שְׁמָד, (preced.) [attempt at destruction,] religious persecution. Tosef. Ab. Zar. V (VI), 6 בי מוסייאות … שעת הש׳ אע"פ שעבר הש׳ וכ׳ altars which gentiles have put up at a time of religious persecution are forbidden (as to the use of the materials) even after the persecution is over; Y. ib. V, 45ᵃ top; Bab. ib. 54ᵃ Ms. M. (ed. בשעת הגזירה). Tosef. Sabb. XV (XVI), 17 במה דברים אמורים שלא בשעת הש׳ אבל בשעת הש׳ וכ׳ this (that one may violate religious laws to save his life) is said only when there is no general religious persecution, but during a persecution one must give up his life even for the least essential law; Snh. 74ᵃ Ms. M. (ed. גזירת המלכות). Cant. R. to II, 5 שלפי הש׳, v. שֶׁלֶף; Sabb. 60ᵃ Ms. M. (ed. הגזרה); a. fr.—Pl. שְׁמָדִים, שְׁמָדִין. Gen. R. s. 67 (ref. to Gen. XXVII, 40) אם ראית … גזור עליו ש׳ וכ׳ when thou (Esau-Rome) seest thy brother (Jacob) cast off the yoke of the Law, decree persecutions over him, and thou shalt have power over him. Midr. Till. to Ps. XVIII, 5 שכמה ש׳ גזרו עלינו בימיה for they decreed many persecutions over us in her (Rome’s) days; a. e.