Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Reference for Sanhedrin 112:8

כי אתא רבי יצחק תני איפכא ויצו זו עבודת כוכבים אלהים זו דינין

<i>Thou mayest freely eat</i> — but not flesh cut from a living animal.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' By interpreting thus: Thou mayest eat that which is now ready for eating, but not whilst the animal is alive. It is perhaps remarkable that a verse, the literal meaning of which is obviously permission to enjoy, should be interpreted as a series of prohibitions. Yet it is quite in keeping with the character of the Talmud: freedom to enjoy must be limited by moral and social considerations, and indeed only attains its highest value when so limited. Cf. Ab. VI, 2: No man is free but he who labours in the Torah. ');"><sup>10</sup></span>

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Kessef Mishneh on Mishneh Torah, Foreign Worship and Customs of the Nations

And nevertheless the matter needs a solution, as it is impossible that these righteous ones would be divining. And so it appears to me that the divining that the Torah forbade is when one makes his actions depend upon a sign that logic does not suggest will cause benefit or injury to the thing, such as "bread fell from his mouth," or "a deer blocks him on the way." As these [signs] and those similar to them are from the 'ways of the Amorite.' But if one accepts signs that logically indicate a benefit to the thing or its injury; this is not divining. For all business of the world is like that. As behold, the one who says, "If it rains, I will not go out on the road; but if not, I will go out," is not [practicing] divination. Rather it is the way of the world. And Eliezer and Jonathan were making their actions dependent on things similar to this... And when the Gemara cites [them] regarding the prohibition, this is what it is saying: Any divination of the things the Torah forbids, that logically has no impact - anyone who does not rely upon them like these two relied upon something that was permissible, is not [practicing] divination, and it is not forbidden...
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