Avodah Zarah 47b

עבודה זרה מ״ז ע״ב

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Topic

Laws of buildings and stones used for עבודה זרה: the fallen wall, טומאה of its materials, and the three kinds of houses and stones

Overview

This amud opens at the end of a משנה about a wall next to a house of עבודה זרה. If the wall was shared, it is treated as half and half. The stones, wood and dust are טמא like a שרץ, but רבי עקיבא says they are טמא like a נדה, so they make a person טמא even by carrying. The גמרא asks whether pulling the wall back gives the idol extra space. It answers that the space becomes a bathroom, and after some back-and-forth about privacy it settles on a bathroom for children. It also gives a second answer: he fences the space off with thorns. Next, a new משנה lists three kinds of houses: built for עבודה זרה, plastered for it, or one an idol was only brought into. רב adds that bowing to a house also forbids it, and the משנה still counts three because building and bowing are cancelled the same way. A parallel משנה lists three kinds of stones. The גמרא finally reads רבי אמי's statement as teaching that even plaster worked into a stone can be removed to permit it.

Opening lines

The steps (23)

1. StatementA shared wall is split half and half
2. StatementThe materials are impure like a creeping animal
3. Statementרבי עקיבא: impure like a menstruating woman
4. ChallengeIsn't he giving more space to the idol?
5. ResolutionHe turns the space into a bathroom
6. ChallengeA bathroom needs privacy
7. ResolutionIt is a nighttime bathroom
8. ChallengeEven at night a person must be modest
9. ResolutionIt is a bathroom for children
10. ResolutionAnother answer: fencing off the space with thorns
11. StatementThe three kinds of houses
12. StatementBowing to a house makes it forbidden
13. ChallengeWhat רב must hold, and a challenge from the משנה's word 'built'
14. ResolutionTwo separate ways: building or bowing
15. ChallengeThen there should be four houses, not three
16. ResolutionBuilding and bowing count as one
17. StatementThe three kinds of stones
18. Statementרבי אמי: the plaster must go into the stone itself
19. ChallengeChallenge: a plastered house is forbidden even from outside plaster
20. ResolutionAnswer: in a house, plaster fills the gaps between bricks
21. ChallengeChallenge: what about a house plastered a second time?
22. Resolutionרבי אמי was really talking about making the stone permitted again
23. ConclusionWhy רבי אמי needed to teach this