It is well-known that many rabbis encouraged sex as a way to celebrate Sabbath. It is also well-known that these rabbis preferred to use euphemisms for sex. What is new to me is that the phrase "eating garlic on Sabbath eve" was a popular euphemism to refer to Friday night coitus (m. Ned. 8:6; y. Meg. 4:1 [75a]; b. B.Q. 82a). It seems that some of these joyous Sabbath keepers came to be known as “garlic eaters” (m. Ned. 3:10; t. Ned. 2:4).
Ah the good ole days, when sex and garlic joined forces to keep the Sabbath holy!
-anthony
Keeps away vampires, too.
ReplyDeleteOr so I am told.
BTW, in case some of you are worried that things may be getting a bit cray-cray down at the local Jewish Community Center, the "sex" Anthony refers to is of the monogamous married kind.
ReplyDelete"It's Shabbos, what say you?" is NOT an effective pick-up line.
Or so I have heard.
Maybe you're not doing it correctly, Larry.
Delete-anthony
If anything during sex tastes like garlic, you're doing it wrong.
ReplyDeleteThis gives new meaning to the line from *It's a Wonderful Life*: "... playing nursemaid to a bunch of garlic eaters".
ReplyDelete