Rav Chiya bar Ashi and His Disguised Wife

Shortly after that story, the Gemara relates the story of Rebbe Chiya bar Ashi. Rebbe Chiya bar Ashi used to pray every day: “May Hashem save me from the yetzer ha’ra!” When his wife overheard him, she thought, “He is old already; why does he need to pray about this?” She adorned herself and disguised herself as a woman of ill repute. While Rebbe Chiya was learning in the garden, she walked back and forth in front of him. When Rebbe Chiya inquired who she was, she told him that she was a certain well-known woman. He asked her to sin with him. She said, “First fetch me that fruit on the top of the tree.” After he complied, they “sinned” together.

When Rebbe Chiya bar Ashi came home, he was so distraught that he had succumbed to temptation that he jumped into the oven that his wife was lighting. When his wife asked him what was upsetting him so, he told her what happened. She then told him not to worry because the woman with whom he had “sinned” was in fact his own wife! At first he didn’t believe her, but then she provided details proving her tale was true.

Rebbe Chiya was somewhat mollified that he did not commit an actual sin. Yet he was pained greatly because at the time he thought that he was sinning. He compared it to an individual who intended to eat pork but ended up eating kosher beef. That individual is still required to repent. Rebbe Chiya spent the rest of his life fasting until the anguish from his “sin” led to his untimely demise.