Effete Salt
Note: This is not about how much salt you like…
I was recently asked to explain the feminine tense in the Talmudic phrase “Melach Sedomis” (Sodomite salt).
The Hebrew word for salt, “Melach” (or the Aramaic “Milcha”) is usually found in the male tense, whether in the Mishnah (Tevul Yom Chapter One, for instance) or Gemara. Should it not have said, “Melach Sedomi” instead?
Sometimes, ‘to ask the question is to answer it’, and this is just one of those times. Obviously, our sages use the word as both Zachar and Nekeiva (male and female). As the Gemara puts its own response to similar problems, “Ika hachi ve’ika hachi”.
There’s a great Hebrew website on Daf Yomi here. In one forum thread, I found a discussion on this very point.
Nor is ‘Melach sedomis’ the only effete (womanlike) salt around. Tosefta Korbanos 10:2 –
ומלח קודמת לעצים
One more example of the female tense in Gemara, Berachos 34a –
תנו רבנן העובר לפני התיבה צריך לסרב ואם אינו מסרב דומה לתבשיל שאין בו מלח ואם מסרב יותר מדאי דומה לתבשיל שהקדיחתו מלח כיצד הוא עושה פעם ראשונה יסרב שניה מהבהב שלישית פושט את רגליו ויורד.
Translation: DafNotes:
The Gemora cites a braisa: If one is asked to lead the congregation (in the prayer service), he ought to refuse (as if to say that he is unworthy of the honor), and if he does not refuse, he resembles a cooked food without salt; but if he persists too much in refusing, he resembles a cooked food which is over-salted. What should he do? The first time (he is asked), he should refuse; the second time, he should bestir himself (preparing himself to rise); the third time, he should stretch out his legs and go down. The Gemora cites a braisa: There are three things of which too much of them are bad, while a little of them is good; namely, yeast, salt, and refusal.
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