אמר רבה בר חנה אמר רבי יוחנן: שיתין מששת ימי בראשית נבראו שנאמר: "חמוקי ירכיך כמו חלאים מעשה ידי אמן" (שיר השירים ז ב). "חמוקי ירכיך" אלו השיתין. "כמו חלאים" שמחוללים ויורדין עד התהום. "מעשה ידי אמן" זו מעשה ידי אומנותו של הקב"ה. תנא דבי רבי ישמעאל: "בראשית" (בראשית א א). אל תיקרי "בראשית" אלא "ברא שית". תניא: ר' יוסי אומר: שיתין מחוללין ויורדין עד התהום שנאמר: "אשירה נא לידידי שירת דודי לכרמו כרם היה לידידי בקרן בן שמן ויעזקהו ויסקלהו ויטעהו שורק ויבן מגדל בתוכו וגם יקב חצב בו" (ישעיה ה א). "ויטעהו שורק" זה בית המקדש. "ויבן מגדל בתוכו" זה מזבח. "וגם יקב חצב בו" אלו השיתין.
Rabbah bar Hanna citing Rabbi Yohanan stated: The pits (shitin) have existed since the six days of creation, for it is said: “Your rounded thighs are jewels, the work of a master’s hand” (Song 7:2). “Your rounded thighs” refers to the pits; “like jewels (hala’im)” implies that they hollow out (meholilim) and descend to the abyss; “the work of a master’s hands” means that they are the skillful handiwork of the Holy One, blessed be He. The school of Rabbi Yishma‘ el taught: “Bereshit” (Gen 1:1). Read not “bereshit” (In the beginning) but “bara shit” (He created the pit). It has been taught: Rabbi Yosi says: The cavity of the pits descended to the abyss, for it is said: “Let me sing a song for my beloved, a song of my lover about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a fruitful hill. He broke the ground, cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines. He built a watchtower inside it, He even hewed a wine press in it” (Isaiah 5:1-2). “And planted it with choice vines” refers to the Temple; “He built a watchtower inside it” refers to the altar; “He even hewed a wine press in it” refers to the pits.
@General observations
The context of this tradition is the mishnah which describes the parts of the altar connected to the Water Libation ceremony, which takes place on Sukkot:
נסוך המים כיצד? [...] שני ספלים של כסף היו שם. רבי יהודה אומר: שלסיד היו, אלא שהיו משחרין (פניהם) מפני היין. ומנקבין כמין שני חטמין דקין, אחד מעבה ואחד דק, כדי שיהו שניהם כלין בבת אחת. מערבי שלמים, מזרחי שליין.
How was the Water Libation [ceremony performed]? […] There were two silver bowls. Rabbi Yehudah said: They were of plaster [but they looked silver] because their surfaces were darkened from the wine. They had each a hole like a slender snout, one [hole] being wide and the other narrow so that both emptied themselves together. The one on the west was for water and the one on the east for wine.
As we learn from this tradition, two silver bowls with two different sized holes were used in the Water Libation ceremony. This allowed the water and wine (which were poured over the sacrifice) to flow simultaneously over the altar and down into a pit underneath. Wine, which was denser, required a large hole while water, which was more fluid, only required a thin and narrow hole. From another mishnah (mMeil 3:3), we deduce that after flowing through these holes, the libation liquids gathered in a cavity known as שיתין (shitin). This installation, translated here as “pits,” is discussed in the Talmud in association with our mishnah. Based on a verse from Song of Songs, Rabbah bar Hanna, citing the amora from the Land of Israel, Rabbi Yohanan, interprets shitin as having been fashioned by God to resemble the shape of a woman’s thighs from the creation of the world. The gemara presents two baraitot, one by Rabbi Yishma‘el and one by Rabbi Yosi, which support Rabbi Yohanan’s explanation. The first one uses the rabbinic midrashic principle of אל תקרי (“read not”), according to which one should read a certain word not in the usual fashion, but in a slightly different pronunciation or emphasis, thus totally changing its meaning. In this case Rabbi Yishma‘el suggests reading the very first word in the Bible בראשית (bereshit=in the beginning) as ברא שית (bara shit=He created the pit). The second one interprets a verse from Isaiah allegorically, where the prophet describes the planting of a vineyard and the construction of all its attendant facilities as referring to the building of the Temple. Rabbi Yosi explains the wine press of the vineyard as actually referring to the shitin.
@Feminist observations
Rabbi Yohanan draws an analogy between a woman’s thighs, which are hidden from an onlooker’s gaze, and the shitin, which are a cavity in the upper part of the altar hidden from the gaze of the spectators. Thus, the beauty of a woman’s thighs, which descend from her body, is paralleled to the shitin, God’s creation. Many midrashim in Song of Songs Rabbah compare erotic descriptions of human love to the love between God and Israel,[1] in effect neutralizing the erotic, often feminized meaning of the verse. Two such examples are presented later on in the sugya, as for example:
[1] See SongR 7:6 (where “Your belly is like a heap of wheat” [Song 7:3] is compared to the Sanhedrin), 4:12 (where “Your breast are like two fawns” [Song 7:3] are compared to Moses and Aharon), 8:8 (as well as GenR 39:3 and Tanh lech lecha 1 where “We have a little sister whose breasts are not yet formed” [Song 8:8] is compared to the patriarch Abraham). On this issue see also ILAN, Ta‘anit (FCBT II/9) 57-58.
תנא דבי רב ענן: מאי דכתיב: "חמוקי ירכיך" (שיר השירים ז ב)? למה נמשלו דברי תורה כירך? לומר לך: מה ירך בסתר, אף דברי תורה בסתר.
Still, Rabbi Yohanan’s commentary, which presents God as having intentionally formed the shitin in the shape of a woman’s thighs, is quite daring and different from all the above interpretations. Not only does it excessively praise the parts of a woman’s body which are ordinarily hidden, but it also presents them as a divine work of art, intentionally and precisely created by God.[1]
[1] BAKER, Rebuilding the House of Israel, 51-52, describes the sages’ use of the word ‘house” (בית) as a euphemism for a woman’s body and sexual organs. This is based on the rabbis’ viewpoint that a woman’s role is to care for the man and protect him from external influences. Still, this issue is only marginally connected to our sugya, which does not focus on women’s traditional role.