A Hasidic Rabbi Who Suggested Saying a Blessing Before Sex

Regarding sexual pleasure, there is an old question as to why one does not recite a blessing over it. R. Zvi Elimelech Shapira of Dinov stated that before sex one should make a shehakol on food or drink and include in this also the anticipated sexual pleasure. See his Magid Ta’alumah (Bnei Brak, 2006), to Berakhot 40a, 43a. Recognizing that people will find this suggestion quite strange, especially as no one before him ever had this idea, R. Zvi Elimelech adds:

כתבתי זה מסברתי והמשכיל לא ישליך דברי אחרי גיוו כי דברי טעם הם

Marc B. Shapiro, “The Pew Report and the Orthodox Community (and Other Assorted Comments), part 2”, The Seforim Blog (7 August 2014), n. 28 [http://seforim.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-pew-report-and-orthodox-community.html]