A Bride for One Night: Talmud Tales

Libertina

39 Libertina Rabbi Hiya bar Ashi used to prostrate himself in prayer and say: “May the Merciful One save me from the evil impulse!” One day his wife overheard him. She said: “Given that for several years he has abstained from me, Why is he saying that?” One day he was studying in his garden. She adorned herself, passed by, and came before him. He said to her: “Who are you?” She said: “I am Libertina. I returned today.”1 He propositioned her. She said to him: “Bring me that pomegranate from the top of the tree.” He jumped up and brought it to her. When he came home, his wife was lighting the stove. He went and sat inside it. She said, “What is this about?” He said, “Such and such happened.” She said to him: “It was I.” He said to her: “But in any case, my intention was to transgress.” —B. Kiddushin 81b Rabbi Hiya bar Ashi lies on the stone floor, spread-eagled. He is praying. It is market day, and his wife is out. He enjoys being alone in an empty house. Only this way does he find peace. It is strange, since the whole world lies open to him: the study house, the courtroom, the inn where he sometimes sleeps on nice days. She, his wife, is quiet and earnest, always in her corner between the stove and the oven, dressed in a kerchief and gown. Twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, she leaves home to go to the market. 40 Libertina “May the Merciful One save me from the evil impulse!” He utters his usual prayer. His body lies close to the foundation stone of the house, his limbs still sprawled out around him, his face to the ground. He seeks to ward off untoward thoughts. He prays with great fervor and concentration , until his heart pulses to the rhythm of his prayers. One day his wife returned home early and unexpectedly. In the morning she had prepared bread, as was her custom each day, and as it was Monday, she set out for the market. When she left home, he was standing in prayer, wrapped in his tefillin. Shortly thereafter, she realized she had forgotten the basket for fish and came back to retrieve it. The basket was not particularly important, but she needed to put the fish in something, or it would stink up the fresh fruit. In any case she returned at that very moment when he did not intend for anyone to see him. He thought he had the house all to himself when he cried: “Save me from the evil impulse! Saaaave meeee from the eeeevil impulsse!” She was shocked to discover her husband prostrated on the floor; he looked like a different man entirely. His body lay naked on the ground, stripped of its pride and glory. He was missing his characteristically even tone of voice. “And to think,” she mused, “for several years he has not been intimate with me. What evil impulse could he possibly be so afraid of?” A sense of hurt and suspicion flared up inside her. Was there another woman? She crept out of the room quietly and retreated to a side room. She stood in front of the mirror, passing her hand over the lines of her face. Her reflection was like the face of an elderly woman. Her kerchief was drawn tightly over her forehead, concealing her hair. Her eyes were sunken. Deep wrinkles lined both sides of her nose. She tried to smile, but her cheeks were like stones. Each Friday evening she would hope for him to approach her bed, which was carved into the wall, but each Friday evening she was once again disappointed. “Bless you both for reaching this point, for not clucking at one another like chickens,” said the rabbi when she came to him somewhat embarrassed . She had wanted to know whether they were still obligated in the commandment to “be fruitful and multiply” and whether her husband was still obligated to satisfy her sexually. The rabbi had set her mind at Libertina 41 ease or at least diminished the pain, like dirt swept hastily into the corner of the room. But now the dirt was visible again. She fled outside, without the accursed basket, and walked distraught nearly all the way to the market. The color fled from her pale...