“Today is Yom Kippur, and several virgins had sex in Neharde’a”: Anecdotes of Sinning on Yom Kippur (Yoma 19b-20a)
The Passage
Pt1
The Talmud recounts that some of the prominent men of Jerusalem (יקירי ירושלים) would stay awake all night, so that the High Priest would hear the noise of them talking, and not fall asleep due to the city's silence.
Abba Shaul taught that this practice was done outside the Temple (גבולין) as well, as a remembrance of the tradition, but it led to sin.
מיקירי ירושלים לא היו ישנין כל הלילה,
כדי שישמע כהן גדול קול הברה
ולא תהא שינה חוטפתו.
תניא,
אבא שאול אמר:
אף בגבולין היו עושין כן,
זכר למקדש,
אלא שהיו חוטאין.
The Gemara relates that the prominent men of Jerusalem would not sleep the entire night,
so that the High Priest would hear the sound of noise
and sleep would not overcome him in the silence of the sleeping city.
It was taught in a baraita that
Abba Shaul said:
They would do so even in the outlying areas and stay awake all night
in acknowledgment of the Temple;
however, the result was that they would sin, as the men and women would participate in games together to pass the time, leading to transgression.
Pt2
Abaye, or possibly Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak, interpreted this as referring to Neharde’a, where Elijah told Rav Yehuda, brother of Rav Salla Ḥasida (רב יהודה אחוה דרב סלא חסידא), that the Messiah had not come because on Yom Kippur, “several virgins had sex” (אבעול כמה בתולתא)1 in Neharde’a .
Rav Yehuda, brother of Rav Salla Ḥasida asked what God said about these sins, and Elijah replied that God acknowledged sin's presence but did not find it surprising. He then asked Elijah what Satan had to say. Elijah responded that in fact Satan does not have the authority to prosecute on Yom Kippur.
Rami bar Ḥama explains that the numerological value of the Hebrew word “HaSatan” is 364, indicating that Satan can prosecute for 364 days of the year, but not on Yom Kippur, the 365th day.
אמר אביי ואיתימא רב נחמן בר יצחק: תרגומא, נהרדעא.
דאמר ליה אליהו לרב יהודה אחוה דרב סלא חסידא,
אמריתו: ״אמאי לא אתי משיח״?
והא האידנא יומא דכיפורי הוא,
ואבעול כמה בתולתא בנהרדעא.
אמר ליה: הקדוש ברוך הוא מאי אמר?
אמר ליה: ״לפתח חטאת רובץ״.
ושטן מאי אמר?
אמר ליה: שטן ביומא דכיפורי — לית ליה רשותא לאסטוני.
ממאי?
אמר רמי בר חמא:
״השטן״ בגמטריא תלת מאה ושיתין וארבעה הוי.
תלת מאה ושיתין וארבעה יומי — אית ליה רשותא לאסטוני.
ביומא דכיפורי — לית ליה רשותא לאסטוני.
Abaye said, and some say it was Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak who said: Interpret that statement as referring to Neharde’a,
as Elijah the Prophet said to Rav Yehuda, brother of Rav Salla Ḥasida:
You have said and wondered: Why has the Messiah not come?
Why is that surprising? Isn’t today Yom Kippur,
and relations were had with several virgins in Neharde’a, as the men and women stayed awake all night and that led to promiscuity?
Rav Yehuda said to him: What did the Holy One, Blessed be He, say about those sins committed by the Jewish people?
He said: This is what God said: “Sin lies in waiting at the door” (Genesis 4:7), and it is no wonder that men sin.
He asked him: And what did Satan the prosecutor say about their sinning?
Elijah said to him: Satan, on Yom Kippur, has no license to prosecute.
From where is that idea derived?
Rami bar Ḥama said:
The numerological value of the letters that constitute the word HaSatan is three hundred and sixty four: Heh has a value of five, sin has a value of three hundred, tet has a value of nine, and nun has a value of fifty.
Three hundred and sixty-four days of the solar year, which is three hundred and sixty-five days long, Satan has license to prosecute.
On the remaining day, Yom Kippur, he has no license to prosecute. Since that day is exalted above all others, there is no room for the accusations of Satan.
Technically, the Aramaic verb here is passive (equivalent to the Hebrew nif’al), since it’s referring to the woman, who plays the passive role in sex, equivalent to the Hebrew נבעלה / נבעלת.
See here for examples of this nif’al Hebrew verb נבעל in the Talmud; this is as opposed to the verb for the active sexual role: בעל / בועל (see here > “Word Forms”, 37 results for בָּעַל).
Compare also the passive Hebrew verb נרבע for the passive role in sex, vs. the verb for the active sexual role רבע. The active and the passive forms are explicitly used together, see examples here.
There is no precise translation for the passive verb for having sex in modern standard English; the closest translation would be in the highly vulgar, colloquial passive verbs “[she was] fucked, screwed, nailed”. The Hebrew passive verb to refer to the passive male participant in homosexual sex and bestiality is נרבע, mentioned in the previous paragraph.