Rebbi (Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi) offers a dramatically different reading of the three marital obligations listed in (Exodus 21:10). Where Rabbi Yoshiyah identified "she'eirah" as food and "onathah" as conjugal time, Rebbi reverses the assignments entirely.
For Rebbi, "she'eirah" means conjugal time, not food. His proof comes from (Leviticus 18:6): "A man, to all the she'er of his kin shall not draw near." The word "draw near" in this context is a well-known biblical euphemism for sexual relations. The entire chapter of Leviticus 18 deals with forbidden sexual relationships, and the word she'er appears repeatedly in that context. "She is the she'er of your father" (Leviticus 18:12). "She is the she'er of your mother" (Leviticus 18:13). In every instance, she'er refers to a physical, intimate relationship between bodies.
For "kesuthah," Rebbi agrees with Rabbi Yoshiyah. It means clothing, in its plain and obvious sense. No dispute there.
For "onathah," Rebbi assigns the meaning of food, the opposite of Rabbi Yoshiyah's reading. His proof comes from (Deuteronomy 8:3): "vayeanchah — and He caused you to hunger." The root anah here connects to hunger, deprivation of food. If the verb means "to cause hunger," then the noun "onathah" means "her sustenance," the thing that prevents hunger.
The debate between Rebbi and Rabbi Yoshiyah is not merely academic. The order in which the three obligations are listed, and which Hebrew word maps to which duty, affects how the law is understood and applied. Both readings agree that a husband owes his wife food, clothing, and conjugal rights. They disagree about which words of the Torah encode which obligation, a reminder that even undisputed laws can have disputed textual foundations.