In order to recite the Shema, we must concentrate on the words of the prayer. The Rabbis are concerned about behaviors and circumstances that will distract us while we (men) recite the Shema. Chief amongst the Rabbis concerns is male sexual desire and situations that will arouse that desire. Accordingly, we learn of all kinds of situations that may stimulate male arousal and therefore are prohibited. Curiously, we do not learn of any behaviors that will stimulate female arousal and behaviors that are prohibited to women (e.g., singing in front of a man who is not her husband) are not prohibited to men. As we continue our study, I will be looking for any acknowledgment of the possibility of female arousal.

We begin by returning to the question of whether we can sleep with our tefillin under our pillow. Ultimately, we conclude that we can, even if our wives are in bed with us, because we must protect holy objects from loss even more than we must preserve them from disrespect. To illustrate we learn that Rava (Abba ben Joseph bar Hama 280-352 C.E.) sent his student to get his tefillin from his bedroom when the student knew Rava had immersed in the mikveh (indicating he had sex). The student found Rava’s tefillin between the mattress and the pillow.

The discussion of where we can leave our tefillin in our bed leads to a discussion of circumstances in which we can and cannot say the Shema. First, we ask if two naked people in bed can turn away from each other and recite the Shema. Importantly, we cannot say the Shema if our genitals are touching someone else or someone else’s genitals are touching us. Do buttocks constitute genitals? Does it matter if the other person in bed is our wife or another man? We ultimately learn that buttocks are not genitals. Therefore, if we find ourselves naked in bed with our wife or another man, we may turn back-to-back and recite the Shema, even if our buttocks touch. (We would be prohibited from being in bed naked with a woman who was not our wife, so we don’t need to ask if we can recite the Shema in that circumstance).

We get into further discussion of fulfilling commandments while we are naked. For instance, a woman has an obligation to separate a portion of the Sabbath challah (bread) as an offering to the priests. Can a woman perform this task naked? Apparently she can because when she sits on the ground she covers “her lower face”. We also learn that we can say the Shema in bed while we are naked and our kids are in bed with us while they are minors. This leads to quite a debate as to what is the age of majority (which is different for boys and girls). We also learn what the markers of adulthood (physical signs) are.

While we can recite the Shema in bed when we are naked, we must be under the covers, not exposed. We then have to explore the contours of nakedness. For instance, can we recite the Shema if a pubic hair protrudes from our garment?

From here we reach our concern with the distraction of women and recitation of the Shema. If our wife is in our presence and parts of her that are normally clothed are exposed, we cannot say the Shema as we may become distracted. Needless to say, the rules are even stricter with a woman who is not our wife. We then get consideration of which parts of our wives can be exposed and act as a prohibition on recitation of the Shema. Exposed thighs are always nakedness. We then learn that women singing is also nakedness (See Song of Songs 2:14 (“Let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet and your face is comely”). In a footnote we learn that a man is forbidden to listen to the singing of a woman with whom he could not cohabitate. We are also forbidden to recite the Shema in the presence of a married woman with exposed hair (I am uncertain why we may recite the Shema in the presence of an unmarried woman with uncovered hair).

The question of what constitutes disrespect leads to consideration of all kinds of bodily functions and what is and is not appropriate while we pray. We learn that Rebbi (Rabbi Yehuda Ha Nasi (the redactor of the Mishna) (135 – 217 C.E.)) belched, yawned, sneezed, spit and used his garment to remove a louse all while he recited the Shemoneh Esrei prayers. We need to examine exactly what is and what is not permissible while we pray. For instance, we see that sneezing is apparently ok, but what about “sneezing from behind” (i.e., farting). If we do fart, we are to interrupt our Shemoneh Esrei prayer to say, ” Master of the Universe, you formed us with openings upon openings and cavities upon cavities. It is revealed and known before you, our shame and our humiliation that we suffer during our lives. And that at our end, worms and maggots await us.”

There is a very interesting diversion about Rabbi Abba who wanted to go to Israel. Rabbi Abba lived after the second Temple had been destroyed. His teacher Rabbi Yehuda forbade him to go based on Jeremiah 27:22 (“They shall be brought to Babylon, and there they shall remain, until I take note of them – declares the Lord of Hosts – and bring them up and restore them to this place.”) Abba points out that the verse before this one makes clear that verse 22 is referring to the Temple utensils, not people.

Finally, we come to a discussion of whether we can recite the Shema while we are in a filthy place. This discussion will continue in tomorrow’s Daf in excruciating and disgusting detail. I get a little lost in the detail as one overreaching thought enters my mind when we read these passages – Could Jews recite the Shema while they were in Auschwitz? Of course, the Rabbis of the Talmud were concerned with the unhygienic conditions of their times. However, when I read the description of the smells, and the human excrement and the filth, I wonder how this applied to those Jews in concentration camps.