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Avodah Zarah 42a

עבודה זרה מ״ב ע״א

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Topic

Whether a ספק can override a ודאי, and רבי יוחנן's challenges to ריש לקיש's ruling that an idol that broke by itself is permitted.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a ברייתא: a נפל was thrown into a pit in רימון, a כהן peered in, and the חכמים ruled him טהור because martens and polecats may have dragged it away. The גמרא asks whether this means a ספק can override a ודאי. It gives two answers. First, maybe it was only something that looked like a נפל, and the כהן first checked whether it was a real baby at all. Second, since those animals are common there, they surely dragged it away. The גמרא then returns to the argument about an idol that broke by itself, which ריש לקיש permits. רבי יוחנן raises a series of challenges from sources that forbid an idol a ישראל damaged. אביי and רבא answer, and רבא explains that such cases are forbidden only by a rabbinic decree, in case the ישראל lifts the idol and makes it his own. That answer is reused for the stones of מרקוליס, the shaved idol, the ground-up idol and the beheaded dragon. Finally, the leaves of a worshipped tree stay forbidden because the tree, the main idol, is still whole.

Opening lines

שֶׁל מֵצִיק אֶחָד בְּרִימּוֹן,

of a certain oppressor in Rimon,

שֶׁהֵטִילָה נֵפֶל לְבוֹר,

who cast a stillborn into a pit,

וּבָא כֹּהֵן וְהֵצִיץ

and a priest came and peered in

לֵידַע אִם זָכָר אִם נְקֵבָה,

to know whether it was male or female,

The steps (23)

  1. ProofThe stillborn in the pit at רימון
  2. ChallengeHere a doubt overrides a certainty
  3. ResolutionMaybe it only looked like a stillborn
  4. ChallengeBut the כהן checked if it was male or female
  5. ResolutionThe כהן first checked whether it was even a baby
  6. ResolutionSecond answer: the animals surely dragged it away
  7. ChallengeChallenge from the found hand and foot shapes
  8. Resolutionשמואל: they stand on their own bases
  9. ChallengeWhy can't a Jew nullify a gentile's idol?
  10. ResolutionThe Jew only bent the idol
  11. ChallengeBending does nullify an idol
  12. ResolutionBending works only when a gentile does it
  13. Resolutionרבא: a rabbinic decree blocks the Jew's nullification
  14. ChallengeStones taken from a מרקוליס pile and used for roads
  15. ResolutionAnswered with רבא's decree
  16. ChallengeShaving pieces off an idol
  17. ResolutionAgain answered with רבא's decree
  18. ChallengeThe ground-up idol of רבי יוסי
  19. ResolutionAgain, it is רבא's decree
  20. ChallengeThe dragon figure with its head cut off
  21. ResolutionThe same answer, from רבא
  22. ChallengeChallenge from leaves falling off a worshipped tree
  23. ResolutionThe tree itself is still standing