daf bit: Avodah Zarah 44

[cellio]

Procolos, the son of a philosopher, found R' Gamaliel bathing in the bath of Aphrodite in Acco, and asked him: It is written in your torah, there shall cleave nought of the devoted thing [of other gods] to your hand (Deut 13:18), so why are you bathing in the bath of Aphrodite? He responded: we may not answer questions of torah in a bath. When he came out, he said: I did not come into her domain but she came into mine. Nobody says the bath was made as an adornment for Aphrodite; rather they say that Aphrodite was made as an adornment for the bath. (In other words, the bath existed first, and then somebody put up the statue.) That's from the mishna.

In the g'mara Abaye says of this last part: so what? Even if the statue had been there first there wouldn't be a problem! For we have learned: if an idol has a bath-house or a garden, we may use it so long as it is not to the advantage of idolatry (there is no payment or recognition of any kind required in order to use it). Abaye then answers his challenge, saying that R' Gamaliel's argument was sound: since he was so eminent, his mere use of a bath dedicated to an idol would be seen as an honor, and thus recognition, by the heathens, and therefore he needs to distinguish between a bath that had a statue added and a idol that had a bath built for it. (44b)

Today's daf is 45.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

Splish splash!

[zare_k]

He responded: we may not answer questions of torah in a bath.

Because it is disrespectful to the Torah, or because it was disrupting his enjoyment of the bath?