Avoda Zara 15: Selling, Lending, Renting to Those Who Transgress

Some brief thoughts, on Tu B'Shvat 2018, about today's daf:

• Selling small animals to Gentiles may be permitted 
• Gentiles would not commit bestiality with their own animals for the animal would become sterile
• Large animals may not be sold to Gentiles because they would be worked on Shabbat
• What is wrong with a Gentile working his/her animal on Shabbat?
• Lending and renting animals to Gentiles is not permitted; lending is like selling
• An animal might be bought just before Shabbat and tested on Shabbat; such n animal will respond only to its owner's voice, causing the owner to break halacha of Shabbat
• We are not permitted to rent to Gentiles for they could bring idols into a Jewish-owned home
• The rabbis use examples to prove whether or not renting leads to acquisition/ownership
• An animal might be sold to a Gentile if the seller believes it would be eaten right away
• Beit Hillel permits a cow that is suitable for plowing to someone who is suspected of working on shemita
• Raba notes that the seller shouldn't be punished for selling to another person who transgresses
• Similar examples are cited, including selling a plowed field during shemita to someone suspected working on shemita
• Kutim are also suspected of bestiality with small animals and thus animals are not left with Kutim
• One may not sell to a Jewish thief
• The rabbis are not sure whether or not one may sell shields to Gentiles
• One should try to maintain good relationships with Gentiles, but if it is possible to avoid selling grains, one should avoid that sale