Berakhot 62
“Anyone who is modest in the bathroom will be saved from three things: From snakes, from scorpions, and from demons.”
After the dramatic chronicle of Rabbi Akiva’s martyrdom in yesterday’s portion of the Talmud, it is a bit of a come down to read about his bathroom habits. But of course, this also places Rabbi Akiva very much among us; he was a man of the people who started his life as a shepherd and did not start his Torah study until he was in his 40s. This passage is interesting because it demonstrates how Rabbi has learned from Rabbi, student from teacher. Rabbi Akiva learned a lesson about the most basic of human activities from observing Rabbi Yehoshua, while Ben Azzai learned from Rabbi Akiva.
The lessons learned from observing private human activity are fairly surprising: Rav Kahana laid beneath Rav’s bed and eavesdropped on sexual relations between the learned Rav and his wife. When Rav (who we learned in an earlier reading was so respected that he went simply by “Rav”) discovers Rav Kahana under his bed, the disciple attributes his trespassing to an educational outing. He says: “It is Torah, and I must learn.” To me, he seems like a voyeur who found a clever excuse when he was found out.
We learn the importance of protecting the right hand from bathroom chores, because it the hand that received the Torah, the hand that writes, and the hand that is used for eating. We are told that if we are modest in the bathroom and observe all the rules laid out in the Torah regarding this most private of activities, that we will be protected from snakes, scorpions and demons. There appears to have been a lot of demons living among the Rabbis and their disciples at the time.
We are told that fear of demons in the bathroom was pervasive, which emits images of small children hurrying in and of bathrooms (maybe outhouses?) with the same type of fear that some have when the lights are turned out at night and illusory ghosts drift from shadowed ceilings. Abaye’s mother adopted a lamb to accompany him to the bathroom in order to keep him safe from these demons. (And we are told that a goat would never do because both a demon and a goat are called sa’ir.) Is this little lamb the equivalent of adopting and training guard dogs to protect one’s family? I grew up with German Shepherd dogs who were trained to protect the family. They may have appeared ferocious to outsiders but were like gentle lambs with us. And they became my confidents growing up. I can still hear my Mother yelling from the bottom of our house’s steps that the dog better not be sleeping in my bed. But of course, she was, protecting me from demons of my own. Pet lovers will understand the wonderful warmth one feels when sleeping with a cat or dog and listening to their steady breath as they fall into an innocent, deep sleep.
I am not inclined to comment on all the passages of bodily functions. I could compare the text on modesty in the bathroom with the importance of modesty and humility in life, but after reading about all the things I would rather not think about at the beginning of a promising March day, it feels like too much.
We are advised against spitting on the Temple Mount. I find spitting offensive no matter where you are. I found an article online that explains that spitting among some orthodox congregations is not uncommon. A synagogue on the Lower East Side in New York provides a spittoon for this purpose.
https://www.jta.org/jewniverse/2015/why-jews-used-to-spit-in-shul