DANIEL SCHIFF

Though there is some suggestion that the female"seed" mentioned could refer to ovulation, it seems far more likely that orgasm is intended. Thus the Talmudic exhortation here is that if the man will delay his orgasm so that his wife's orgasm may precede his, male children will follow.® R. Kattina- according to the Talmud 's report- apparently utilized this technique of self-restraint with great success. Immediately after this section, the Talmud quotes Rava's recommendation that"he who desires all his children to be males should cohabit twice in succession." Rashi 's observation that when intercourse is repeated the woman will definitely "emit seed first," probably alludes to the post-coital delay for most men to achieve orgasm a second time. Moreover, just as Rashi 's comment here is experimentally verifiable, so the advice of this important Talmudic passage indeed possesses contemporary scientific validity. Dr. Fred Rosner comments,"We know that orgasm increases the flow of alkaline secretions, which would also enhance the activity of the male-producing sperm."

Nevertheless, as befits the rabbinic world-view, Talmudic prescriptions for sex preselection techniques are clearly based far more in the discoveries of textual exegesis than in those of pure science. The rabbis must have been aware from experience that while their proposals would have worked well hermeneutically, they surely met with mixed results when actually put to the test. What is striking, however, is that there seems to be no vocal opposition on the part of the rabbis to the conceptual notion of intervening to affect the sex of offspring. We can only speculate as to whether the rabbis' apparent comfort in this area stems from an acknowledgement that their enthusiastic advice would do little harm to God 's plans, since their guidance- though certainly symbolically significant - could scarcely be depended upon consistently to produce the chosen outcome.

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