R. Akiva said: Whence is it derived that idolatry renders one who carries it unclean as a niddah (does)? From (Isaiah 30:22): "Tizrem kemo davah — 'Get out!' will you say to him." [Since a verse was used as support above in respect to a shard, another supporting verse is adduced. And "Tizrem kemo davah" is near "And there will not be found among its fragments a shard." Or else, since it is to be taught (9:3): "Whence is it derived that we bathe the circumcision, etc.", we adduce the other (instances of) "Whence is it derived," which are similar to it.] Just as a niddah renders unclean what she carries, so idolatry renders unclean the one who carries it. [He must wash his clothes, even if he did not touch it, as when it were in a box (that he was carrying) and the like. The rabbis differ with R. Akiva, saying that it renders unclean only by contact, as sheretz does. The halachah is in accordance with the sages. ("Tizrem kemo davah":) That is, let them (idolatrous objects) be in your eyes as zarim (strangers), as "davah," a niddah, viz. (Leviticus 15:33): "Vehadavah benidathah."]
Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
אמר ר"ע מנין לעבודת כוכבים שמטמאת במשא – since they are concerned above with an Asmakhta/a scriptural text used as a support for a rabbinic enactment and the Biblical verse of (Isaiah 30:22): “You will cast them away like a menstruous woman,” it is a support to the Biblical verse that was brought above (Isaiah 30:14 – see Tractate Shabbat, Chapter 8, Mishnah 7): “So that no shard is left in its breakage;” alternatively, because it was necessary to teach (Tractate Shabbat, Chapter 9, Mishnah 3), “from where do we learn that we wash the circumcised child on the third day if it falls on the Sabbath?,” they taught these which are compared to it.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shabbat
Introduction
In the last chapter of mishnah eight Rabbi Meir brought a proof for his halakhah from the book of Isaiah. The proof was more of a “support” than an actual proof. This phenomenon is called an “asmakhta” in rabbinic parlance. The first four mishnayoth in our chapter all contain Biblical prooftexts of this nature.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
מטמאה במשא – a person who carries it should wash his clothes and even if he didn’t touch it, such as it was in a box or something like that, and the Rabbis dispute on the statement of Rabbi Akiba and state that he does not become ritually defiled other than through contact like an unclean reptile, and the Halakha is according to the Sages.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shabbat
Rabbi Akiva said: From where do we know that an idol defiles by being carried like a menstruant? Because it is said, “You shall cast them [the idols] away as a menstruous woman. Out! You will say to them” (Isaiah 30:22): just as a menstruant defiles by being carried, so does an idol defile by being carried. Rabbi Akiva holds that a person who carries an idol is defiled by the idol, even if he doesn’t touch it and only carries it. He derives this halakhah from a comparison that Isaiah makes between idols and a menstruant. In his exhortation against idolatry Isaiah states that the people of Israel will cast out their idols like a menstruous woman. Leviticus 15:22 teaches that a menstruous woman defiles things not just by touching them but even by sitting on them. From here the rabbis derive that she transmits impurity also by being carried. Rabbi Akiva learns from Isaiah that idols transmit impurity in the same way.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
תזרם כמו (אשה) דוה – that is to say, it should be in your eyes like foreigners like depressed like a menstruant woman, as it is written (Leviticus 15:33): “and concerning her who is in menstrual infirmity” and the Biblical verse is speaking about idolatry.
