Sanhedrin Daf 59 סַנהֶדרִין דַף 59

Rebbe Yochanan said: עובד כוכבים שעוסק בתורה חייב מיתה – an idolator who engages in Torah study is liable to death, because the passuk says: תורה צוה לנו משה מורשה – Moshe commanded us the Torah; it is an inheritance, implying:  לנו מורשה ולא להם – for us it is an inheritance, but not for them (idolators). This is not counted in מצות בני נח, because if "מורשה" means a literal inheritance, then an idolator who learns Torah is “stealing”; if it is interpreted as "מאורסה" – betrothed of Yisroel, it is included in גילוי עריות. Rebbe Yochanan is challenged from Rebbe Meir, who darshened the passuk: אשר יעשה אתם האדם וחי בהם – that “a man” should keep them and live by them. It does not say, “Kohanim, לויים, and ישראלים,” but "האדם" – the man, teaching: שאפילו עובד כוכבים ועוסק בתורה הרי הוא ככהן גדול – that even an idolator who involves himself in learning Torah is like a Kohen Gadol!? The Gemara answers that Rebbe Meir refers to learning the שבע מצות בני נח, which apply to him.

Rebbe Yose bar Rebbe Chanina said: כל מצוה שנאמרה לבני נח ונשנית בסיני – any mitzvah which was told to בני נח and repeated at Sinai, לזה ולזה נאמרה – was told to both groups to observe. The Gemara below asks that since בני ישראל were already בני נח, the repetition was presumably to absolve בני נח of the mitzvah!? It answers that since the prohibition of עבודה זרה was repeated at סיני, and בני נח were punished for it even afterwards, it proves the repetition did not absolve בני נח. Rebbe Yose bar Rebbe Chanina continued: לבני נח ולא נשנית בסיני – Any mitzvah which was only said to בני נח, and not repeated at Sinai, לישראל נאמרה ולא לבני נח – was only told to Yisroel to observe, and not to בני נח. The only example of this principle is גיד הנשה, according to Rebbe Yehudah’s opinion that this mitzvah was given to Yaakov’s sons ) the Rabbonon hold it was given at סיני). The Gemara asks, on the contrary, since it was not repeated to Yisroel at סיני, we should assume it was only given to בני נח, and not to Yisroel!? It answers: ליכא מידעם דלישראל שרי ולעובד כוכבים אסור – there is nothing that is permitted for a Yisroel and forbidden to an idolator.

Rav said: אדם הראשון לא הותר לו בשר לאכילה – meat was not permitted to Adam HaRishon to eat, because אדם was told that all vegetation, etc. was “for you for food, and for every beast of the earth,” implying the animals themselves were not his food. The Gemara asks that אדם was given dominion over fish and birds, presumably for eating, but answers that they were given to him for work (the Gemara demonstrates that these creatures are capable of work). The Gemara asks that he was told to rule over “every living thing that creeps,” presumably for eating (since they do not perform work)!? It answers that this means a נחש, which אדם was given for work, as Rebbe Shimon ben Menasya said: חבל על שמש גדול שאבד מן העולם – “Woe that a great servant was lost from the world! Had the נחש not been cursed, every Yisroel would have two good serpents, who would fetch him precious stones from afar and bring soil for his garden.” The Gemara asks that Rebbe Yehudah ben Teima related that אדם הראשון would recline in גן עדן, and מלאכי השרת would roast meat and strain wine for him!? It answers that this meat descended from Heaven, and was not from a living animal.