Menachem Mendel

A few weeks ago, one of the local papers had an article about another blogger who lives in my neighborhood, Aliza Hausman. She describes herself as “a Dominican-American Latina and Orthodox Jewish convert (Jewminicana for short!), freelancer writer, blogger and speaker.” For those looking for something in addition to questions concerning philology, manuscripts, Talmud study, and other sundry thoughts discussed on this blog, check out Memoirs of a Jewminicana. When I told my half-Jewban (of Cuban origin) friend Yael, who also lives in Riverdale, about the Jewminicana in the neighborhood, she got all excited and said that they could cook some Latin American food together (she actually mentioned a few dishes whose names escape me at the moment).

Aliza recently published a humorous post called Shabbat is for Shtupping. Being that most of my attempts at humor aren’t very successful, just ask my wife about the time that I inappropriately mentioned a Woody Allen joke at a poetry reading by Yehuda Amichai, I’ll focus on a different aspect of the question.

One of the important sources (AFAIK) for the notion that sexual relations on Shabbat attain a higher level of holiness is in Iggeret ha-Kodesh, known in Enlgish to some as The Holy Letter. For many generations the authorship of the book was ascribed to Nachmanides, but Gershom Scholem showed that this was incorrect. He at first thought that the author was Joseph ibn Gikatilla, but then changed his mind. For a discussion of the book and its authorship see this article. In Iggeret ha-Kodesh the following is written about sexual relations on Shabbat. (chapter 3, ed. Cohen, 71-72)

The reason that it is from Sabbath eve to Sabbath eve is that the Sabbath is the foundation of the world and an example of the world of souls because it is said “a Sabbath of the Lord” (Exodus 20:10)-this is what the sages referred to concerning the period or the time of the scholars as being Sabbath eve. They are referring to the intellectual part of the soul, which gives rise to a form appropriate for the service of God and which possesses an intellectual and superior soul as it is said, “on the seventh day He ceased from work and was refreshed” (Exodus 31:17) This is the intention of the period of scholars. Understand, therefore, that the pious have not selected the weekdays on which physical activity predominates; for their marital relations they prefer the Sabbath, which is spiritual, and restful. And this is the world of the spirit. Understand this well, and it will be good for you.

Michael Stanislawski examined the Yiddish translation of Iggeret ha-Kodesh and discovered some very interesting things. See here for his discussion. He wrote that

When we move to the Yiddish translation of this work, the first and most important point to note is that the ostensible purpose of this work is completely reversed: the esoteric core is entirely excised, leaving only the exoteric shell. What remains, then, is a fascinating sex manual in Yiddish, aimed exclusively at men, with one exception (gossiping, MM)…From the first paragraph of the Yiddish translation to its last, every single kabbalistic reference in the Hebrew original is absent, usually omitted entirely, though sometimes subverted by underinterpretations.

and

But the dekabbalization of the text is not merely an act of omission but also of commission: in place of kabbalistic notions about the esoteric holiness of semen and intercourse, we find inserted in the Yiddish text the concept of tsnies, sexual modesty. Where the Hebrew text teaches that a man should be in a state of holiness (kedushah) during sex, since the disposition of the child that results from intercourse depends entirely on the degree of holiness of the father, the Yiddish text adds

“We will explain the following to you: the good or bad character of a person depends on the way his father behaved during intercourse with his wife-thus the child will follow, either good or bad. If he behaved with modesty [betsnies] he will have good children. If not, not…Therefore, God commanded us and warned us to have intercourse with our wives in modesty, and with good thoughts-that is what being holy in sexual intercourse means.”

Regarding sexual intercourse on Shabbat, Stanislawski wrote

Perhaps an even more glaring difference between the Hebrew original and the Yiddish translation emerges in their respective discussions of why Friday night is the best time for sexual intercourse. The original explains that on the Sabbath eve the intellectual and superior part of the soul is prominent, and thus intercourse at this time will lead to the birth of new souls appropriate to the service of the Lord. The Yiddish takes an entirely different tack, affording a wonderful-and hitherto undocumented- gloss on the common kabbalistic notion of a neshama yetera, an additional soul granted to Jews on the Sabbath, and thus a fascinating glimpse into the religious universe of early modern Ashkenazic Judaism.

The following is now from the Yiddish translation.

And you should know that the word Sabbath means rest-not only referring to human rest but to divine rest as well. For the souls which all week long float from one celestial yeshiva to the next come together to rest in Heaven on Friday night long before the Sabbath, to hear the teaching of the Messiah. Therefore, everyone who observes the Sabbath is granted an additional soul, which we call the neshome yeseyre. This additional soul knows no sadness-it is divine, all-knowing, and pure. And when, on that night, one possessed of this new, pure, divinely all-knowing soul has sexual intercourse, one without doubt brings into this world a good, strong, and understanding child.

Posted on September 13th, 2009 under Jewish Thought, Kabbalah, Shabbat • RSS 2.0 feed • You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed