Shabbat 82: Constipation; Menstruation and Idolatry

Rav Huna spoke with his son Rabba, saying that his son's teacher Rav Chisda should be  followed.  Rabba said, "Why should I go to him?  When I go to him he sits me down and discusses mundane matters not related to Torah.  For example, he told me that we shouldn't sit down immediately in the bathroom and we shouldn't exert ourselves excessively because the rectum rests upon three teeth that are held in place by muscles.  The teeth of the rectum could dislocate and hurt the person.  Huna said "he is dealing with matters crucial to human life, and you say that this is mundane?!  All the more so you must learn from him.

The rabbis wonder about wiping with a stone or with grass. A baraita is quoted: one who wipes with something flammable, his lower teeth (which hold the intestines in place) fall out.  Thus only moist grasses can be used for wiping.  Rav Chisda says that if one does not defecate when one needs to do so, an evil spirit dominates him.  Ravina says that in such a case an odour of filth dominates him, as it was taught that one who needs to defecate and eats is comparable to an oven that was heated on top of its ashes, and that is the onset of an odour of filth.  

If one cannot defecate when needed, Rav Chisda says that he should stand and sit, stand and sit.  Rav Chanan from Neharde'a says that he should move to the sides and attempt to defecate in another place.  Rav Hamnuna says he should manipulate with a stone in that place.  The rabbis say he should divert his thoughts to other matters.  Rav Acha son of Rava says to Rav Ashi that when he diverts his thoughts he will make his constipation worse.  Rav Ashi says that he should divert his thoughts from other matters and only think about defecating.  Rav Yirmeya from Difti says that he saw a certain Arab who stood and sat, stood and sat, until it poured out of him like a pot.  

A new Mishna teaches  Rabbi Yehuda's words: one who carries out a shard of earthenware on Shabbat is liable if it is in a measure equal to that used to place between one pillar and another.  Rabbi Meir says that it should be the measure used to stoke a fire with it.  Rabbi Yosei says it is a measure equal to a quarter of a log.  Rabbi Meir says that there is no proof but there is a biblical allusion to back his opinion, in Isaiah (30:14), where it suggests that earthenware is significant if it is large enough to hold water.

We begin Perek IX with a new Mishna: Rabbi Akiva asks where we learn that idolatry transmits impurity imparted by carrying, even when the person carrying does not come into contact with it - like a menstruating woman does.  He looks to Isaiah (30:22) where defiling silver overlays and golden plating of statues and idols are cast away just like one would cast out a menstruating woman.   Both transmit impurity imparted by carrying.  

The Gemara notes that we learn in Massechet Avoda Zara that sharing a wall (that has fallen) with a house of idolatry requires that the wall be rebuilt four cubits into one's own land.  The dust and wood from that destroyed wall will spread impurity like creeping animals.  We are reminded again that menstruating women are cast aside, made "foreign to you like a stranger".  

The rabbis try to make sense of conflicting opinions regarding menstruating women, idolatry, and being a zav.  We learn that in some ways each are like the other, but in other ways they are different.  Some of these cross over.  It is noted that a menstruating woman does not have the capacity to transmit impurity through the limbs; it is unknown if this is the same for idolatry.