Sex: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Part of the Babylonian Talmud, codified in 4-6th centuries, CE

Rabbi Levi said: These are children of nine traits, [these children are considered to have been negatively affected by the circumstances of their conception]. The mnemonic for these nine traits is: children of [the acronym] aleph, samekh, nun, tav, mem, shin, gimmel, ayin, ḥet.

Representing:

1. Children of fear [eima], i.e., where the wife was afraid of her husband and engaged in sexual intercourse with him out of fear

2. (or maybe 1.5) Children of a woman who was raped [anusa]

3. Children of a hated woman [senua], i.e., a woman who was hated by her husband

4. Children of ostracism [niddui], i.e., one of them has been excommunicated by the court

5. Children of substitution [temura], i.e., while engaging in intercourse with the woman, the man was thinking of another woman

6. Children of strife [meriva], i.e., the parents engaged in intercourse while they were quarreling

7. Children of drunkenness [shikhrut], i.e., the parents engaged in intercourse while they were drunk

8. Children of a divorced heart [gerushat halev], i.e., the husband had already decided to divorce her when they engaged in intercourse

9. Children of mixture [irbuveya], i.e., the man did not know with which woman he was engaging in intercourse

10. Children of an arrogant woman [ḥatzufa] who demands of her husband that he engage in intercourse with her.

(23) If there is a maiden that is a virgin who is betrothed to a man—if a man comes upon her in town and lies with her, (24) you shall take the two of them out to the gate of that town and stone them to death: the maiden because she did not cry for help in the town, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. Thus you will sweep away evil from your midst. (25) But if the man comes upon the maiden that is betrothed in the field, and the man lies with her by force, only the man who lay with her shall die, (26) but you shall do nothing to the maiden... (27) For he found her in the field; the betrothed maiden cried out, and there was none to save her.

~3-4th century, CE

(4) (on Deut. 22:27) "For he found her in the field": I might think that in the city she is liable, and in the field, not.

It is, therefore, written "she cried out and no one could save her," If she has no (potential) "savers," both in the city and in the field, she is not liable...These are the words of R. Yehudah. "and there was none to save her": The implication is that if he could save her, he does so in any manner that he can.