Ohr Layesharim: Intimacy

The 5th of Iyar is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Moshe Zorach Eidelitz of Prague, author of Ohr La’yeshorim, Berurei Hamiddos, and Meleches Machsheves, and Ohr LaYeshraim (1780). Orphaned as a  youth and raised by Rav Yonasan Eibeshutz, Rav Zorach grew to become a dayan and darshan in Prague.

Just as one must be fluent in the laws of Niddah, so, too, one must be fluent in the laws of Onah (laws regulating performing marital intimacy.) There is nothing blemished, shameful or ugly, God forbid- there is only holiness and purity, when intimacy is performed properly”. There are laws that govern the pleasure that must be provided to one’s wife, for example, when one is “intimate with her, his intent should not be on his own pleasure, but rather, he should be as one honoring an obligation to another”