The Gemara (Avoda Zara 30) has a number of very strange and unscientific comments about snakes and their poison. The Gemara prohibits drinking liquids that were left exposed overnight because they were afraid that a snake came and injected poison. The Gemara then goes on to say that snakes don't like cooked wine or wine mixed with water and therefore those are permitted.
The whole discussion seems completely ridiculous on a number of levels. Do snakes really inject venom into liquids? Does a snake know the difference between cooked and non-cooked wine? Even if they did is that dangerous? The answer is no, we don't find ANY cases of someone being harmed by drinking exposed water.
The gemara then makes the following statement:
Three things get stronger with age: fish, snakes and pigs. This statement of course makes no sense, these animals are not exceptions to biology and age just like any other animals.
The Gemara also states that cats are not affected by poisoned water because cats kill and eat snakes so the Gemara concludes that they are not affected by the snake venom. This is simply not true, a cat bitten by a posionous snake will be affected just like any other animal.
The most interesting thing is that even though this was a takanas chachamim this issur has basically been forgotten. The basis for the heter is that Tosafos in a number of places states that since in their time there were very few snakes the takana did not apply. The problem is that Tosafos were talking about Europe where there aren't many snakes.
The bottom line is that it shouldn't matter whether there are snakes or not. When Chazal made a gezera the gezera stands even if the reason no longer applies. For example, we don't take tylenol on Shabbos because of the gezera against medicine whose reason is we are afraid you will grind the medicine on shabbos. No one today grinds medicine yet the gezera still applies, so too the gezera agianst giluy should apply even if the reason doesn't. The fact is a similar gezera, not eating meat and fish together (prohibited because chazal thought it was dangerous) is still observed even though we know it is not dangerous.
I think that not eating fish and meat together is still observed because it meshes so nicely with kashrus, while other medical advice from the gemara fell out of use as people discovered that it wasn't true or the superstitions they were based on faded away.
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ReplyDeleteFast forward a few daf and you find the discussion on which images are / are not allowed. According to the gemarah there basically any picture of the sun / moon is forbidden as well as any model (possibly picture too) of a person amongst other things. Another halacha that seems to have (largely) fallen by the wayside (although I know that some do still take this seriously by mutilating children's dolls etc. I have never come across anyone that will be careful to never take a picture with e.g. the moon in it)