Avodah Zarah, Daf Yod Het, Part 3
Introduction
The Talmudic tale continues with the stories of Beruriah and her sister, the daughters of the martyred R. Hanina b. Teradion.
ברוריא דביתהו דר’ מאיר ברתיה דר’ חנינא בן תרדיון הואי
אמרה לו זילא בי מלתא דיתבא אחתאי בקובה של זונות
שקל תרקבא דדינרי ואזל אמר אי לא איתעביד בה איסורא מיתעביד ניסא אי עבדה איסורא לא איתעביד לה ניסא
Beruria, the wife of R. Meir, was the daughter of R. Hanina b. Teradion. She said [to her husband], I am ashamed to have my sister sitting in a brothel.
So he took a tarkav full of denarii and set out.
He said to himself, If any sin has not been committed with her, a miracle will happen for her, but if a sin has been performed with her, no miracle will happen for her.
Beruria, R. Hanina s daughter, sends R. Meir, her husband, out to rescue her sister from the brothel. R. Meir assumes that a miracle would be wrought for R. Hanina s daughter only if no man has violated her in the brothel. R. Meir comes across here as blaming the innocent victim. I m not convinced the story teller has much sympathy for him.
אזל נקט נפשיה כחד פרשא.
אמר לה השמיעני לי. אמרה ליה דשתנא אנא
אמר לה מתרחנא מרתח
אמרה לו נפישין טובא (ואיכא טובא הכא) דשפירן מינאי
אמר ש"מ לא עבדה איסורא כל דאתי אמרה ליה הכי
He went and disguised himself as a cavalryman.
He came to her and said, Prepare for me.
She replied, I am menstruating.
He said back, I will wait for you.
She replied, But there are many here that are prettier than I am.
He said to himself, that proves that she has not committed any wrong, for she says that to all who come.
Disguised as a cavalryman, R. Meir determines that she has been refusing all men who come to have sex with her. This, in his eyes, justifies his coming attempt to rescue her.
אזל לגבי שומר דידה
א"ל הבה ניהלה
אמר ליה מיסתפינא ממלכותא
אמר ליה שקול תרקבא דדינרא פלגא פלח ופלגא להוי לך
א"ל וכי שלמי מאי איעביד
א"ל אימא אלהא דמאיר ענני ומתצלת
ומי יימר דהכי איכא?
[א"ל השתא חזית]
הוו הנהו כלבי דהוו קא אכלי אינשי שקל קלא שדא בהו הוו קאתו למיכליה אמר אלהא דמאיר ענני שבקוה ויהבה ליה
He then went to her jailer and said, Hand her over to me.
He replied, I am afraid of the government.
He said, Take the tarkav of dinars. One half give to the government [as a bribe], the other half take for yourself.
And what shall I do when these dinars run out? he asked.
He replied, Say, O God of Meir, answer me! and you will be saved.
But who can assure me that this will work?
He replied, You will see now.
There were there some dogs who would bite everyone. He took a stone and threw it at them, and when they were about to bite him he exclaimed, O God of Meir answer me! and they let him alone. The warder then handed her over to him.
R. Meir bribes the reluctant jailer, who after seeing the miracles that R. Meir can work, hands Beruriah s sister over to him.
לסוף אשתמע מילתא בי מלכא
אתיוה אסקוה לזקיפה אמר אלהא דמאיר ענני אחתוה אמרו ליה מאי האי אמר להו הכי הוה מעשה אתו חקקו לדמותיה דר’ מאיר אפיתחא דרומי אמרי כל דחזי לפרצופא הדין לייתיה
At the end, the matter became known to the government. And they brought [the jailer] to hang him up on the gallows. He exclaimed, O God of Meir answer me. They took him down and asked him what that meant, and he told them the incident that had happened. They then engraved R. Meir’s likeness on the gates of Rome and proclaimed that anyone seeing a person resembling it should bring him there.
R. Meir s saying saves the jailer, but now makes R. Meir into the most wanted man in Rome.
יומא חדא חזיוהי
רהט אבתריה רהט מקמייהו
על לבי זונות
איכא דאמרי בשולי עובדי כוכבים חזא טמש בהא ומתק בהא
איכא דאמרי אתא אליהו אדמי להו כזונה כרכתיה
אמרי חס ושלום אי ר’ מאיר הוה לא הוה עביד הכי
קם ערק אתא לבבל
איכא דאמרי מהאי מעשה
ואיכא דאמרי ממעשה דברוריא:
One day [some Romans] saw him and ran after him, so he ran away from them and entered a brothel.
Others say he happened just then to see food cooked by heathens and he dipped in one finger and then sucked the other.
Others say that Elijah the Prophet appeared to them as a prostitute and embraced him.
They said, Heaven forbid, were this R. Meir, he would not have acted thus!
He then arose and ran away and came to Babylon.
Some say it was because of that incident that he ran to Babylonia; others say because of the incident about Beruria.
Some Romans see R. Meir and in order to convince them that he is not R. Meir, he acts in a way that R. Meir would not act. He either enters a brothel, pretends to eat forbidden food, or Elijah disguised as a prostitute embraces him. This works and the Romans let him go.
Nevertheless, R. Meir still runs away to Babylonia. There are two suggestions as to why he runs away. The first is due to the incident described above. The second is due to the incident about Beruria. This is not explained anywhere in the Talmud. Rashi adds the following legend. Beruriah made light of the Talmudic assertion that women are "light-minded. To vindicate the Talmudic maxim, Rabbi Meir sent one of his students to seduce her. Though she initially resisted the student’s advances, she eventually acceded to them. When she realized what she had done she committed suicide out of shame.
I should emphasize that this legend is not in the Talmud itself; it is found only in the commentary of Rashi. It is likely that someone (I do not imagine Rashi himself) made this up as a mirror image of Beruriah s sister. Beruriah is known elsewhere for being learned in matters of Torah. Someone may have invented this text as a way of deterring women from studying Torah. Such study, in the eyes of the author of the legend, will lead to women taking Talmudic learning lightly, for the tradition itself deprecates women. This will eventually lead them to become sexually licentious. Whereas Beruriah s sister, who does not seem to be learned, cannot be seduced, Beruriah, the learned one, is seduced. Whereas Beruriah s sister escapes both shame and death, Beruriah is shamed and as a result takes her own life. Note that this is not a case of martyrdom the martyr does not take his own life.
The tale has strong misogynist tones and probably was composed by a man who wanted to offer women a cautionary tale do not become learned like Beruriah.