📖 SATURDAY PRAYER: YESOD-YESHIVAT HAVERIM יְשִׁיבָה חברים – BABYLONIAN TALMUD p154

READING: BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN OF SATURDAY

CHAPTER IX.
RABBI AQIBA’S REGULATIONS ON DIFFERENT SUBJECTS.
MISHNA I.: R. Aqiba said: Whence do we deduce that one who carries an idol is as unclean
(ritually) as a woman suffering from menstruation? From the passage [Isaiah, xxx. 23]: “Thou
wilt cast them away as a filthy thing. 1 ‘Get thee hence!’, wilt thou say unto them.” Thus, in the
same manner as a woman suffering from menstruation causes (ritual) uncleanness, so does also
an idol.
GEMARA: Rabba said: The passage mentioned in the Mishna should be interpreted thus:
“Estrange 2 them from thyself as a stranger; Get thee hence, say unto him, but tell him not to
come in!” Further Rabba said: It is unanimously conceded that the carrying of idols causes
(ritual) uncleanness and hence it is compared to menstruation, but there is a dissenting opinion
among the rabbis concerning a stone (used as a pedestal for an idol or upon which a woman
suffering from menstruation chanced to sit) beneath which there were utensils. R. Aqiba holds
that idols are regarded the same as menstruating women and the vessels beneath the stone
become defiled (for the reason that the stone is the basis of the idol, and the former becomes part
of the idol, and hence everything beneath it becomes defiled), but the rabbis regard an idol as a
reptile, i.e., as a reptile lying upon a large stone (in which case any utensils chancing to be
beneath the stone do not become defiled). This decree is unanimously conceded.
R. Ahadbou b. Ami asked: What about an idol smaller in size than an olive? R. Joseph objected
to this question: What is the purpose of the query? Does it refer to the prohibition of idolatry?
Even an idol the size of a fly, like the idol of the
[paragraph continues] Ekronites, which was called Zebub 1 (fly) is also prohibited; for we are taught
it is written in the passage [Judges, viii. 33]: “And they made themselves Baal-berith for a god”;
by Baal-berith is meant the Zebub (fly) idol of Ekron, and every idolater (at that time) made an
image of his idol in miniature in order to keep it constantly at hand and to be able at any time to
take it out, embrace, and kiss it; hence there is no question as to size. Nay, the query of R.
Ahadbou is in regard to causing defilement? Either it is regarded as a reptile and defiles, even if
only of the size of a lentil, or it is considered as a corpse and causes defilement if it is the size of
an olive. (A part of a corpse the size of an olive causes the person touching it to become
defiled.) Answered R. Ivia, and according to others Rabba b. Ulla: “Come and hear the
following Boraitha: ‘No defilement is caused by idols smaller than olives, for it is written [II
Kings, xxiii. 6]: “And cast its powder upon the graves of the children of the people.”‘” (The
adduction is) that as a corpse cannot cause defilement by a part less than the size of ail olive, the
same is the case with idols, which are regarded as corpses.