(1940, 63f) already refers to the pervasive Cynic protests against idolatry.
Although the secondary literature refers to scattered pieces of criticism
against paganism (see, e.g., Wallach 1977, 389–404; Fischel 1977; Herford
1903), little of this evidence is drawn from Avodah Zarah.The general view,
then, is that the tractate functions as an extended note on economic mat-
ters. The only scholar opposed to this point of view is Stern (1994:145).
THE FAIR AS A CROWD
Many of the topics in the Jerusalem Talmud, which recall our passage from
theMishnah,try to recover the impulse that governs the discussion of the
Mishnah.“Why are these things prohibited?” asks the Jerusalem Talmud.
One response refers to the tax-reduction and subsequent contribution to idol
worship, which we have identified above. But there are other responses
that discuss the compelling character of idol-worship by throngs of people.
The Jerusalem Talmud opens with a question that tries to quantify the
amount of idolatry (i.e., statues) necessary to be considered avodah zarah.
Resh Lakish (ca. 250) claims, rather opaquely, “we are referring to a fair.”
How does that answer the question? P’nei Moshe (Moses Margalit, an
eighteenth-century Talmudic commentator) suggests that one statue will
only attract a few worshippers, but many statues will attract many follow-
ers. In this light, Resh Lakish would mean that a fair is a place where there
are many statues. But even more is being suggested. The throngs of peo-
ple, things, and produce are characteristic of a fair. It appears that the
crowd, and not only the reduction of taxes and the contribution to the god
being honoured, is the dangerous element implied in his statement.
Elias Canetti’s work may shed some light on the fears evident in the
Talmudic material. For Canetti, the crowd is composed of four main attrib-
utes: “The crowd always wants to grow...within the crowd there is equal-
ity...the crowd loves density...the crowd needs a direction” (1978, 29).
The crowd, according to Canetti, changes basic human behaviour. Nor-
mally, people fear being touched by strangers. But the crowd “is the only
situation in which the fear changes into its opposite. The crowd needs den-
sity, in which body is pressed to body...he no longer notices who it is that
presses against him. As soon as a man has surrendered himself to the
crowd, he ceases to fear its touch. Ideally, all are equal here; no distinctions
count, not even that of sex” (Canetti 1978, 15). Canetti’s impassioned
description is certainly applicable to our fair. We witness a social event—
one that has, as its base, an economic-religious element—but, as Canetti
notes, it is also a place where people need to be.