Study Sanhedrin folio 61B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
In what way is he different from us? The suggestion to worship him is nonsense. And the fact that they say to him: Yes, is because they ridicule him.
And the contradiction between the mishnayot can be resolved as follows: There, where the Mishnah states that one is liable for speech alone, the reference is to an individual who was incited; here, where the Mishnah indicates that one is not liable for speech alone, it is referring to a case of an
Rav Yosef said: From where do I say that the halakha that one is liable for merely stating that he will worship an idol is referring to an individual who was incited? As it is written with regard to one who incites people to engage in idol worship: “You shall not approve of him, nor listen to him” (
Abaye raised an objection to Rav Yosef’s opinion: Is there a difference in halakha between the cases of an incited multitude of people and an individual who was incited? But isn’t it taught in a baraita with regard to the verse: “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter
The Torah states separately the halakhot of an individual who is incited to engage in idol worship and of an entire city that is subverted to engage in idol worship in order to distinguish between the two cases, as follows: An individual who was incited is singled out from the category of a subverte