Commentary for Berakhot 114:29

ONE WHO SEES [THE IDOL] MARKULIS. When our Mishna discusses the b’rochoh recited for the uprooting of an idol, it uses the general term idols. The Braiso that illustrates the teaching of our Mishna speaks specifically of the idol Markulis. The worship of Markulis consisted of designating three stones as the idol. Then one worshipped it by throwing more stones at the original three. The new stones also became part of the idol. Tosfos wonders whether there is any special reason that the Braiso uses Markulis as an example. In Tosefto we learned in place of the word Markulis that is taught here in the Braiso quoted by our Gemara, the general term idols. This indicates that the law taught in this Braiso is not exclusively for Markulis but for all idols. And if so, that this law applies to all idols, then our Braiso is not speaking specifically about Markulis, because we see from the Braiso in Tosefto that the law applies to all idols equally. Rather, because where the Tano of this Braiso lived they used to worship Markulis, he spoke about that idol, but the law applies equally to all idols.
If we believed that this b’rochoh was meant to be recited only for Markulis, we could understand why we do not recite the b’rochoh nowadays, since the idolaters that we are exposed to do not worship Markulis, but once it has been established that the law applies equally to all idols, Tosfos wonders why we do not recite this b’rochoh nowadays. And nowadays we do not regularly recite this b’rochoh, because we see the idols every day and all the b’rochos that are mentioned in the Mishna that one is required to recite upon seeing, they said earlier that it means from thirty days to thirty days. So although we do see these idols and one should recite the b’rochoh when seeing any idols, not only Markulis, we do not recite the b’rochoh because we see the idols so regularly.
In this second Tosfos with the same heading as the previous Tosfos, Tosfos is dealing with the same issue. In the previous Tosfos he concluded that the B’rochoh applies to all idols equally. We do not recite the b’rochoh because of over-exposure to theses idols. In the next Tosfos, he adopts another approach. Markulis is discussed because there is something that is specifically true of Markulis that does not apply to other idols.

ONE WHO SEES [THE IDOL] MARKULIS. R’I said: I do not know why the Tano mentioned Markulis more so than any other idol. And it appears to me that one needs to recite this b’rochoh only where they are building a new idol or where it an old idol is being put up there just now.¹As Tosfos will show later from the Yerushalmee, when an idol is moved from one place to another, the b’rochoh is recited in the new place, even though it is not a new idol. And that is why he mentioned Markulis, because they throw stones at it every day and it is as if they are making the idol larger. It is only then that a b’rochoh needs to be recited, but not for an idol that is permanently there from before.²Every idol requires a b’rochoh when it is first built or when it is moved to another place. Markulis has the distinction that since it grows on a regular basis by the new stones that are thrown at it, one recites a b’rochoh on it whenever he sees it. That is why we do not recite the b’rochoh upon seeing the idols that we see every day. They are the same as they always were and since there is no increase in their size, a b’rochoh is not required.
In Yerushalmee we find: If an idol was uprooted from one place and was put in another place, in the place that it was put one says: blessed is He who shows forbearance to the transgressors of his will.³We see that although it is not a new idol, a b’rochoh is recited. And in the place from which it was uprooted one says: blessed is He who uprooted idols from this place.

Repeated from fol. 55 b, p. 363.

This sentence is out of place, and is omitted by M.

I.e. Judah the Prince; but M. reads "R. 'Akiba."

He was very rich ; see fol. 27 b, p. 181.

He suffered martyrdom under the Romans. See p. 35 n. 2.

They are not called "Sages" because they had not received ordination as Rabbis.

He was renowned as an ascetic; cf. Graetz, Gnosticismus and Judentum, pp.71f.

Lit. "another," the name given to Elisha b. Abuya who became a heretic. See Hagigah 15 a, ed. Streane, pp. 83 ff.

Read with M. kippof for kippod.

See fol. 56 b, p. 372.

M. adds: Ashe.

It is very doubtful whether the last word kurperai means "bat." M. omits it here, but precedes this sentence with : To dream of any kind of reptile is a good omen with the exception of the mole (kupedai).

See p. 214 n. 4.

A kind of clover used as a relish.

I.e. sexual intercourse, the meaning which the vord usually has.

Meaning, put him into a cheerful frame of mind.

See p. 356 n. 8.

See fol. 44 b, p. 289.

See fol. 40 a, p. 263 n. 10.

Often mentioned together in the Talmud as being intimate friends. Antoninus is often identified with Marcus Aurelias. See J. E. I. pp. 656 f. The latest and most exhaustive investigation of the material is by Krauss, Antoninus und Rabbi, who identifies him with Avidius Cassius, a famous general of Marcus Aurelius and Procurator of Judea.

Indicating a journey.

Indicating a grave and what grows upon it.

This sentence is omitted by M. and some edd. It occurs again below.

Possibly referring to the debris of the ruins to be used as building material elsewhere. But cf. T. A. I. p. 289 n. 171.