Talmudic Elaboration of Sexuality and Love in Biblical Narratives - Pt. 1
Esther and Ahashverosh; Orpah
Pt. 1 will be an intro, and passages on Esther and Ahashverosh; and Orpah. Some of the sources that I’ll be quoting are cited in this (polemical) piece: שיחתן של חכמים אינן אלא דברי ניאופים. See also Jefferey Rubenstein, The Land of Truth: Talmud Tales, Timeless Teachings (2018), chapters on sex (Chapter 3 and 7). And see my previous pieces on sex in the Talmud: “Passions and Prohibitions: Some Notes on Sex in the Talmud”; “The “Sex is Food” Metaphor in the Talmud”.
Illustration by DALL-E. Description: “A historically accurate illustration featuring various notable women from biblical stories. The image should depict these women in an ancient setting, wearing traditional attire appropriate to their time and culture. The women could include figures like Esther, Ruth, Rahab, and others, each engaged in activities or poses that reflect their stories in the Bible. The background should be indicative of the ancient Middle Eastern environment, with architecture and landscapes characteristic of the era. Attention to detail in their clothing, hairstyles, and accessories is important to convey authenticity.”
The Talmud explores the sexual element of a number of Biblical stories about women. This openness to frank and explicit discussions is somewhat surprising, in the context of later rabbinic literature, which is typically more prudish and circumspect.
Sometimes the sexualization in the Talmud occurs when there's no sex explicit in the Biblical text at all. This is the case, for example, with Yael and Sisera. (However, some critical Bible scholars do in fact agree with the Talmudic interpretation and see hints of it there.) This is the case for Esther as well, where the sexual element is never explicitly mentioned in the text.
I only discuss aggadic passages in this piece. The sexual element of Esther and Ahashverosh is also discussed in a halachic context, in Tractate Sanhedrin, in the context of the prohibition of sex with a non-Jew. The Talmud justifies Esther’s actions by stating that she would be passive during the sexual act (קרקע עולם - karka olam - literally, “as [immovable] land”.)
The passages of Orpah, Gomer, and Esther use food metaphors for sex (Orpah - “threshing” - dashin; Gomer - “threshing” - dashin, and like deveila - “cake of figs”; Esther - “taste” - ta’am). On this, see my previous piece, mentioned in the intro (“The “Sex is Food” Metaphor in the Talmud”).
Compare also fig metaphor for a woman in Mishnah, Niddah (5:7), bolding mine:
משל משלו חכמים באשה. פגה, בחל וצמל.
The Sages stated a parable based on the development of the fruit of a fig tree with regard to the three stages of development in a woman, Minority, young womanhood, and grown womanhood: An unripe fig, a ripening fig, and a ripe fig.
And in Talmud, Sanhedrin 107a (section # 9), bolding mine:
תנא דבי רבי ישמעאל: ראויה היתה לדוד בת שבע בת אליעם, אלא שאכלה פגה
the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, was designated as fit for David, but he partook (literally, “ate") of her unripe, before the appointed time. David would have ultimately married her in a permitted manner after the death of Uriah.
In two of the passages (David, and Nebuchadnezzar's daughter), the euphemism for propositioning for sex is “listen to me!" (השמיעי - hashmi’i).
The Talmud is especially harsh on Goliath's mother, identified with Orpah, explicitly describing what was sexually done to her in four separate drashot. (On this Talmudic passage, see my previous piece, and the article by Gilad Sasson that I cite there, pp. 32-3.) Having sex multiple times in a row is also a theme: David and Bathsheva are said to have had sex thirteen times in a row (despite David's age), and Sisera and Yael seven times in a row (despite his presumed exhaustion from battle).
Four of these passages are from the extended commentary on the Book of Esther (specifically, the passages about Esther; Rahav; Batsheva; and Avigail, found in Megillah 13a - 15a).
I summarize each section in italics before each part.
Outline
Eleven Talmudic passages:
Esther compared to a tight deer (Yoma 29a)
Ahashverosh could taste Esther as a virgin or as a non-virgin (Megillah 13a)
Potifar’s Wife and Yosef (Yoma 35b; Sotah 36b)
“Rahab was promiscuous with her name, Yael with her voice, Abigail by mentioning her, Michal daughter of Saul by seeing her [...] Whoever says Rahab, Rahab – immediately ejaculates” (Megillah 15a)
Sisera had sex with Yael seven times (Yevamot 103a)
Boaz and Ruth (Sanhedrin 19b)
Goliath’s Mother; Orpah (Sotah 42b)
Avigail revealed her thigh, and David desired and propositioned her (Megillah 14b)
Batsheva engaged in intercourse with David thirteen times (Megillah 14b)
Hoshea’s Wife Gomer (Sotah 42b)
Ahav and Zedekiah Proposition Nevuchadnezzar’s Daughter (Sanhedrin 93a)
Esther compared to a tight deer (Yoma 29a)
Esther is compared to a hind, a female deer. A hind's “womb” (=vagina) remains narrow, making her perpetually desirable to her mate. Similarly, Esther maintained a constant level of desirability to King Ahasuerus, as if each encounter with her was like their first.
אמר רבי זירא: למה נמשלה אסתר לאילה? לומר לך: מה אילה רחמה צר וחביבה על בעלה כל שעה ושעה כשעה ראשונה, אף אסתר היתה חביבה על אחשורוש כל שעה ושעה כשעה ראשונה.
In tractate Megilla, the Gemara states that Queen Esther prophetically recited this Psalm [=Psalm 22] in reference to her situation as she was about to come before King Ahasuerus without being summoned. Rabbi Zeira said: Why is Esther likened to a hind? It is to tell you: Just as in the case of a hind its womb is narrow and it is desirable to its mate at each and every hour like it is at the first hour, so too, Esther was desirable to Ahasuerus at each and every hour like she was at the first hour.
Jeremy Brown, “Yoma 29a ~ Psalm 22 and the Husband Stitch”, Talmudology (May 9, 2021):
Rabbi Zeira here articulates a very surprising explanation, whose purpose was to praise Esther's anatomy. He claims that the vagina of the female deer (and not the uterus, even though that is the usual translation of the word rechem [E.B. - Solomon, Talmud, in a footnote on a parallel passage, makes this same point, that ‘uterus’ here is a euphemism for ‘vagina’]) is especially “narrow” and so the male deer finds intercourse especially pleasurable. (A female deer is called a doe or a hind, from where we get the Yiddish word for a deer - hinda.) So too, the wicked Persian King Ahasuerus longed for intercourse with Esther and found each time as pleasurable as the first.
So a couple of things. First, the vagina of a deer is not especially narrow. It is the perfect size for what it needs to do. It is no more comparatively narrow than that of a dog, a monkey, or a whale, and there [is] no evidence whatsoever that male deer have a greater urge to mate than does the male of any other species [...]
Second, Rabbi Zeira’s midrashic explanation in fact tells us about his mindset, rather than revealing any fact of the natural world. A man longs for intercourse with a woman who has a narrow, or tight vagina. That is what Rabbi Zeira is saying. But before you mutter something inappropriate under your breath, you should realize that this fantasy is still prevalent, and can be found in the medical literature.
Ahashverosh could “taste” Esther as a virgin or as a non-virgin (Megillah 13a)
Esther had the miraculous ability to provide the king with whatever experience he desired during sex. Whether the king sought the experience to be like that with a virgin or like that with a non-virgin, Esther could miraculously fulfill that desire.
״ויאהב המלך את אסתר מכל הנשים ותשא חן וחסד לפניו מכל הבתולות״,
אמר רב: ביקש לטעום טעם בתולה — טעם, טעם בעולה — טעם.
The verse states: “And the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins” (Esther 2:17). Rav said: This double language indicates that if he wanted to taste in her the taste (ta’am) of a virgin during intercourse, he tasted it, and if he wanted to experience the taste of a non-virgin, he tasted it, and therefore he loved her more than all the other women.
Goliath’s Mother; Orpah (Sotah 42b)
Interpretation of various terms related to Goliath's origins, as described in the Books of Samuel.
The Talmud queries the meaning of the term "beinayim" in the introduction of Goliath. Rabbi Yoḥanan interprets this as indicating that Goliath was born from an extraordinary situation, being the son of one hundred fathers and one dog. His mother had engaged in sexual intercourse with numerous men and a dog, and Goliath was fathered from this mix.
The name "Goliath of Gath" is explained by Rav Yosef as a reference to the way his mother was treated by many men, akin to grapes being trampled in a winepress (gat).
Regarding the term "me'arot" (caves), used in I Samuel 17:23, Rav Yosef suggests a reading that aligns with "ma’arkhot" (ranks), implying widespread sexual encounters involving Goliath's mother.
The text associates Goliath’s mother with both the names Harafa and Orpah, leading to a discussion by Rav and Shmuel. One interpretation suggests her name was Harafa and she was called Orpah because of the manner in which she was approached by men ("orfin" - from behind). The other suggests her name was originally Orpah but she was called Harafa because she was sexually engaged with many, similar to threshing groats ("harifot").
On the Talmud’s portrayal of Orpah as promiscuous, see also my previous piece, section “David goes falcon-hunting and is captured by Yishbi-benov“.
״ויצא איש הבינים ממחנות פלשתים וגו׳״ [...] רבי יוחנן אמר: בר מאה פפי וחדא נאנאי.
״וגלית שמו מגת״. תני רב יוסף: שהכל דשין את אמו כגת.
כתיב ״מערות״, וקרינן ״מערכות״. תני רב יוסף: שהכל הערו באמו.
כתיב ״הרפה״, וכתיב ״ערפה״, רב ושמואל
חד אמר: ״הרפה״ שמה, ולמה נקרא שמה ״ערפה״ — שהכל עורפין אותה מאחריה,
וחד אמר: ״ערפה״ שמה, ולמה נקרא שמה ״הרפה״ — שהכל דשין אותה כהריפות [...]
The verse introduces Goliath: “And a champion [ish habeinayim] went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath” (I Samuel 17:4). The Gemara asks: What is indicated by the term “beinayim”? [...]
Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The word is related to the word bein, meaning between, and means that he was born from among many, as follows: He was the son of one hundred fathers [pappi] and one dog [nanai], as his mother engaged in sexual intercourse with one hundred men and a dog, and he was fathered from among them.
The verse recounts that he was “named Goliath, of Gath” (I Samuel 17:4). Rav Yosef taught: This is because everyone would thresh his mother by cohabiting with her like people do in a winepress [gat], where everyone tramples.
It is written that Goliath came from “the caves [me’arot] of the Philistines” (I Samuel 17:23), but we read, according to the Masoretic text: He came from among “the ranks [ma’arkhot] of the Philistines.” What is meant by the written term me’arot? Rav Yosef taught: The word is related to the word he’era, meaning penetrated, and implies that everyone penetrated [he’eru], i.e., engaged in sexual intercourse with his mother.
It is written that Goliath’s mother was: “Harafa” (II Samuel 21:16), and in another place it is written: “Orpah” (Ruth 1:4), and the Gemara will soon explain that this was the same woman.
Rav and Shmuel engaged in a dispute concerning this matter.
One of them said: Her name was Harafa, and why is she called by the name Orpah? It is because everyone came at her from behind [orfin] her, i.e., sodomized her.
And one of them said: Her name was Orpah, and why is she called by the name Harafa? It is because everyone threshed her like groats [harifot], i.e., engaged in sexual intercourse with her [...]
To be continued.