Study Avodah Zarah folio 27B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
The Talmud explains the rationale for this leniency: The non-Jew thinks to himself that the Jew is asking him for his opinion, and just as he is asking him, he will also ask other people. And the non-Jew further reasons that if the Jew understands that the non-Jew provided him with bad advice, that
§ The Talmud analyzes a situation in which one may receive medical attention from non-Jews. Rava says that R' Yoḥanan says, and some say that it was Rav Ḥisda who says that R' Yoḥanan says: If there is uncertainty as to whether a patient will live through his ailment or die from it, the patient may
The Talmud challenges: Even if it is certain that the patient will die if he is not treated, nevertheless, there is value in temporal life, i.e., it is preferable for the Jew to live as long as his ailment permits rather than risking a premature death at the hands of a non-Jew physician. The Talmud
The Talmud asks: And from where do you say that we are not concerned with the value of temporal life? As it is written with regard to the discussion held by 4 lepers left outside a besieged city: “If we say: We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if
The Talmud raises an objection from a baraita: A person may not engage in dealings with heretics, and one may not be treated by them even in a case where it is clear that without medical attention one will experience only temporal life.