Commentary for Sanhedrin 126:23

אמר לו מאיזה משפחה אתה אמר לו ממשפחה פלונית אני אמר לו כלום נשתייר מאותה משפחה אמר לו לאו חוץ ממני אמר לו אם אני מלמדך דבר שאתה חי בו אתה למד אמר לו הן אמר לו אמור בכל יום שמע ישראל ה' אלהינו ה' אחד אמר לו

What is it? — A cock. <i>And the men of Hamath made Ashima</i>:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' lbid. ');">²¹</span> What is that? — A bald buck. <i>And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak</i>:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. 3. (Our printed Talmud texts read Nibhan. [H] = 'to bark' (instead of Nibhaz), hence taken to be a dog.] ');">²²</span> What are these? — A <font>dog</font> and an <font>ass</font>. <i>And the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim</i>:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. ');">²³</span> What are these? — The <font>mule</font> and the <font>horse</font>: <i>Adrammelech</i> meaning that it [the mule] honours its master<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Adar, Heb. hadar [H] = 'to honour', and melech (melek) = king, master. ');">²⁴</span> [lit., 'king'] with its load;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' (I.e., the mule honours its master by carrying his load.] ');">²⁵</span> <i>Anammellech</i> meaning that the horse responds to its master in battle.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' 'Ana, Heb. [H] = 'to respond.' ');">²⁶</span> <font>The father of Hezekiah King of judah wished to do likewise to him</font> [i.e., <font>burn him in fire</font>], but that his mother anointed him [with the blood of the] salamander.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A reptile believed to be engendered in fire. One who smeared himself with its blood was thought to be fire-proof. Hag. 27a. ');">²⁷</span> Rab Judah said in Rab's name: The Israelites knew that the idols were nonentities, but <font>they engaged in idolatry only that they might openly satisfy their incestuous lusts</font>. R. Mesharshia objected: <i>As those who remember their children, so they longed for their altars, and their graves by the green trees etc</i>;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Jer. XVII, 2. ');">²⁸</span> which R. Eleazar interpreted. As one who yearns for his son [so they yearned]?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This shows that they really believed in idols. ');">²⁹</span> — That was after they became addicted thereto.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., at first, it was only a pretext to satisfy their lust. But having engaged in idolatry, they were ensnared by its allurements and really believed in it. ');">³⁰</span> Come and hear: <i>And I will cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lev. XXVI, 30. ');">³¹</span> It was related of Elijah the Righteous, that whilst searching for those who were languishing with hunger in Jerusalem, he once found a child faint with hunger lying upon a dungheap. On questioning him as to the family to which he belonged, he replied, 'I belong to such and such a family.' He asked: 'Are any of that family left,' and he answered, 'None, excepting myself.' Thereupon he asked: 'If I teach thee something by which thou wilt live, wilt thou learn?' He replied, 'Yes.' 'Then,' said he, 'recite every day, Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.' But the child retorted,

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