Also some discussion about the similarities between idols
and a menstruating woman. Again, we will spare details – plenty to talk about
both subjects in other Talmudic tractates (Avodah Zara and Niddah
respectively.)
But the page opens with this rather interesting dialogue
between a father and son:
R. Huna said to his son Rabbah,
‘Why are you not to be found before R. Hisda, whose dicta are [so] keen?’ ‘What
should I go to him for,’ answered he, ‘seeing that when I go to him he treats
me to secular discourses!’ (mili d’alma)
What then follows in an example of R. Hisda’s bathroom-oriented
teaching. I edit for your delicate disposition.
R. Huna then responds to his son:
‘He is busy with matters of life and health,’
he exclaimed, ‘and you call them secular discourses! All the more reason for
going to him!’
Talmudic study is about more than Jewish law. Life and
health and the full range of human experience.
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