החור השחור: אנטינומיות, שחרור, ותיאולוגיה של צרכים

This article wishes to problemetize the defecating body and point to the scandal inherent in that body, by focusing mainly on excretion related to the rectum (feces, flatulence). Contrary to the incessant (oppressive, liberating) discourse about sex, feces are denied, evicted from the language and the social sphere to the private, hidden and meaningless one. My argument is that it is precisely that fear of the body, that promise of the body, which the sexuality discourse systematically and persistently seeks to hide. I illustrate the theoretical argument through a careful reading of a single Talmudic text, where the breakthrough of the defecating body receives a particularly elegant and blatant expression, precisely within an ugly and fastidious discussion about the laws of cleaning the praying body from feces and filth. The discussion helps examine what new fields of discourse can arise from the refusal to divert the gaze from the shitting body and be captivated by the fundamental illusion implied by the great sexuality array.