.
R. Chiya: They are Tamei after nine years old (i.e. nine years and one day).
Rebbi: R. Chiya is correct, for that is when he is capable of having relations.
(Ravina): Likewise, a Nochris is considered a Zavah after three years old, for then she is capable of having relations (unlike Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak, who said from birth.)
Objection: This is obvious!
Answer: One might have thought that we decree about a boy of nine, for he knows to seduce, but a girl of three does not know to seduce, so we need not decree (until she is older). Ravina teaches that this is not so.