Information AboutBruriah |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT BRURIAH | |
| roman era jews | |
| talmud people | |
| judaism and women | |
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Bruriah was very involved in the halachic discussions of her time, and even challenges her father on a matter of ritual purity (. In another instance, Rabbi Joshua praises her intervention in a debate between Rebbi Tarfon and the sages, saying "Bruriah has spoken correctly" ( Tosefta Keilim Bava Metzia 1:3). She was also renowned for her sharp wit and often caustic jibes. The Talmud (Tractate Eruvin 53b) relates that she once chastised Rabbi Jose , when he asked her "Which way to Lod ?" claiming that he could have said the same thing in two words, "Where's Lod?" instead of four, and thereby keep to the Talmudic injunction not to speak to women unnecessarily. Some commentators see this as an angry response to the rabbinical injunction itself, while a number of modern commentators put a cynical twist on it: although Rabbi Jose was in the presence of a scholarly woman, all he could bring himself to ask her was the way to Lod. In the tells that her two sons died suddenly on the Sabbath , but she hid the fact from her husband until she could tell him in a way that would comfort him. In response, Rabbi Meir quoted the verse, "A woman of valour, who can find?" (). In the Talmudic commentaries (Tractate Avodah Zarah ), a story explains how she died. According to the story, she mocked a Talmudic assertion that women were lightheaded. In order to prove her wrong, Rabbi Meir sent one of his students to seduce her. He succeeded, and Bruriah committed suicide out of shame. Rabbi Meir, who never expected things to spiral out of control in this way, imposed exile on himself and left Palestine for Babylonia . Despite her tragic death, Bruriah remains a subversive figure in the Talmud, a model for Jewish women of the future, and a reminder to men of the potential inherent in women. |
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