17 votes

Why does Tanac"h frequently use the term for "knowledge" when referring to sexual relations?

Ibn Ezra to Genesis (3:6) suggests that Adam had sex with Eve as a result of eating from the Tree of Knowledge. Therefore, sex is euphemistically referred to as knowledge. Additionally, he notes that ...
mevaqesh's user avatar
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16 votes

Does the talmud promote pedophilia?

TL;DR It is a misquote. It is talking about the age at which the girl converted, not the age at the time of the marriage. Regarding these sorts of misquotes in general, see this related question. ...
Fred's user avatar
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16 votes
Accepted

Is it considered a good thing that Lot's daughters slept with their father?

There is a certain amount of ambiguity here. On the one hand, we see that our Sages praise the daughters of Lot, and especially the elder daughter who took the initiative. Nazir 23a: אלא משל ללוט ...
Joel K's user avatar
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14 votes

Not finding your bashert is a punishment for doing zera levatala?

The Kabalistic work "Tikunei Zohar" (30a) mentions this as a punishment for a person who has relations with women he should not be having relations with. It is stated there that is that this ...
IsraelReader's user avatar
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14 votes

Sex in the world to come

The Talmud (Berachot 17a) states: העולם הבא אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה ולא פריה ורביה ולא משא ומתן ולא קנאה ולא שנאה ולא תחרות אלא צדיקים יושבין ועטרותיהם בראשיהם ונהנים מזיו השכינה שנאמר ויחזו את ...
Alex's user avatar
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12 votes

What are reasons of מצוות עונה marital sex?

A woman has a right to receive sexual pleasure from her husband, just as much as food and clothing. See below: Ra’avad, Ba’alei Hanefesh, Gate of Holiness – selection 4: :הארבע כוונות אשר המעשה ...
יהושע ק's user avatar
12 votes

Thinking of another woman during sex

The Talmud (Nedarim 20b) expresses this in a slight riddle. Says Rebbi: Once should not drink from a cup whilst thinking about another cup. Based on the verse (Num. 15:39) ‘do not stray after ...
Dr. Shmuel's user avatar
11 votes

Kissing and Hugging one's wife

Pischei Teshuva Y.D. 184 #22 quotes the Even Shoham as saying that even though it is forbidden to cohabit with one's wife at the time of her expected menstruation (סמוך לוסתה), מכל מקום מותרת לטבול ...
Y     e     z's user avatar
11 votes

Which prohibition does one commit when viewing pornography?

You're looking for the verse (Devarim 23:10): וְנִשְׁמַרְתָּ מִכֹּל דָּבָר רָע then thou shalt keep thee from every evil thing.‏ The Talmud (AZ 20) interprets this (based on context from the ...
Double AA's user avatar
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11 votes
Accepted

Did the rights of a Jewish slave owner include having sex with his female slaves?

The master of a female Hebrew slave has the option to marry her either to himself or to his son (with her consent). If he (or his son) does marry her, it is not his right, but in fact his obligation ...
b a's user avatar
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11 votes

Is a Zav allowed to have relations with his wife?

Yep. See Tosefta Zavim 1:9, זב מותר בתשמיש המטה בימי גמרו, and Chasdei David there. Also Yerushalmi Shabbos 1:3, לא יאכל הזב עם הזבה הא זב עם מצורעת מותר, and Pnei Moshe there.
Meir's user avatar
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11 votes
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If your wife requests intimacy in a niddah state, may you refuse?

Pesachim 72b discusses a woman who desires intimacy from her husband, and it is approaching the expected time of her period. והאמר רבא חייב אדם לשמח אשתו בדבר מצוה סמוך לווסתה The Gemara asks further:...
robev's user avatar
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10 votes

What is the point of having a rapist marry the woman he raped?

From a historical perspective one has to understand a few things. One: We live in a time of such safety and ease that our ancestors would not be able to fathom it. Cities used to have walls, because ...
Aaron's user avatar
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10 votes

Did Adam have intercourse with animals?

There is disagreement about this among the commentators. Here is a quote from the Artscroll Rashi Chumash Bereishis 2:23 footnote 4: Divrei Dovid...says that this prohibition [to have relations ...
Jay's user avatar
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10 votes
Accepted

Does the Torah forbid visiting/hiring a prostitute?

This is not allowed, as stated by the Rambam in Hilchos Ishus 1:4 קודם מתן תורה היה אדם פוגע אשה בשוק אם רצה הוא והיא נותן לה שכרה ובועל אותה על אם הדרך והולך. וזו היא הנקראת קדשה. משנתנה התורה נאסרה ...
aBochur's user avatar
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10 votes

Is it considered a good thing that Lot's daughters slept with their father?

There was an element of good in the naming as brought out in this story of Rav Moshe Feinstein zatzal. I have edited the story which appears in full at the link. The original is in Igros Moshe vol. 8,...
Avrohom Yitzchok's user avatar
10 votes

Would marriage really not solve this man's problem?

This question is based on a misquote of the Talmud. Here is the actual text: ולינסבה מינסב לא מייתבה דעתיה כדר' יצחק דא"ר יצחק מיום שחרב בית המקדש ניטלה טעם ביאה וניתנה לעוברי עבירה שנאמר (משלי ט, ...
Jay's user avatar
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9 votes

Is wasting seed a sin for a gentile?

The Tzitz Eliezer brings opposing sources in his responsa discussing whether Bnei Noach are 'neherag' for wasting seed. Either way it seems undesirable from the remaining sources that he brings i.e. ...
bondonk's user avatar
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9 votes
Accepted

Yosef sold into prostitution

The Jewish Virtual Library on Homosexuality states that the Talmud records that the Egyptian Potiphar purchased Joseph "for himself " (Sotah 13b), that is, for homosexual purposes (Rashi). ...
sabbahillel's user avatar
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9 votes
Accepted

Why did God created physical impulse towards the "wrong" women

UPDATE The question was edited to add the reference to the fact that when the Yetzer Hara was totaly eliminated, chickens stopped laying eggs. This means that the general concept of "lust" means that ...
sabbahillel's user avatar
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9 votes

Not to learn parts of Torah until they become applicable

The idea behind not learning the laws of mourning, is a superstition that this could cause someone to die, and the laws to become applied (see Hattam Sofer YD 346, and a discussion of the idea here). ...
mevaqesh's user avatar
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8 votes
Accepted

Is wasting seed a sin for a gentile?

One is not judged by the 613 commandments unless one is born Jewish or formally converts. A non-Jew could feel they have a Jewish soul, but may eat pork aplenty until converting. (In fact, non-Jews ...
Shalom's user avatar
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8 votes
Accepted

Is the consequence for rape a small sum?

A biblical shekel is 768 p'ruta and fifty are thus 960 grams of silver. That's about US$459.27 today. As Double AA notes (in a comment on the question), though, that's just the fine: the rapist ...
msh210's user avatar
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8 votes

Is the consequence for rape a small sum?

Fifty shekels was much more than it's silver content indicates - a worker's daily salary was somewhere between 1/2 and one dinar - fifty shekels was 200 dinars.
David Zalkin's user avatar
8 votes

What is an overview of Judaism's arguments against the "unconscious violinist" analogy used to support abortion in the case of rape?

Rabbi Yosef Karo (1488 - 1575)states in Shulchan Aruch, (The Code of Jewish Law) that if a physician is able to heal a patient and refrains from doing so, this is considered murder. Yoreh Deah, 336:1 ...
David Kenner's user avatar
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8 votes

"Gay" people in the Torah, Talmud, Kabbalah?

In general, the Torah is not so concerned and doesn't judge how people feel or what their desires are. It is mainly concerned in how we act. Nowhere does the Torah consider feelings for same-sex ...
mbloch's user avatar
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8 votes

Where in the Gemara does it say a woman never forgets her first

The Talmud, Pesachim 112a, says: דאמר מר גרוש שנשא גרושה ארבע דעות במטה When a divorcé marries a divorcée, there are four minds in the bed Rashbam explains that each participant is thinking ...
Menachem's user avatar
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8 votes

Sudden Menstruation and Sex

Accidental violation of the prohibition of Niddah warrants a Korban Chattat like most Karet prohibitions (Kereitot 1:1-2). The same applies if after intercourse blood is discovered to have been ...
Double AA's user avatar
  • 96.9k
8 votes

Talmud passage relevant to #metoo

The reference is to Sanhedrin 19a where it is recorded that R Yosi enacted in Tzippori that women speak to each other aloud when in the outhouses so men would hear them and know not to come in (which ...
Double AA's user avatar
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