
The prophet Amos describes the complacency of the Jewish public and their pursuit of pleasure. Among his descriptions is the verse “Who lie on beds of ivory, sruchim on your couches” (Amos 6:4). The sage Rabbi Yossi son of Rabbi Chananya interprets the word sruchim from the same root as masriach (stink) and interpreted the verse to show that they would urinate in the bedroom. The sage Rabbi Avihu asked whether this inappropriate behavior could lead to the harsh punishment of being the first to be exiled. As the prophet Amos said, “Therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives” (Amos 6:7). Therefore the sage explained Amos’s words in a different way: The Jewish public in Amos’s era habitually drank wine in mixed groups of men and women, dined together, and swapped wives. Thus they made their beds stink with the semen of others.
(Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 62b)