[Avodah] walking between 2 women

[Liron Kopinsky]

On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 5:20 PM, Zev Sero <zev at sero.name> wrote:
>>  My understanding was that it had to do with zugot for the palm trees,
>> but Keshafim for the women and was therefore more chamur.

> The gemara doesn't distinguish in any way between the three examples, so
> what grounds are there to suppose their reasons are different?

The gemarra (Pesachim 111A) does seem to distinguish to an extent,
but looking it over, I am not convinced that I am correct.

It seems that there are a few different going on in that gemarrah.

1) Don't have a woman/dog/or palm tree (or pig or snake) go between 2
men and don't have 2 of those around 1 man. No reason is given.

2) Don't allow a woman who is a Niddah to walk between 2 men, as this
will cause some form of strife between them.

3) If you see 2 women sitting on opposite sides of a street staring at
each other, don't go through as they are for sure doing Keshafim.

The way I had originally learned through this, I had assumed Keshafim
went across the board because of #3, but thinking through it again,
maybe 2 and 3 are both explaining #1. #2 explains why a woman shouldn't
walk between 2 men (because of Tumah and presumably the Sheidim that come
along with it) and #3 explains why a man shouldn't walk between 2 women
(because of Keshafim).