However, I point out that the privy was considered a place
where one was susceptible to demons and witchcraft. The second point is
illustrated by a wonderful story told on this page:
R. Hisda and Rabbah son of R. Huna
were travelling in a boat, when a certain [non-Jewish] matron (matronita) said to them,
‘Seat me near you,’ but they did not seat her. Thereupon she uttered something
[a charm] and bound the boat; they uttered something [a counter-charm?], and
freed it.
Said she to them, ‘What can I do to
you, seeing that you do not cleanse yourselves with a shard (in the privy), nor
kill vermin on your garments, and you do not pull out and eat a vegetable from
a bunch which the gardener has tied together’ (but untie the bunch first)?
The story is told to indicate things which expose one to
witchcraft. Uncommented upon is the fact that the rabbis knew the magical words
to counteract the witch’s incantation.
You go, rabbis!
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