Related%20passage for Shabbat 166:7

<big><strong>גמ׳</strong></big> פשיטא אניה בלב ים היא הא קמ"ל כים מה ים טהור אף ספינה טהורה תניא חנניה אומר נלמדה משק מה שק מיטלטל מלא וריקן אף כל מיטלטל מלא וריקן לאפוקי ספינה דאינה מיטלטלת מלא וריקן

Now, according to the Rabbis, in respect of what law is it [an idol] likened to sherez? — that it does not defile by carriage; to a <i>niddah</i>? — that it is not [a source of contamination] through its [separate] limbs; [and] to a corpse? — that it does not defile by the size of a lentil!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. supra 82b. ');">¹⁶</span> [Why?] Interpret it rather stringently: In respect of what law does the Divine Law liken it to a sherez? that it defiles by the size of a lentil; to a <i>niddah</i>? that it defiles through a cavity-closing stone; [while] the Divine Law assimilates it to a corpse, [teaching] that it defiles under the law of a covering?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cf. p. 69, n. 7. ');">¹⁷</span> The uncleanness of an idol is [only] by Rabbinical law: [consequently,] where there are lenient and stringent [analogies], we draw a lenient analogy, but do not draw a stringent analogy.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' All the verses quoted above as intimating the uncleanness of an idol are only supports (asmakta), but not the actual source of the law. Cf. Halevy, Doroth, 1, 5, ch. 8, pp. 470 seqq. ');">¹⁸</span>

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