Study Nedarim folio 20B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
are your children so beautiful? She said to them: My husband does not converse with me while having sex, neither at the beginning of the night nor at the end of the night, but rather at midnight. And when he converses with me while having sex, he reveals a handbreadth of my body and covers a handb
And I said to my husband: What is the reason for this behavior? And he said to me: It is so that I will not set my eyes on another woman, i.e., think about another woman; if a man thinks about another woman during sex with his wife, his children consequently come close to receiving a mamzer status
The Talmud answers: This is not difficult. This permission to converse with her is with regard to matters of sex, whereas that restriction of conversation is with regard to other matters that are not related to sex.
R' Yoḥanan said: That is the statement of Yoḥanan ben Dehavai. However, the Rabbis said: The halakha is not in accordance with the opinion of Yoḥanan ben Dehavai. Rather, whatever a man wishes to do with his wife he may do. He may have sex with her in any manner that he wishes, and need not concern
Ameimar said: Who are the ministering angels that R' Yoḥanan ben Dehavai mentioned? He was referring to the rabbis, for whom he employed the honorary title: Ministering angels. Because if you say that he was referring to actual ministering angels, why did R' Yoḥanan say that the halakha is not in a