פירוש על עבודה זרה 53:21

The Talmud reverses the positions back to their original arrangement. Now we have to solve the contradiction in the positions of R. Meir. The answer is that to R. Meir it depends on whether the doctor is an expert.

R. Judah in this baraita holds that a Samaritan may not circumcise a Jew because his intention is wrong—his center of worship is Mount Gerizim, not Jerusalem. R. Yose holds that circumcision need not be performed with any intent. Thus a Samaritan may circumcise.

The Talmud now reverses the opinions back to the first reversal. R. Judah now holds that a non-Jew may circumcise but a Samaritan may not. The R. Judah in the baraita that disallowed a non-Jew, was not the regular R. Judah [bar Ilai] but R. Judah the Prince.

R. Hisda explains the midrashim behind the two positions. R. Judah says that circumcision must be “to the Lord”—meaning it requires the proper intent. R. Yose says that the word “circumcise” is doubled as if to say that intent is not critical.

Each tanna now must explain how he uses the verse that the other tanna uses. R. Yose says that the words “to the Lord” refer to the words above, “he shall make a pesah sacrifice to the Lord.”
R. Judah says we do not learn from repetitions of words because “the Torah speaks in human language.” Normal grammatical constructs, which this is, are not subject to midrash.

The two amoraim here dispute which verse is the reason why non-Jews cannot circumcise Jews.

The Talmud will now struggle to find a practical difference between these two amoraim. The first suggestion is a non-Jew who is circumcised. R. Yohanan would allow because such a person is circumcised. Rav would not because this person is not part of the covenant.

A mishnah from Nedarim seems to define circumcised non-Jews as if they are uncircumcised. Therefore, one who takes a vow not to derive benefit from the uncircumcised may not derive benefit from them. This means that R. Yohanan cannot allow a circumcised non-Jew to circumcise.

The next possibility is that they disagree about an uncircumcised Jew—Rav would allow him to because he is a member of the covenant, and R. Yohanan would not.

The problem is that the mishnah defines uncircumcised Israelites as if they were circumcised. A Jew who was not circumcised (for medical reasons) should be allowed to circumcise.

The final suggestion is that they disagree about whether a woman can circumcise. To Rav, she may not because she is not part of the covenant of circumcision. But to R. Yohanan she may because a woman does not need to be circumcised—it is as if she is already circumcised.

The problem with saying that a woman cannot circumcise is that Zipporah circumcises her and Moses’s son on their way back to Egypt. The Talmud tries to read this as if she told someone else to circumcise, or only began the circumcision. Needless to say, these are not the simple readings of the text.
In the Middle Ages there were occasionally women who performed circumcision, especially in remote areas with few men. Today, I do believe that in some circles it is possible to find mohalot, but the practice extremely rare and certainly not found in the Orthodox world.

The meaning of this mishnah is quite cryptic. The Talmud will explain it later on.

According to Rabbi Meir a Jew may never get his hair cut by a non-Jew, lest the non-Jew kill him with the scissors or razor. The Sages say that this is prohibited only in private. In public the non-Jew would not dare to kill the Jew.

If the mishnah meant to say that we can let them heal us for pay but not for free, then why not say this more directly.

We cannot say that Jews may be healed by them only in cases where the healing is not dangerous for this would contradict a statement made by Rav Judah.

The Talmud solves the puzzle by suggesting that a Jew may go to a non-Jewish veterinarian because there is no fear to his life. But he may not go to a non-Jewish doctor for his own healing because there is always the fear that the doctor will kill him.

One may get advice from a non-Jewish doctor as to what medicine he should take. He does not need to worry that the non-Jew will tell him to take something poisonous, because the non-Jewish doctor would fear that the Jew will go ask a second opinion and when he hears what the non-Jewish doctor recommended his reputation will be spoiled.