In the days of R. Yochanan, they began painting images of people, animals and birds on walls and the Chachamim did not protest it (as the paint was not considered a protruding image).

Question (R. Yosi to Rabbanan): (The Mishnah above (42-1 (c)(d)) taught that R. Yosi allows idols to be annulled by grinding them up and throwing them into the wind. Rabbanan disagreed, as it might then be used as a fertilizer and the pasuk states, "and nothing of the banned property shall cling to your hand".) R. Yosi proves himself from the pasuk in Devarim 9:21 (that refers to the sin of the Golden Calf), "(And I took) your sin the calf, which you had made, (and I burned it with fire, and I crushed it, grinding it well, until it was fine dust)". This shows that one may grind up an idol to destroy it...?

Rebuttal (Rabbanan to R. Yosi): No, it teaches that he wanted to test them in the way that the Sotah waters test the Sotah (that the waters kill her if she had been adulterous), as it says (Shemos 32:20), "(Then he took the calf they had made, burned it in fire, ground it to fine powder), scattered (it) on the surface of the water, (and gave it to the children of Israel to drink).

Question (R. Yosi to Rabbanan): But the pasuk states (Divrei Hayamim II 15:16), "And also Ma'achah, King Asa's mother, he deposed from [being] the queen (because she had made a frightful image for an asherah, and Asa cut off her image, crushed it and burnt it in Kidron Valley)...?

Rebuttal (Rabbanan to R. Yosi): When relating the same story in Sefer Melachim, the pasuk states (Melachim I 15:13), "and Asa cut off (her image and burned it in Kidron Valley)", with no mention of crushing it.

Question (R. Yosi to Rabbanan): But the pasuk states about King Chizkiyah (Melachim II 18:4), "and he crushed the copper serpent (that Moshe had made, as until those days the children of Israel were burning incense to it)"...?

Rebuttal (Rabbanan to R. Yosi): Could it have actually been an idol if Moshe Rabbeinu had built it (since one cannot prohibit another person's property)? Rather, Yisrael had strayed and had begun to view it as an idol, so Chizkiyah came and crushed it.

Question: One pasuk states (in reference to King David's war with the Philistines) (Shmuel II 5:21), "And they forsook there their images, and David and his men took them away"; and another pasuk states (Divrei Hayamim I 14:12), "and David commanded, and they were burnt with fire" (rather than being taken away)...?

Answer: There is a disagreement between R. Yosi bar Chalfusa and Rabbanan as to how to resolve the contradiction...

(R. Yosi bar Chalfusa): The metal idols (which could not be burned) were taken away; but as for the wooden ones, David commanded his men to burn them.

(Rabbanan): Whatever Itai the Gittite annulled, David and his men took away (as they could be used); whatever he had not annulled, David commanded that they should be burned.

Question: How does R. Yosi bar Chalfusa understand the pasuk "and David and his men took them away"?

Answer: They took them and filed them down and scattered them in the wind.

(Mishnah): Parkalus ben Ploslos asked Rabban Gamliel in Acco, when he was bathing in the bathhouse of Afruditi...

"It is written in your Torah (Devarim 13:18), 'and nothing of the banned property shall cling to your hand'. If so, how can you bathe here in the bathhouse of Afruditi?"

(Rabban Gamliel): One may not respond (with words of Torah) in the bathhouse. When he came out, Rabban Gamliel said, "I didn't come into its borders, it came into mine" (as the bathhouse was there before the statue). Furthermore, people do not say, "Let us make a bathhouse as an adornment for Afruditi"; rather, they say, "Let us make Afruditi as an adornment for the bathhouse".

And furthermore, even if they would give you a lot of money, you would not go into the place of your idol naked and impure and urinate there in front of it. Here, the statue is standing next to the gutter and everyone in the bathhouse comes and urinates there!

The prohibition only applies when they are 'their gods' - meaning that they are shown honor, but not if they are shown disgrace.

(Gemara) - question: How should Parkalus's question be viewed? If he was asking a question in the laws of the bathhouse, Rabban Gamliel should have answered him; if he was not, he should not have even said, "One may not respond in the bathhouse"?

As R. Yaakov bar Idi said in the name of R. Yehoshua ben Levi that whilst in the bathhouse, one may ask questions about the laws of the bathhouse, and whilst in the bathroom, one may ask questions about the laws of the bathroom.

Answer: Rabban Gamliel reasoned like R. Shimon ben Elazar, who together with R. Meir, went into the hotsprings of Tiveria on Shabbos. R. Shimon ben Elazar asked R. Meir, "Is it permitted to wipe down (and dry out) the place in the bathhouse in which one is bathing?" R. Meir replied that it is prohibited.

Didn't Shmuel ask Rav - is it permitted to answer 'Amen' in a filthy place?

(Rav): It is prohibited; and if you were standing in a filthy place when you asked the question, I would not have been permitted to answer you.

Question: They found that a Beraisa also supports this, as it says, that whilst in the bathhouse, one may ask questions about the laws of the bathhouse, and whilst in the bathroom, one may ask questions about the laws of the bathroom. (If so, how could Rabban Gamliel respond at all to the question that was asked of him that was unrelated to the laws of the bathhouse?)

Answer #1 (Yudan, the father of R. Matanyah): It was considered a question related to the laws of the bathhouse, but he did not want to reply at length as it is not the normal way to do so in a bathhouse.

Answer #2 (R. Shmuel bar Avdimi): It was a question related to bathhouse laws, but the heat of the bathhouse is bad for the teeth, (so he did not want to speak at length).

(The yeshiva students/ R. Chama bar Yosi citing R. Hoshiya/ R. Zeira citing R. Yehoshua ben Levi): The answer that Rabban Gamliel gave them (see above daf 44-2(c)1.) that the statue is standing next to the gutter and everyone in the bathhouse comes and urinates there, so they are actually showing disrespect to the idol), was seemingly not strong, because Parkalos could just respond that some idols are shown disrespect as their form of worship, as is the case of Ba'al Pe'or, that they defecate in front of it to serve it.

What would Rabban Gamliel respond? Ba'al is worshipped by disrespecting it, but the idol in the bathhouse was Afruditi, that is only worshipped through acts of reverence.