Avodah Zarah, Daf Mem Daled, Part 1
Introduction
This section is a direct continuation of the previous mishnah, concerning how one destroys idols from which he may not derive benefit.
מתני׳ רבי יוסי אומר שוחק וזורה לרוח או מטיל לים אמרו לו אף הוא נעשה זבל שנאמר (דברים יג, יח) לא ידבק בידך מאומה מן החרם:
Rabbi Yose says: He may grind [an idol] to powder and scatter it to the wind or throw it into the sea.
They said to him, even so it may then become manure, as it says, let nothing that has been proscribed stick to your hand (Deuteronomy 13:18) .
Rabbi Yose responds to the opinion that appeared earlier in the mishnah which stated that the idols must be thrown into the Dead Sea. He holds that it is sufficient to grind the idol up and then throw the dust to the wind. The other Sages respond to him that this is not sufficient. By grinding up the idol, someone might use it as fertilizer. This method of destruction would not, therefore, prevent other Jews from violating the strict prohibition of deriving benefit from idols. The Sages cite a verse from Deuteronomy to prove that it is forbidden to derive even the smallest benefit from idolatrous objects.
גמ׳ תניא אמר להם רבי יוסי והלא כבר נאמר (דברים ט, כא) ואת חטאתכם אשר עשיתם את העגל לקחתי ואשרוף אותו באש ואכות אותו טחון היטב עד אשר דק לעפר ואשליך את עפרו אל הנחל היורד מן ההר אמר לו משם ראיה הרי הוא אומר (שמות לב, כ) ויזר על פני המים וישק את בני ישראל לא נתכוין אלא לבודקן כסוטות
GEMARA. It has been taught: R. Yose said to [the rabbis]: Has it not been stated, Your sin, the calf that you had made, I took and burned it with fire, and beat it in pieces, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust; and I cast its dust into the brook that descended out of the mount (Deuteronomy 9:21) They replied to him: Can any proof be deduced from this passage? Behold it states, And he strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. He had no other intention than to test them as is done with women suspected of adultery!
R. Yose uses the case of the golden calf to prove his ruling that one may destroy idols by grinding them up. The other rabbis respond that Moses ground up the calf not in order to destroy it, but because he wanted the Israelites to drink it, the same way that the suspected adulteress has to drink the bitter waters. Idolatry is, according to many of the prophets, similar to adultery, showing lack of faithfulness to one s god.
אמר להם רבי יוסי והלא כבר נאמר (דברי הימים ב טו, טז) וגם את מעכה אמו הסירה מגבירה אשר עשתה מפלצתה וגו’ וידק וישרף בנחל קדרון
אמר לו משם ראיה נחל קדרון אינו מגדל צמחין
R. Yose said back to them: But has it not been stated, And also Ma acah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made at abominable image . . . he made dust of it, and burned it at the brook of Kidron (II Chronicles 15:16)! They said to him: From there you bring proof? The brook of Kidron is not a place in which vegetation grows?
R. Yose now quotes another case in which someone grinds up an idol Asa, the King of Israel, did this to his mother s idol (reminiscent, certainly of the midrash about Abraham).
The rabbis reject this proof as well. The problem with grinding up idols is that the dust becomes fertilizer. But the brook of Kidron is not a place where vegetation grows.
ולא והתניא אלו ואלו מתערבין באמה ויוצאין לנחל קדרון ונמכרין לגננין לזבל ומועלין בהן
מקומות מקומות יש בו יש מקום מגדל צמחין ויש מקום שאין מגדל צמחין
But is it not? Has it not been taught: [The blood of] the various [sacrifices] mingled in the aqueduct and flowed into the brook of Kidron and was sold to gardeners for manure. And one who uses it is guilty of trespass.
There are different kinds of places there, in some vegetation grows and some it does not.
The Talmud cites a baraita about the blood that runs off from the sacrifices in the Temple. This blood would flow into the brook of Kidron and the water/blood mixture was sold as fertilizer to farmers. This is proof that the brook of Kidron does have vegetation, which now is a proof for R. Yose, that one may nevertheless grind up an idol, just as Asa did
The other rabbis would answer that the brook of Kidron has several areas. Asa would have ground the idol up in a place without vegetation, for otherwise this is prohibited.
אמר רב יהודה דהוה מפליא ליצנותא כדתני רב יוסף כמין זכרות עשתה לה והיתה נבעלת לו בכל יום
What is the meaning of mifletzet [abominable image]? Rav Judah said: That which intensifies licentiousness [mafli letzanuta] as R. Joseph taught: It was a kind of phallus which she had sex with every day.
The rabbis here interpret the word mifletzet from the verse from II Chronicles which I have translated abominable image. They provide it with a sexual interpretation, equating idolatry with sexual licentiousness and perhaps engaging in a bit of rabbinic fantasy.