Q&A: One Who Eats in the Marketplace Is Disqualified from Testimony
One Who Eats in the Marketplace Is Disqualified from Testimony
Question
Hello and blessings. It is written in the Talmud, Kiddushin 40b: “One who eats in the marketplace is comparable to a dog, and some say he is disqualified from testimony. Rav Idi bar Avin said: the Jewish law follows the view of ‘some say.’” I have several questions about this:
A. What does the Talmud mean when it says “one who eats in the marketplace”? I saw that some explain this as referring to eating while traveling on the road; is that a reasonable interpretation?
B. In our time, when there is nothing disgraceful about such eating, is that a reason to permit it?
C. Does the fact that this disqualifies someone from testimony necessarily mean that it is inherently forbidden?
D. What practical difference is there nowadays regarding disqualification from testimony? Is there a way to remove a disqualification from testimony?
Thank you.
Answer
A. Simply put, it means someone eating in the street.
B. Definitely.
C. No. There are disqualifications from testimony that do not stem from a prohibition but from human baseness (someone who does not conduct himself in a proper worldly manner).
D. Definitely. Once there is no human baseness in it, the disqualification falls away.
Discussion on Answer
There are opinions that this refers to a marketplace where most people pass through.
Another, more lenient view: it was said only about a Torah scholar.
And even more so: there is an opinion that holds that the disqualification is speaking about an actual thief—someone who steals food in the marketplace.
*These explanations are from memory. It's worth checking again.
Thank you. Can the Rabbi point me to sources that say this does not apply nowadays?