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Text Excerpt
נינטרן. אמר רבא: כי הוה אזלינן בתריה דרב נחמן, כי הוה נקיט ספרא דאגדתא — יהיב לן, כי הוה נקיט תפילין — לא יהיב לן, אמר: הואיל ושרונהו רבנן, נינטרן.
they will protect me. Although there were people on hand to whom he could have handed the tefillin, he kept them to protect himself from danger. Rava said: When we would walk after R' Naḥman, we would see that when he was holding a book of aggada, he would give it to us. When he was holding tefillin, he would not give them to us, as he said: Since the rabbis permitted to hold them, they will protect me.
תנו רבנן: לא יאחז אדם תפילין בידו וספר תורה בזרועו ויתפלל. ולא ישתין בהן מים, ולא יישן בהן לא שינת קבע ולא שינת עראי. אמר שמואל: סכין ומעות וקערה וככר, הרי אלו כיוצא בהן.
A baraita states: One may not hold tefillin in his hand or a Torah scroll in his arm and pray, because his concern that the tefillin or Torah scroll might fall will distract him from his prayer. And so too, with regard to sacred objects, one may not urinate with them in his hands and may not sleep with them in his hands, neither a deep sleep nor even a brief nap. Shmuel said: Not only should one holding tefillin refrain from prayer, but one holding a knife, money, a bowl, or a loaf of bread have a similar status in that his concern that they might fall will distract him from his prayer.
אמר רבא אמר רב ששת: לית הלכתא כי הא מתניתא, דבית שמאי היא. דאי בית הלל — השתא בית הכסא קבוע שרי, בית הכסא עראי מיבעיא?!
Rava said that Rav Sheshet said: The halakha is not in accordance with this baraita, because it is in accordance with the opinion of Beit Shammai. As if it was in accordance with the opinion of Beit Hillel, now Beit Hillel permitted to hold tefillin in his hand when he defecates in a regular latrine, is it necessary to say that it is permitted when he urinates in a makeshift latrine?