Avodah Zarah, Daf Mem Zayin, Part 4
Introduction
This section opens with a mishnah that deals with two subjects: 1) a person who lives adjacent to an idolatrous shrine; 2) the ritual impurity of idolatrous objects.
מתני׳ מי שהיה ביתו סמוך לעבודת כוכבים ונפל אסור לבנותו כיצד יעשה כונס בתוך שלו ארבע אמות ובונה
If [a Jew] has a house next to an idolatrous shrine and it collapsed, he is forbidden to rebuild it.
What should he do?
He withdraws a distance of four cubits into his own property and builds there.
If one shared a wall with an idolatrous shrine, meaning his house was next to this shrine, he need not tear down his house and move somewhere else. Since he lived there before the shrine was built he does not need to move. However, if the house should fall down he may not rebuild the wall that will be shared with the shrine. What he may do is withdraw four cubits and build his own wall, one which will not be shared with the shrine.
שלו ושל עבודת כוכבים נידון מחצה על מחצה
[If the wall] belonged both to him and the shrine, it is judged as being half and half.
The wall that is shared by the Jewish homeowner and the idolatrous shrine is considered to be jointly owned. The half that is next to the shrine is forbidden for Jews to use and the half that is next to the Jewish house is permitted.
אבניו עציו ועפרו מטמאין כשרץ שנאמר (דברים ז, כו) שקץ תשקצנו ר"ע אומר כנדה שנאמר (ישעיהו ל, כב) תזרם כמו דוה צא תאמר לו מה נדה מטמאה במשא אף עבודת כוכבים מטמאה במשא:
Its stones, timber and rubbish defile like a creeping thing, as it says, you shall utterly detest it (Deut. 7:26). ]
Rabbi Akiba says: [it defiles] like a menstruous woman, as it says, [and you will treat as unclean the silver overlay of your images and the golden plating of your idols]. You will cast them away like a menstruous woman. Out, you will call to them (Isaiah 30:22), just as a menstruous woman impurifies [an object] by carrying it, so also an idolatrous object defiles by its being carried.
According to Deut. 7:26 a Jew must abhor idolatrous objects. The word for abhor is sheketz , which is the same word used for an impure creeping thing in Leviticus 11:31. From here the mishnah learns that just as creeping things transmit impurity, so too do idolatrous objects. The type of impurity that a creeping thing imparts is contact impurity. It does not impart impurity to one who carries it (without touching it). Contact impurity is a lesser type of impurity than carrying impurity.
Rabbi Akiva learns the impurity of idolatrous objects from Isaiah 30:22, which explicitly compares idolatrous objects to menstruating women, both being impure and imparting impurity to others. A menstruating woman imparts impurity both through contact and through carrying. So too, according to Rabbi Akiva, do idolatrous objects. In other words Rabbi Akiva holds that the impurity of idolatrous objects is more serious than that of the creeping thing.
גמ׳ והא קא מרווח לעבודת כוכבים! א"ר חנינא מסורא דעבד ליה בית הכסא
והא בעי צניעותא דעבד ליה בית הכסא דלילה
והא אמר מר איזהו צנוע הנפנה בלילה במקום שנפנה ביום ואע"ג דאוקימנא בכדרך מיהו צניעותא בעי למעבד
דעבד ליה לתינוקות
א"נ דגדיר ליה בהיזמי והינגי:
GEMARA. But [by doing so] he enlarges the space for the idolatrous shrine!
R. Hanina of Sura said: He should use [the four cubits] for constructing a toilet. But it needs to be in a place of modesty.
He should make a toilet for use at night.
But behold a Master has said: Who is modest? He who relieves himself at night in the same place where he relieves himself by day!
And
although we explain that the phrase in the same place is to be understood as
in the same manner, still it is necessary to be in a place of modesty!
He should, then, make [a toilet] for children; or let him fence in the space with thorns and shrubs.
The mishnah states that if his wall falls down, he should rebuild it four cubits within his own property. This way he is not building a wall for the shrine. But the problem is that this extra four cubits will now, de facto, become the property of the shrine.
The solution, the Talmud suggests (somewhat grotesquely) is that he use it to make a toilet. The idolatrous Temple will not get much benefit out of it. But then there is the problem of modesty. A person should not go to the bathroom where everyone can see him.
The Talmud offers two solutions. 1) The toilet will be for children, who do not need to be modest when they relieve themselves. 2) Instead of using the place for a toilet, he could put up a fence of thorns and shrubs. This will stop the idolatrous place from using that area and he will still not be providing a good wall for an idolatrous shrine.