Avodah Zarah, Chapter 1, Mishnah 4. In the previous mishnah we dealt with the restrictions that apply to a private individual on his personal festival day. Our mishnah moves on to discuss local festivals - a city or a village celebrating a holiday that is unique to it.
"Ir sheyesh bah avodah zarah":
"Ir sheyesh bah avodah zarah - chutzah lah mutar" - a city in which there is idolatry, outside of it is permitted: the prohibitions apply only within the boundaries of the city, but outside of it one may do business with the neighboring cities.
"Hayah chutzah lah avodah zarah - tochah mutar" - if the surrounding area is celebrating an idolatrous festival while the city itself is not celebrating, it is permitted to do business inside it.
"Mahu leilech lesham?":
The mishnah asks whether it is permitted to enter at all into a city in which a festival of idol worshippers is taking place, since onlookers may think that the Jew has come to take part in the celebration. Its answer distinguishes between two situations:
"Bizman shehaderech meyuchedes le'oso makom" - when the road leads to that city alone and does not continue past it. In the time of the mishnah this was a common situation, since roads were few and ended at the edge of the city. In such a case it is forbidden to go there on that day, for even though the traveler's intention is for an entirely different purpose, onlookers assume that he has come to take part in their festival.
"Ve'im hayah yachol lehalech bah lemakom acher" - when the road passes through the city and exits on its other side, it is permitted to enter it, since onlookers will assume that he has not come to celebrate the idolatrous festival but is passing through the city on his way to his destination.
In any event, someone who lives in that city may certainly come to it on the day of the festival, since he is returning to his home and onlookers will not attribute anything else to him.
Decorated shops and undecorated shops:
The mishnah continues (and in the Babylonian Talmud these words are brought as a mishnah in its own right): "Ir sheyesh bah avodah zarah vehayu bah chanuyos me'utaros vesheeinan me'utaros". In a city in which a festival is taking place there are two types of shops:
Decorated shops: their storefront is adorned with fruit and the like, as a sign that the profits from the business conducted there - or the taxes collected there - are designated to fund the local festival.
Undecorated shops: ordinary shops with no decoration at all, in which the purchases made there and the taxes collected there do not go to support the festival.
The question, then, is whether it is permitted to buy on the day of the festival itself in a shop that does not indicate that its profits or its taxes are designated for the local celebration.
There was an incident in the city of Beis She'an, where this situation actually arose. (Beis She'an, whose ruins remain to this day in the Jordan Valley, was in the time of the mishnah a city of mixed Jewish and gentile population, and it is worth visiting it and gaining from it a picture of the place and of the way of life of the gentiles in those days; the sight is most impressive.)
The question was asked whether the residents of Beis She'an may buy from shops that are not decorated, where the money spent does not go toward supporting the local festival. "Ve'amru chachamim: hame'utarot asurot vesh'einan me'utarot mutarot" - in the decorated shops, whose taxes and revenues support the festival, buying is forbidden; but in shops that do not bear that mark, and that give no indication of supporting the festival, buying is permitted.
Resolving the contradiction from the earlier mishnayos:
This Mishnah raises an obvious question: in the earlier mishnayos we learned that it is forbidden to buy from a gentile on the day of his festival. How, then, does the Mishnah here permit buying in a shop that is not decorated? How do we reconcile the two mishnayos?
The Bartenura, following Rashi, distinguishes between perishable merchandise and merchandise that does not perish. Goods that will spoil if they are not sold - the gentile is delighted to sell them, and therefore buying them brings him joy. But when one buys items that he could have kept for a later time, he is not excited and the sale does not cause him any special joy. It is this kind of purchase that is permitted in a shop that is not decorated.
Other answers are found among the commentators. Rav Hai Gaon offers a prominent explanation that many followed: one must distinguish between an ordinary purchase and a purchase that involves saving money. When large sales are offered during the festivals, as is customary in our own day as well, and the Jew needs that merchandise, and buying it today will save him a great deal of money - this falls under the category of 'davar ha'aved' (a loss that cannot be recovered). The matter does not concern the gentile's profit, which is forbidden on the day of the festival, but rather saving the Jew's own money. In such a case he may buy on that very day, since the restrictions of the earlier Mishnah were stated regarding general business dealings, and not regarding a case of loss.
Accordingly, our Mishnah teaches that it depends: even when the Jew stands to save money, if the money he pays is taxed or earmarked for the benefit of the local idolatrous festival, he may not buy there. But when it is a case of loss, where the purchase saves him money and the money does not go toward directly supporting the festival, the seller takes no joy in this sale, since he is giving a discount; and the Sages did not require the Jew to absorb the loss and refrain from buying merely because the sale happens to fall on the day when the idolaters celebrate their festival.
In summary: in this Mishnah we learned that the prohibitions of a local festival are limited to the celebrating locality alone - "chutzah lah mutar" and "tochah mutar"; that entering the celebrating city is forbidden when the road leads exclusively to that place and permitted when one can continue along it to somewhere else; and that in the celebrating city buying is forbidden in the decorated shops, whose profits and taxes support the festival, and permitted in the shops that are not decorated, as in the case of Beis She'an. We also addressed the resolution of the contradiction from the earlier mishnayos: according to Rashi and the Bartenura, the permission applies to merchandise that does not perish, in whose sale the gentile takes no joy; and according to Rav Hai Gaon, the permission applies to a case of loss, where the Jew is coming to save his own money and the money does not reach the benefit of the festival.