Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Commentary for Berakhot 47:17

אמר רב חסדא שוק באשה ערוה שנאמר (ישעיהו מז, ב) גלי שוק עברי נהרות וכתיב (ישעיהו מז, ג) תגל ערותך וגם תראה חרפתך אמר שמואל קול באשה ערוה שנא' (שיר השירים ב, יד) כי קולך ערב ומראך נאוה אמר רב ששת שער באשה ערוה שנא' (שיר השירים ד, א) שערך כעדר העזים:

Rab Hisda said : The calf of a woman's leg is to be regarded as nakedness; as it is said, "Uncover the leg, pass through the rivers" (Is. xlvii. 2) and it continues, "Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen" (Is. xlvii. 3). Samuel said : A woman's voice is to be regarded as nakedness ; as it is said, "For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely" (Cant. ii. 14). ab Sheshet said: A woman's hair is to be regarded as nakedness; as it is said, "Thy hair is as a flock of goats" (ibid. iv. 1).

Rashba on Berakhot

"And Rav Chisda says, the leg of a woman is nakedness". And specifically [it is nakedness] to others and to men, because of [sexual] thoughts, but to herself it is not, as we teach (Mishna Challah 2:3) "A woman may sit and separate challah naked" (implying she may make the accompanying blessing whilst naked). And so with Rabbi Yitzchak's statement, "a handbreadth of a woman is nakedness" -- the scope of his statement is narrow and applies specifically with a man's own wife and [whilst he, the husband, is] saying Shema. The Ra'avad of blessed memory analyses this: it is possible specifically in a private place she comes, and it arises Rav Chisda's saying that the thigh of a woman is a hidden place and is nakedness -- but even on the back of her husband, even though this is not a hidden place on a man. But her face and her feet and her voice when it speaks and does not sing, and her hair that comes out of her braid and isn't covered, we aren't concerned about them because he is accustomed to seeing them and won't be distracted. And with another woman, it is forbidden to stare at her because of the place, and even her little finger or her hair, and forbidden to hear her even when she is speaking, as we said in Kiddushin 70a; "'Let the Master send greetings to Yalta,' and he said to him, 'This is what Shmuel says: the voice of a woman is nakedness'". And rather it appears that this is specifically the voice of sending or returning greetings, since the reason [of the prohibition?] is closeness of mind. And the Rav Alfasi of blessed memory, that he should not be recalled for this at all, wrote the Raavad of blessed memory that it is possible that this is because we said, see the letters, that this is not because of nakedness. The Rav of Blessed Memory thought this is all because a handbreadth of her thigh and hair and voice is nakedness. And he of blessed memory wrote that this is not a good reason, rather in this case it is because of distraction and because there is seeing, and the issue of buttocks is explained specifically with regards to herself, and with regards to his wife if he doesn't see [buttocks] and even if he is touching [them], and everything he does not see but there is only touching, he is not distracted he is "arrogant" [familiar] with her.
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