Nedarim 51: Bar Kappara's Lewd Humour

bar Kappara was able to make Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi laugh by putting tar on a basket and overturning it on his head.

Rabbi Yehuda valued his friendship with bar Kappara.  So much so that he condoned bar Kappara's sexually charged questions at the wedding of his son, Rabbi Shimon.  He spoke with Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi's daughter, married to Ben Elasa, in a somewhat flirtatious manner: "Tomorrow I will drink wine at your father's dancing and your mother's singing".  Women are not supposed to dance for even their husbands due to their modesty, but there was a suggestion of somewhat inappropriate interaction between HaNasi's wife and bar Kappara.

At that same wedding, bar Kappara taunted Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi about the meaning of the words to'eva (usually understood to be the 'abomination' of anal intercourse between men), tevel (usually known as perversion, where a woman has sexual intercourse with an animal), and zimma (usually translated as lewdness, when a man has intercourse with a woman and her daughter).  Each word was questioned with a cup of wine, followed by a traditional explanation given by Yehuda HaNasi and then a new interpretation shared by bar Kappara.  Eventually Ben Elasa could no longer tolerate the conversation and left the wedding with his wife.

After the significant number of discussions of modesty, it is telling to read of bar Kappara's conversation with Yehuda HaNasi at this wedding.  Perhaps this was such an anomalous situation that it made it into the Talmud.  Or, perhaps, many, many conversations such as these conversations took place among our rabbis - lewd conversations that questioned both the teachings of modesty and the conduct of Torah scholars.

Ben Elasa is then commented upon (teased?) regarding his expensive haircut, where either all hairs are cut short or the hair is cut in rows, in the style of a High Priest.

The Gemara continues its discussion of gourds, how they might be cooked, and how different gourds might be considered of diverse kinds.

A few quick Mishnayot follow.  Each is an attempt to define the limitations of a vow made with regard to forbidding oneself from consuming certain foods in certain ways.  The first Mishna considers food that enters stewpots and ovens. The second considers pickled foods and boiled foods.  The third considers roasted foods, salted foods, fish/fishes and tzachana (a combination of whole and chopped fish).  One of the definitive points taught is that the expression, "this food is forbidden to me" prohibits that type of food.  "This food is konam for me, and for that reason I will not taste it" prohibits the food named plus a variety of similar foods and foods prepared in a similar manner.

The Gemara on the last Mishna focuses on whether the size of a fish is considered.

We end our daf with another new Mishna, this time about whether or not whey and cheese might be forbidden from one who vows not to consume milk.   Similarly, gravy and sediments of boiled meat might be forbidden to one who vows not to consume meat.