The “Sex is Food” Metaphor in the Talmud

In the Talmud, the abstract concepts of sex and marital relationships are understood in terms of the more concrete and culturally familiar concept of preparing and eating food, especially bread

I’d like to take a break from discussions of ChatGPT4, automation, and digital humanities, to start a new series on a fascinating topic: metaphors in rabbinic works.

I am currently reading George Lakoff’s Metaphors We Live By (first published in 1980). George Lakoff is a prominent linguist and cognitive scientist, renowned for his work in the field of conceptual metaphor theory. Conceptual metaphor theory posits that metaphors are not just literary devices but integral to our understanding and interpretation of the world. Metaphors, according to Lakoff, allow us to understand abstract or complex concepts in terms of more concrete or familiar ones.

Conceptual metaphor - Wikipedia:

“In their 1980 work, Lakoff and Johnson closely examined a collection of basic conceptual metaphors, including:

●        LOVE IS A JOURNEY^[1]

●        LIFE IS A JOURNEY

●        SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS ARE PLANTS

●        LOVE IS WAR

The latter half of each of these phrases invokes certain assumptions about concrete experience and requires the reader or listener to apply them to the preceding abstract concepts of love or organizing in order to understand the sentence in which the conceptual metaphor is used.”

“Cross -domain mappings of SEX IS FOOD conceptual metaphor”:

In the Talmud,  the metaphor of SEX IS FOOD is quite common. Meaning, the abstract concepts of sex and marital relationships are understood in terms of the more concrete and culturally familiar concept of preparing and eating food, especially bread.

To show this, I’ll cite a number of relevant Talmudic passages, drawing on Susan Weingarten, “Gynaecophagia: metaphors of women as food in the talmudic literature” , Food and Language: proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery (2009) (ed R. Hosking, Totnes, 2010) 360-370 (Academia.edu, requires registration).^[2]

“Grind” (טחן)

Bavli, Sotah 10a (section # 6), bolding mine:

״ויהי טוחן בבית האסורים״.

אמר רבי יוחנן: אין טחינה אלא לשון עבירה, וכן הוא אומר: ״תטחן לאחר אשתי״.

מלמד שכל אחד ואחד הביא לו את אשתו לבית האסורים כדי שתתעבר הימנו.

With regard to Samson’s capture, the verse states: “And the Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house” (Judges 16:21).

Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Grinding is nothing other than a language of a transgression of sexual intercourse, and so the verse says: “Then let my wife grind unto another man” (Job 31:10).

This teaches that each and every Philistine man brought his wife to the prison in order that she should be impregnated by Samson.

“Bread” (לחם)

Ketubot 65b (sections # 5-6), bolding mine:

נותן לה מעה כסף וכו׳.

מאי ״אוכלת״? רב נחמן אמר: אוכלת ממש.

רב אשי אמר: תשמיש.

תנן: אוכלת עמו לילי שבת.

בשלמא למאן דאמר אכילה — היינו דקתני ״אוכלת״, אלא למאן דאמר תשמיש, מאי ״אוכלת״?

לישנא מעליא, כדכתיב: ״אכלה ומחתה פיה ואמרה לא פעלתי און״.

The mishna teaches that he gives her a silver ma’a, and she eats with him from one Shabbat evening to the next. The Gemara asks: What is the meaning of the phrase: She eats, in this context? Rav Naḥman said: It means literally that she eats with him once a week. Rav Ashi said: This is referring to sexual relations.

The mishna states: And she eats with him from Shabbat evening to Shabbat evening.

Granted, according to the one who says that it means actual eating, this explanation is consistent with that which is taught: She eats. However, according to the one who says that it is referring to sexual relations, what is the meaning of: She eats?

The Gemara explains: It is a euphemism, as it is written: “So is the way of an adulterous woman; she eats, and wipes her mouth, and says: I have done no wickedness” (Proverbs 30:20).

To be continued

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^[1] In Lakoff’s original book, and thereafter, the metaphors are displayed in small caps. I give it in all caps, for simplicity.

^[2] For more on the topic of sex in the Talmud, see - Michael Satlow, Tasting the Dish: Rabbinic Rhetorics of Sexuality (1995) (open access); and Yishai Kiel’s Hebrew University syllabus: “Sex and Sexuality in Talmudic Thought”(last update: 07-08-2019).