Imma Shalom on Modesty in Sex

Imma Shalom was asked, “For what [reason] are your children so beautiful?” She said to them, “[My husband] does not converse with me [while engaging in sexual intercourse], 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 engaging in sexual intercourse], he reveals a handbreadth [of my body] and covers a handbreadth, and [he covers himself up] as though he were being coerced by a demon.

“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 sexual intercourse with his wife,] his children consequently come [close] to [receiving] a mamzer¹ status.