Super-Kosher Sex: Niddah 16b

Super-Kosher Sex features a selection of sex-related material from the Talmud and other Jewish sources. Consider it the Unpious Daf Yomi,  bringing you the titillating, the romantic, and the kinky from our holy sages.

Today, we present:

Sex in Front of Mice or Bugs

(Nidda 16b)

Said Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: There are four things that God hates — and I don’t love them either: …. And one who has sex in front of other living beings.

“Even in front of mice?” Rav Yehuda asked Shmuel.

“No, Shinena*,” Shmuel said to him. “This is in reference to the house of So and So, where they have sex in front of the slaves and slavewomen.”

And how did the others (those of the house of So and So) infer their teachings: Remain seated with the ass. (Genesis 22) The nation that is equal to the ass. (i.e. Sex in front of animals is OK, and Canaanites are just asses. –Ed.)

Rabba, the son of Rav Huna, drove away the wasps from his curtained bed. Abaya chased away the flies. Rabba drove away the mosquitoes.

*Shinena, or “Sharp-headed one,” was Shmuel’s regular nickname for Rav Yehuda.