אבות א, ה - להרבות שיחה עם האישה

(5) Yose ben Yochanan (a of Jerusalem used to say:Let thy house be wide open, and let the poor be members of thy household. Engage not in too much conversation with women. They said this with regard to one’s own wife, how much more [does the rule apply] with regard to another man’s wife. From here the Sages said: as long as a man engages in too much conversation with women, he causes evil to himself, he neglects the study of the Torah, and in the end he will inherit gehinnom.

(3) They so stated with his wife: Since he said "with the woman" and did not say "with a woman," we learn that they so stated concerning his wife. Some explain, "With his menstruating wife only, so that he should not come to be accustomed to transgression." But from the words of the Mishnah, it appears that [this applies] even when his wife is ritually pure. So too have our sages, may their memory be blessed, stated, "[God] tells a man what his conversation is, even light conversation between a man and his wife is told to him at the time of judgment," unless he needs to appease her for the sake of the commandment, such as Rav, who conversed and jested and fulfilled his needs (Hag. 5b).

(3) They so stated with his wife: It is known that the majority of talk with women is about matters of sex. Because of this, he said that increasing conversation with them is forbidden, since he "causes evil to himself." He means to say that he acquires lowly traits for his soul, and that is the abundance of desire.

(10) There came out among the Israelites one whose mother was Israelite and whose father was Egyptian. And a fight broke out in the camp between that half-Israelite and a certain Israelite. (11) The son of the Israelite woman pronounced the Name in blasphemy, and he was brought to Moses—now his mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan— (12) and he was placed in custody, until the decision of the LORD should be made clear to them.

(3) שלמית (connected with שלום “peace”) — she was so called because she was always babbling: “Peace be with thee”, “peace be with thee”, “peace be with you” — she used to continually babble with many words (she was a בת דברי) — she enquired after the health of everybody (Leviticus Rabbah 32 5). (4) בת דברי (from the root דבר “to speak”) — she was talkative — talking with any man, and in consequence of this she got into trouble.

(2) Observe that when the Holy One, blessed be He, was about to fashion Eve, He gave considerable thought to the parts of Adam’s body out of which He would create her. He said: If I create her out of a portion of his head, she will be haughty; if I fashion her from his eyes, she will be inquisitive; if I mold her out of his mouth, she will babble; from the ear, she will be an eavesdropper; from the hands, she will steal; and from the feet, she will be a gadabout. What did He do? He fashioned her out of one of Adam’s ribs, a chaste portion of the body, so that she would stay modestly at home, as it is said: And the rib which the Lord had taken (Gen. 2:22). Nevertheless, women do not lack any of these failings.

Having discussed wise speech and the wisdom of Jewish women, the Gemara cites the following story: Rabbi Yosei HaGelili was walking along the way, and met Berurya. He said to her: On which path shall we walk in order to get to Lod? She said to him: Foolish Galilean, didn’t the Sages say: Do not talk much with women? You should have said your question more succinctly: Which way to Lod?