Avodah Zarah, Daf Mem Zayin, Part 3
Introduction
Another question of the same nature.
בעי רבה המשתחוה למעין מימיו מהו לנסכים? מאי קא מיבעיא ליה? אילימא לבבואה קא סגיד או דלמא למיא קא סגיד ותיבעי ליה ספל להדיוט
Rabbah asked: What is the rule if one worshipped a spring; may its water be used for the drink-offerings?
What is he asking? If it is whether the person worshipped his reflection [in the water], or perhaps he worshipped the water itself, then he should have asked about a bowl of water and its use for secular purposes!
The Talmud tries to understand Rabbah s question. If he was asking about what a person is actually doing when he worships a spring is he worshipping his own reflection (literally narcissism) or is he worshipping the water (in which case it would be prohibited), then the question should have been about water in a bowl and whether it can be put to secular use. So this must not be the meaning of his question.
לעולם למיא קא סגיד והכי קמבעיא ליה למיא דקמיה קא סגיד וקמאי קמאי אזדו או דלמא לדברונא דמיא קא סגיד
Rather we assume that he worshipped the water; and this is the point of his question: Did he worship the water which was in front of him and that water has flowed away, or perhaps he worshipped the flow of the water?
The question is whether he was worshipping just the water that is in front of him. That water has already flowed away and therefore any water subsequently drawn was not actually worshipped. Or was he worshipping the flow, meaning all of the water? If so, it would be prohibited to use the water from the stream.
ומי מיתסרי והא א"ר יוחנן משום ר"ש בן יהוצדק מים של רבים אין נאסרין לא צריכא דקא נבעי מארעא:
But is [water which has been worshipped] prohibited; for has not R. Yohanan said in the name of R. Shimon b. Yehotzadak: Water which belongs to the public is not prohibited [if an individual worshipped it]!
No, it was necessary [to ask the question] where it is water which wells up from the earth.
Water which belongs to the public cannot become prohibited. So his question must refer to water that bubbles up from the ground on the property of a private person. While the Talmud does not say so, there is no answer to this question either.
This is the end of this series of highly theoretical and abstract questions. I thought they were quite interesting and served as a window to the thinking of late amoraim.