Barry Epstein asked:
An idolatrous offering conveys Rabbinic tumah but an idol does not. Why?
Barry Epstein, Dallas, USA
The Kollel replies:
Your premise is mistaken; see Mishnah in Shabbos 82a. However, neither an offering nor an idol impart Tum'ah if you pass under them, but rather only over them.
D. Zupnik
Barry Epstein asked:
I went back and checked my notes and therefore I amend my question.
Why does an idolatrous offering convey roof tumah but an idol does not? It cites Meiri, Tos. Yom Tov, Binyam Shlomo...
Barry Epstein, Dallas, USA
The Kollel replies:
The Tum'ah of what was sacraficed to an Idol is derived from the verse of "Zivchei Mesim" (Tehilim 106:28) and therefore it is considered as a Mes, a corpse, and has Tum'as Ohel, while the Tum'ah of Avodah Zarah itself is learned from the Tum'ah of Nidah.
D. Zupnik