פירוש על עבודה זרה 16:28

This piece outlines when a Jew can accept the invitation from the idolater. When do we assume that the invite was part of the wedding celebration, in which case it is prohibited? And when can we assume that it is safe? The prohibition of participating in the meal begins from the time that the barley was thrown into the tub, in order to make beer.
We should note that this same exact sugya appears in Ketubot concerning reciting the special wedding blessings (today called the sheva berachot) When do we recite the special blessings and when do we not? That was probably the original context of this material.

The Talmud questions whether it is actually permitted to join such a feast after twelve months. R. Yitzchak heard them thanking their gods more than 12 months after the wedding and he refused to participate in the meal. But the Talmud resolves the issue by saying that he was an unusual case. An important person, a role model, should be even more stringent in avoiding such situations. But for a normal person, 12 months is long enough to wait.

Kratesis is the anniversary of the Roman Empire. There are two such days, according to R. Joseph. One of more recent memory and one from the distant past.

The Talmud imagines that Rome could not prevail against Greece until Israel joined them in battle. They made an agreement to share their power should they win.

With Israel in tow, the Romans now set out to verbally convince the Greeks to give in. Since Rome is in possession of the “Sefer Torah,” and even the Greeks agree that the Sefer Torah is the “jewel” and thus the onyx, a symbol of Greece, should serve as the setting for the Torah, the symbol of Israel and due to their alliance, Rome. The Greeks concede to this argument and Rome and the Israelites win.

The Romans shared rule with the Israelites for 26 years, but then they turned them into their subjects. The rabbis read this into Rome’s biblical ancestor—Esau. At first Esau and Jacob walk together. But in the end, Esau walks ahead (in the biblical story, this is at the insistence of Jacob).

The count begins with the beginning of Roman rule over Israel. This began roughly around 110 B.C.E. (in reality it was later), 180 years before the destruction of the Temple. Around the year 10 B.C.E. the sages made two famous decrees concerning impurity. The first is that anyone who walks anywhere outside of Israel becomes ritually impure. The second is that glass vessels are susceptible to impurity. The Torah does not list glass as a substance susceptible to impurity. The third is that around the year 30 B.C.E. the Sanhedrin, the ruling body in Israel, moved from its special chamber in the Temple to another area called “Hanut” which was also on the Temple Mount.

But this answer itself is difficult, for we have another tradition according to which the rabbis after the Temple did adjudicate the laws of fines. The Romans decreed against ordination of rabbis and rabbis are necessary in order to adjudicate laws of fines. This was, according to legend, a devastating blow against the rabbinic movement.

This foundational tradition is cited here to show that even after the destruction of the Temple there were rabbis who were qualified to adjudicate the laws of fines. The five elders that are listed here are some of the most important rabbis of the mid-2nd century C.E. Their names appear all the time in the Mishnah and Tosefta.

Nahman b. Yitzchak now offers a new suggestion as to what changed with the exile of the Sanhedrin to Hanut. From this point forth, they no longer adjudicated capital crimes. But this change was not because of Roman persecution. It was because of Jewish corruption. There were so many Jewish murderers at that point that the courts could no longer properly try them. To avoid having to exile so many murderers, the court chose to go into a sort of “mini-exile.” For once their place of judgment had changed, they could no longer adjudicate capital crimes.

Yose b. Rabbi counts how many years each kingship ruled. The Persians ruled for 34 years after the Temple was rebuilt. Greece than ruled 180, then Hasmoneans began to rule. They ruled 103 years and then Herod’s family ruled for 103 years. If we assume, as the sugya does, that the Roman rule began at the same time that the Greeks were expelled, then the Romans ruled 206 years, not 180!