Skip to content
Open toolbar Accessibility Tools

Accessibility Tools

  • Increase TextIncrease Text
  • Decrease TextDecrease Text
  • GrayscaleGrayscale
  • High ContrastHigh Contrast
  • Negative ContrastNegative Contrast
  • Light BackgroundLight Background
  • Links UnderlineLinks Underline
  • Readable FontReadable Font
  • Reset Reset
Daat Emet
  • Torah, Science & Ethics »
    • Pamphlets
    • Scientific Errors in Torah
    • Religion & Ethics
    • Mitzvahs
    • Religion Caught in Its Own Net
  • Torah & Talmud »
    • Weekly Portion
    • Torah Text
    • Talmud Issues
    • Daily Peppers
  • Questions & Answers
  • Who We Are »
    • About Daat Emet
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
  • English »
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • Yiddish
    • Français (French)
  • Torah, Science & Ethics
    • Pamphlets
    • Scientific Errors in Torah
    • Religion & Ethics
    • Mitzvahs
    • Religion Caught in Its Own Net
  • Torah & Talmud
    • Weekly Portion
    • Torah Text
    • Talmud Issues
    • Daily Peppers
  • Questions & Answers
  • Who We Are
    • About Daat Emet
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
  • English
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • Yiddish
    • Français (French)
Daat Emet
  • Torah, Science & Ethics »
    • Pamphlets
    • Scientific Errors in Torah
    • Religion & Ethics
    • Mitzvahs
    • Religion Caught in Its Own Net
  • Torah & Talmud »
    • Weekly Portion
    • Torah Text
    • Talmud Issues
    • Daily Peppers
  • Questions & Answers
  • Who We Are »
    • About Daat Emet
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
  • English »
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • Yiddish
    • Français (French)
  • Torah, Science & Ethics
    • Pamphlets
    • Scientific Errors in Torah
    • Religion & Ethics
    • Mitzvahs
    • Religion Caught in Its Own Net
  • Torah & Talmud
    • Weekly Portion
    • Torah Text
    • Talmud Issues
    • Daily Peppers
  • Questions & Answers
  • Who We Are
    • About Daat Emet
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
  • English
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • Yiddish
    • Français (French)
One may call an adulterer a stinking bastard
Home » Daily Peppers
Yaron Yadan 05/14/2009
One may call an adulterer a stinking bastard

The early sages (Tanaaim) ordered that Scriptural words which are blatant and derogatory should be replaced with words that are “cleaner.” Thus, for example, the word ba’apolim, which in their era was a coarse word, is replaced with the word ba’yechorim when the verse “The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with hemorrhoids [apolim/techorim, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed” (Deuteronomy 28:27). This is one of the reasons why some Scriptural words are written one way but read another way, a phenomenon known as kri v’ktiv. Similarly, the word yishgalenah is replaced by yishkavenah in the verse “You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her [yishgalenah/yishkavenah]; you shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but shall not gather its grapes” (Deuteronomy 28:30).Similarly, the word chiryonim [dove excrement] is replaced by divyonim [dove secretions] in the verse “one-fourth of a kab of dove droppings [chiryonim/divyonim] for five shekels of silver” (II Kings 6:25). Also, the word choreihem is replaced by tzo’asam and shineihem is replaced by meimei ragleihem in the verse “[Has he] not [sent me] to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung [choreihem/tzo’asam], and drink their own piss [shineihem/meimei ragleihem] with you?” (II Kings 18:27, see also Isaiah 36:12). Also, the word l’machara’ot is replaced by l’motza’ot in the verse “Then they broke down the sacred pillar of Baal and tore down the temple of Baal and made it a refuse dump [l’machara’ot.l’motza’ot] to this day” (II Kings 10:27). The sage Rabbi Joshua son of Karcha championed reading the word l’machara’ot as written instead of using a euphemism, for the subject of the verse is a pillar sacred to idolatry. It is appropriate, he said, to belittle idolatry through coarse language. The scholar Rav Nachman added that all levity is forbidden except jokes at the expense of idolatry. The scholar Rav Acha son of Rav Ika said that a Jew may tell an idolater “Take your idol and stick it up your shin tav [buttocks].” The scholar said that one may belittle a person of whom it is widely said that he is an adulterer and call him a “stinking bastard.”
(Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Megillah 25b)

About the Author

ירון ידען View all posts by Yaron Yadan

ירון ידען (נולד בטבריה ב-8 בדצמבר 1961) הוא פעיל חברתי ומייסד ארגון "דעת אמת" העומד בראש מפלגת אור.

Additional Peppers
A fetal cow in the womb of a camel: pure or impurifying?

A fetal cow in the womb of a camel: pure or impurifying?

When did Sarah become pregnant with her son Isaac?

When did Sarah become pregnant with her son Isaac?

The demons and spirits were born from Adam

The demons and spirits were born from Adam

Is one permitted to sell a white rooster to a gentile? What is the rule for a  rooster with missing claws?

Is one permitted to sell a white rooster to a gentile? What is the rule for a rooster with missing claws?

A woman gives birth to a lamb and the father marries the lamb off — may the husband of the lamb marry the sister of the lamb?

A woman gives birth to a lamb and the father marries the lamb off — may the husband of the lamb marry the sister of the lamb?

Is a gentile woman taken as a slave to a Jewish man by sexual relations?

Is a gentile woman taken as a slave to a Jewish man by sexual relations?

One who has erectile dysfunction should boil safflower in wine and drink it

One who has erectile dysfunction should boil safflower in wine and drink it

© 2016 כל הזכויות שמורות לדעת אמת.