Kiddushin, Daf Peh Bet, Part 1

 

Introduction

Today s mishnah describes certain types of professions that a man should not do lest they lead him to be secluded with a woman.

 

מתני׳ לא ילמד אדם רווק סופרים ולא תלמד אשה סופרים רבי אלעזר אומר אף מי שאין לו אשה לא ילמד סופרים

 

An unmarried man must not learn to be a scribe, nor may a woman learn to be a scribe.

Rabbi Elazar says: even one who has no wife should not learn to be a scribe.

 

Part of a scribes work was to teach children how to read and perhaps how to write. In those days, it was often the child s mother who would bring the child to school. Hence the teacher would have a lot of contact with the children s mothers. Therefore, a man who has never been married should not learn to be a scribe/teacher, lest he come into too much contact with the mothers. Furthermore, sometimes men would bring their children to school. Hence, women and even married women should not be teachers. Note the difference in the halakhah between men and women. Only a man who has never been married may not work as a teacher. Once he is married he will be better able to control himself, for one of two reasons: 1) he has a place to channel his sexual energy; 2) his wife will watch over him. However, even a married woman should not be a teacher, because the men will make advances on her (even if they are married) and she will not be able to ward them off.

Rabbi Elazar adds that not only a man who has never been married but even one who currently does not have a wife should not work as a teacher. Although he was once married, he will still have the same lack of sexual control and therefore should be controlled by the halakhah.

 

ר’ יהודה אומר לא ירעה רווק בהמה ולא יישנו שני רווקין בטלית אחת וחכמים מתירים

 

Rabbi Judah said: an unmarried man must not tend cattle, nor may two unmarried men sleep together under the same cover. But the sages permit it.

 

According to Rabbi Judah men should not be shepherds, lest they engage in bestiality. They should not sleep together in the same bed lest they have relations with each other. In contrast, the Sages permit men to work as shepherds and sleep in bed together because it is not feared that they will engage in bestiality or homosexuality.