In the Mishnah (above daf 45-1(d)), R. Akiva said that I will explain {OVIL} the pasuk to you... Some have the text 'Ovin' and some have the text 'Ovil'. Both texts are valid, as "Ovin" comes from the word 'Havanah', meaning understanding; "Ovil" comes from "Hava'ah", meaning to bring/present (before you).

R. Borki to R. Mana: From R. Akiva's wording ('wherever you find a tall mountain, an elevated hill or flourishing tree, you should know that you will find there an idol') we learn that there was not one mountain or hill that the Canaanites did not worship.

Question: Just as we say that although a living creature cannot become prohibited to an ordinary person, but it is nevertheless prohibited for Temple use; so too something attached cannot become prohibited as an idol, but it should not be used for Temple use. If so, since the nations certainly worshipped the Mount Moriah, how could the Temple later be built there?

Answer: Despite the rule, it was known through prophecy that it had never been worshipped, as the pasuk states (Divrei Hayamim I 21:19), "And David went up according to the word of Gad that he spoke in the name of Hash-m".

(Mishnah): If a person's house was adjacent to a temple of idolatry and the (shared) wall fell down, he may not rebuild it. What should he do? He should withdraw (four amos) into his own property and built it there.

If the wall belonged to him and to the idolatrous temple, it is judged as half and half. Its stones, wood and earth cause impurity like a Sheretz (creeping thing), as the pasuk states (Devarim 7:26), "SHAKETZ TESHAKTZENU - you shall detest it most severely".

(R. Akiva): An idol causes impurity like a Nidah (menstrual woman), as the pasuk states (Yishaya 30:22), "Scatter them {idols} far like a Nidah.'Go out,' say to it". Just as a Nidah causes impurity to one who carries her, so too an idol causes impurity to one who carries it (even if he did not touch it).

(Gemara): The pasuk uses the word 'To'evah' - 'an abomination' about Nidah, about Sheratzim (creeping things) and idol worship. About an Nidah, the pasuk states (Vayikra 18:29), "For one who will do from any of these abominations"; about Sheratzim, the pasuk states (Devarim 14:3), "You shall not eat any abomination"; and about idolatry it states (Devarim 7:26), "You shall not bring an abomination into your house". However, I do not know why these things are comparable...?

(R. Akiva): To compare to the impurity of carrying a Nidah and say even one who carries an idol becomes Tamei. Alternatively, it teaches that just as a Nidah causes impurity through an Even Mesameh, so too an idol causes it. (Even Mesameh means that if a large stone is placed on top of pegs and there are vessels in the airspace under the stone, if a Nidah, a Zav or a Zavah sit on the stone, the vessels become Tamei.)

(R. Zerika citing R. Chaninah/Rav Chisda): R. Akiva agrees to Chachamim that idols do not transmit impurity through an Even Mesameh.

(Rabbanan): It is compared to Sheratzim - just as a Sheretz transfers impurity through touching (literally Heset - pushing; the Gemara refers to it as Heset, because pushing usually involves touching), so too an idol.

Question: A Sheretz transfers impurity when it is the size of a lentil seed. Do I say the same for an idol?

Answer (R. Zeira/ R. Yitzchak bar Nachman/ R. Elazar/ R. Abahu citing R. Yochanan): The pasuk states (Tehillim 106:28), "They became attached to Baal Pe'or and ate sacrifices of the dead." Just as an olive's amount of a corpse transfers impurity, so too an idol of that size.

Or alternatively, just as a corpse brings tumah as soon as the tops of the fingers of a tahor person enter (the same Ohel as the corpse), so too for the idol...?

Answer: There is a Gezeirah Shavah using the word 'Netitzah' - 'tearing down', to learn idolatry from the case of a house with Tzora'as. About idolatry it says (Devarim 12:3), "And you shall tear down their altars" and about a plagued house it says (Vayikra 14:45), "He shall tear down the house". Just as in a plagued house, a person is tamei as soon as he puts in his head and most of his body, so too when entering a place of an idol.

(R. Chaninah): This means that the tumah of idols is Rabbinic, not from the Torah, as if it is from the Torah, why do the Rabbis deduce leniencies in idols (from the case of a corpse, only if the size of an olive; from Sheretz that it only transfers tumah through touching); learn a stringency (from the case of a corpse, that an idol causes tumah through carrying it and learn from Sheretz, that the size for tumah is a lentil seed)?

Rebuttal (R. Mana): The tumah of idols is from the Torah, so why did the Torah compare idols to a corpse and to a Sheretz? To transfer their leniencies to the case of idols.

This is true for a broken idol, but any size of a complete idol transfers impurity.

(R. Yosi bei R. Bun/ R. Chama bar Gurion citing Rav): The idol of Ba'al is in the shape of the male organ and is the size of a bean (which is less than an olive size). What is the source for this? The pasuk states (Shoftim 8:33), "And they put for them a Ba'al Bris as a god".

Question: What is R. Akiva's source (that an idol is compared to a Nidah)?

Answer: The pasuk states (Devarim 7:26), "You shall despise it most severely" like (the tumah of) a Nidah".

Question: What are the Rabbanan's source?

Answer: The pasuk states (ibid), "You shall detest it most severely" like a Sheretz.

Question: How do Rabbanan use the source of R. Akiva?

Answer: "You shall despise it most severely" like excrement and degrade it with you mouth.

Question: What does R. Akiva learn from the source of the Rabbanan? (Note: This entry and the next one follow the text of the Yerushalmi Shabbos, as cited by the Pnei Moshe.)

Answer: "You shall detest it most severely" like excrement and degrade it with your mouth.

Question: How do Rabbanan learn from "you shall despise it most severely" that you must degrade it with your mouth (rather than just in your heart)?

Answer (R. Shmuel/ R. Abahu citing R. Elazar): There is a pasuk that teaches that you must give it a degrading nickname (Yishayah 30:22), "'Go out,' say to it" - one that is called Pnei elo'ah should referred to as Pnei Kelev (the dog's face); Ain Kos should be referred to as Ain Kotz (eye of thorn); Gedayah should be referred to as Galaya (exile).

(R. Tanchuma citing Rav Huna): The pasuk states (Yehoshua 7:3), " to Ai, which is beside Beis-Aven, on the east side [MIKEDEM] of Beis-el". Why mention both towns when one would suffice?

Answer: Originally [MIKEDEM] they called it Beis-el and now (after Yeravam had put idols there) they called it Beis-Aven.

Beraisa (in R. Elazar's name): They did not want to call a certain idol 'Amirah' (meaning, serving it), so they called it Amidah, as people call a bedpan an Amidah.

Question: What does R. Akiva learn from the pasuk (cited above, Yishayah 30:22), "'Go out,' say to it"?

Answer (R. Yosi bei R. Avun/ Rav Huna citing Rav Yosef): From here we learn that we do not tell a person to go out (from a room that contains an idol) unless his head and most of his body entered (as entering less than that amount does not cause him tumah).