STAC*. ANSbX SOME RABBINICALLY LEARNED WOMEN. BT RKV. I. S. MEISELS. LONDON : "JEWISH Ml HoNK Li; ' OFFICE, 2, FINSBURY SQUARK, K.c. 1887. liGnctel .f " WOMEN. BT REV. I. S. MEISELS. LONDON : "JEWISH CHRONICLE" OFFICE, 2, FIXSBURY SQUARE, B.C. 1887. SOME RABBINICALLY LEARNED WOMEN, BY REV. I. S. MEISELS. With your kind permission, I will say just a few words by way of preface. It is a Paper and not a Lecture, that I am about to read. I wish it to be clearly understood that, if not for all, certainly for most of my " Babbinically learned Jewesses," as well as foi the facts and particulars connected with them, I am indebted to Dr. M. Kayserling's " Die Jiidischen Frauen, in der Geschichte, Literatnr und Kunst," ("Jewish Women in History, Literature, and Art.") As its name indicates, my Paper is only on "Some," and not on "all" Rabbinically learned Jewesses. I shall treat the subject under the three heads, or periods, into which it almost naturally divides itself ancient, mediaeval, and modern going no further, however, than the 18th century. ANCIENT TIMES. Of the women mentioned in the Talmud, the most famous is undoubtedly Bernria, daughter of Rabbi Chanina ben Tradjon, one of the ten Martyrs, and wife of Rabbi Meir, "the most original personality of his age." Her rare spirit trained in the literary discussions carried on in her father's house, and in learned conversation with the most distinguished Rabbis of her time further enlarged its sphere of knowledge in the profound and erudite dis- courses and disquisitions of her husband, distinguished as he was, for hia comprehensive scholarship, high culture, and eminent abilities. She applied herself to study with such indefatigable industry, that for several years, she committed to memory every day, three hundred judicial decisions. So rapid and surprising was her progress, so wide-spread her scholarly reputation, so rare her mental gifts and intellec- tual culture, that she was held in the highest esteem by the most eminent Rabbis of her time. In the all-important Halacha, that is even in the decision of mattera affecting the religious (ritual and ceremonial) practice of the Law, was her judgment listened to. Two instances are on record both of them in the Tosifta in which the palm is awarded to her in each case by a different, but equally eminent, Rabbi, as against some master of note. Both the passages are BO very remarkable, one might almost say unique, that I do not hesitate to read them in full. (Kelim, I., iv.) "An oven, having once been made unclean, when does it become clean again ? " Rabbi Chalephta, a resident of Kephar Chananja, said, "I asked Simon ben Chananja, and he asked the son of Rabbi Chananja ben Tradjon, who said, ' As soon as they have moved it from its place,' His (Rabbi Chananja ben Tradjon's) daughter (Beruria), however says, ' As soon as they have taken away its covering." When these words were men- tioned in the presence of Rabbi Jehuda ben Baba a teacher of very high authority indeed he said, ' Well said, Rabbi Chananja ben Tradjon's daughter.' " (Kelim II. i.)- li Claustra," a peculiarly-fashioned key, Rabbi Tarphon pronounces unclean, but the wise men declare it to be clean. Now Beruria says, ' One may, on the Sabbath, move it from one door, and hang it on the other.' When these words were mentioned in the presence of Rabbi Joshua (ben Chauanja) (Vice-President of the Synhedrin, under Rabban A 2 20973 j SOME RABBINICALLT LEARNED WOMEN. Gamaliel II , as well as President of the Court), he said, ' Well did Beruria say. Beruria, as her husband admiringly says of her, "always opened her mouth with wisdom" Her brother had joined a band of robbers, and, suspected of treachery, was slain by them, his murderers filling his mouth with stones and pebbles. Out of respect for his father (Rabbi Chanina ben Trad Jon) it was decided to inter his body with honours. After the father had, in theanguish of his soul, delivered over him the customary funeral sermon, Beruria ascended the platform, opening her dis- course with the words of King Solomon (Proverbs xx. 17), " Bread of deceit is eweetto a man. but afterwards shall his mouth be filled with gravel." of her knowledge notwithstanding, she preserved, whole and intact, the tenderness of feeling so peculiar to women, exercised DO sma'l influence on the character and disposition of her husband, and in all the relationsof life, gave proof of the nobility of mind and heart characteristic of her sex. She was the most loving of wives, as well as the fondest of mother?, as the following story abundantly testifies. On a Sabb ith afternoon Rabbi Meir. as was his custom, was holding a discourse in the Beth Hamidrash, when, at home, his two sons, both singularly handsome and gifted, fell into a well and were drowned. Beruria, desirous of sparing her husband the sudden shock of their terrible calamity, prepared him for it in the following manner. She carried the two bodies into their bed- room, and, laying them on the bed, covered them over with a white sheet. In the evening, on the conclusion of the Sabbath, Rabbi Meir came home, and according to his wont, inquired for his sons. " They are gone to the College," she replied. " I looked about for them often, but saw them not," answered he. She then brought him the cup of wine that he might pronounce the Habdala (the customary blessing at the termination of the Sabbath) over it. When this also had taken place, he again put to her the question, " Where are my sons 1 " " They are not far," replied she. He had his evening meal without in the least suspecting t^e terrible disclosures awaiting him. When he had finished, she went up to him and said ' Rabbi, I have a question to isk you." " What is it 1 " " Some time ago someone gave me a treasure to keep for him, and now he reclaims it. Shall I restore it to him 1 " " How can you yet ask or hesitate about it 1 Have you not yet done it 1 " " Yes, I have ; only I wished to apprise you of it," she replied, " not deeming it ad- visable to return it without your knowledge." Thereupon she took him into the bedchamber where her beloved sons were lying, and pulled off the clothes from thei corpses. At the sight, the horror-stricken father cried out, " My sons ! My sons ! The light of my eyes, the lamp of my spirit. I was your father, but you taught me the Torah." The mother turned away, and wept in silence. At last she took hold of his hand and said, "Did you not teach me that we must return to the owner the property entrusted to us 1 The Lord hath given them to us, and the Lord hath taken them from us. Ble-sedbe the name of the Lord." "Blessed be the name of the Lord." The Rabbi joined in loudly. He then recovered courage and was comforted. This touching and pathetic incident in the life of Beruria, which has long ago found a place in the poetry of different languages as a model of pious resignation, has added her name to those of the noble womanly figures of antiquity. Shakespeare has, in his own sublime language, given expression to similar entiments (Richard III., II. 2.) " In common worldly things 'tis call'd ungrateful, With dull unwillingness to repay a debt Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent ; Much more to be thus opposite with Heaven, For it requires the royal debt it lent you." Beruria had consideration and sympathy for sinners, as is shown by the following narrative : In her neighbourhood lived some insolent men " biryone " the Talmud call* them probably Jewish Christians, who continually annoyed " her SOME EABBINICALLT LEARNED WOMEN, husband. Tired of their incessant vexations, he one day, when in unusual anger, began to pray to God to take their lives ; when Beruria, hearing it, said to him, quoting at the same time Psalm civ. 36, '"Let the sinners ("sins," she took it to mean) be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. What think yon, because it says ' chattaim ' it is not sinners, but sins that are to be consumed. Let them be consumed, and then there will be no more wicked. Pray for the removal of sin, an1 sinners will vanish as a matter of course." And BO it was. For, as the Talmud says in conclusion, " He prayed for them, and they repented." " I have a brother is condemn'd to die : I do beseech you, let it be his fault, And not my brother." (Shakespeare, " Measure for Measure," II. 2). About 80 years before Beruria lived another learned woman, named Ima Salom a member of an honoured aud scholarly family in Jerusalem. Her father, R. Simon b. Gamaliel I. (the elder), was at the head of the High Council at Jerusalem, and had to atone with his life for his zeal for the national independence. Her 'brother R. Gamaliel II. the Patriarch called (after hia place of abode), Gamaliel of Jabne, or Jamnia, f>o as to distinguish him from his grandfather, filled during several decades, the high office of President of the Synhedrin. Her paternal aunt, (whose name however,' is not given,) was also clever and versed in the Law. When an Emperor, according to others, a Jew-Christian, once blasphemously said to her (the latter's) father (R. Gamaliel) that God had, in order to make a woman out of it, stolen the rib from Adam, she (the aunt) undertook the defence, which ehe thus conducted. "Last night," she said, "thieves broke into our house and stole a silver cup, leaving however a gold on in its place." "Such thieves," said the blasphemer, "one would wish to have every night." "Well then," she continued, "God took the rib from Adam, and in its stead, gave him, in his wife, a true partner for life." This narrative of the Talmud's, our esteemed Chairman has been good enough to point out to me, haa ben utilized by Disraeli in his ' Alroy." It will need no apology on my part, if I quote the passage in which it occurs, in full : (Pt. VI. Chap. IV.) " Eliezer," said Zimri, addressing himself to a young Rabbi, "it is written, that he took a rib from Adam when he was asleep. Is God then a robber ? " The young Rabbi looked puzzled, and cast his eyea on the ground. The congregation was very perplexed and a little alarmed. " Is there no answer ? " said Zimri. " Rabbi," said a stranger, a tall, swarthy African pilgrim, standing in a corner, and enveloped in a red mantle, over which a lamp threw a flickering light. " Rabbi, some robbers broke into my house last night, and stole an earthen pipkin, but they left a golden vase in its stead." "It is well said, it is well said " exclaimed the congregation. The applause was loud." Ima Salom's husband was Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrkauo*, also called " the Great," and Rabbi Eliezer alone), one of the most distinguished personages of the first century, son of a wealthy peasant, who, only in his twenty second year, exchanged the quiet life of the country and his father's house, for the school of the learned. With such industry, however, did he pursue his studies, that he opened a house of learning first at Lydda, and then at Caeserea, where hundreds of pupils gathered round him. In addition to the high good- breeding which obtained in the house of the patriarchal family, Ima Salom had also acquired a rare culture, and all that is known of her points to the fact that she had a knowledge, clear and full, of the Law. In her neighbourhood lived a philosopher, a judge of the Beet of Jewish Christ- ians, who had, somehow or other, but quite undeservedly, as will appear in the sequel, got himself a character and reputation for incorruptibleness. One day, and with the view of ridiculing him and exposing aud unmasking his hollow pre tensions, she took AS SOME RABBINICALLY LEARNED WOMEN. him a golden candlestick as a gift, observing, at the same time, that ehe wished to have a share given her in her deceased father's property. '' Divide it then." he Raid to her, " with your brother." "In our Law," however, she said to him, " it is written," " where there is a son, a daughter is not to inherit." " Oh," he said to her, " from the day that you have been exiled from your land, the Law of Moses has been taken away and another Law given in its scead, and therein it is written " a son and a daughter are to inherit alike together." Next day, Rabban Gamaliel brought him a Lybian ass, when the judge said to hiui "Look lower down in the book "(Matthew v. 17) where it is written " 1 have come neither to take away from, nor to add to, the Law of Moses," and there (in the Law of Moses) it is written, "Where there is a son, a daughter is not to inherit." Thereupon, Ima Salom said to him (the judge) " Thy light shines like a lamp" alluding, of course, to the present she had given him. " But," added R. Gamaliel, " the ass has come, overturned the lamp, and put out the light." Whatever the end of the matter in dispute between her and her brother, in regard to the sncces- eion, the relationship between them as brother and sister was, for a long time, inter- rupted, and for this reason. Her husband, R. Eliezer, insisting on the opinion he had arrived at, and believed to be correct, declined to submit to the ruling, opposed to his own view, of the constituted authority ; in this case, none other than his own brother in-law, Rabban Gamaliel, so that the latter, for the preservation of the peace in Israel, saw himself compelled most reluctantly, as may well be imagined to resort to the extreme rigour of the law, in the form of excommunication, against him. So strongly did she feel the wrong, as she conceived it, done to her husband, that she would henceforth not allow him to say the daily prayer of supplication (Tachanun) for fear that he might therein pray against her brother's conduct towards him. One day however, through some lack of watchful ness on her part, she found him saying it, and she at once exclaimed, " You have killed my brother." Presently, a messenger arrived with the news of his death. Asked by her husband, whence she knew of it beforehand, she replied " In my grandfather's house, I learnt that if all other gates of heaven are closed, those through which the prayers of the oppressed enter, ever remain open." Ima Salom lived to an old age in happiness and prosperity, and had children of rare beauty. By reason of her incisive, often pungent wit, as well as of her knowledge and liberal spirit, Yalta is one of the most interesting women of the Talmud. She was the daughter of Abba Mari (ben Abuha), Patiiarch of the Captivity, and wife of Rav Nachman b. Jacob, whom his father-in-law made superior judge and Principal of the College of Nehardea or Neerda. As such, she lived in grand style, was carried about in a sedan-chair, and exacted of the learned, who frequented her house, the homage due to a princess. Yet, she could when she liked, be extremely amiable, particularly to men of learning. When, for instance, Rav Amram, the saintly laughed at by her father's servants, because of his piety fell sick of grief, she herself made him a bath, which led to his recovery. " Every- thing," ehe once said to her husband, " which the Law has forbidden us, it has permitted us the like of "made us, that is, some amends, in allowing us Borne corresponding enjoyment. "If," she goes on to say, amongst other things, "it has forbidden us blood, it has permitted us the liver ; if we may not eat the fat of the cow, we may that of deer ; for swine's flesh, we have the head, or marrow, of the shibnta; for the unclean fowl guretha : (Lewysohn, ' Specht,' woodpecker), we have the tongue of the fish chawra. What equivalent could I have for flesh sodden in milk 1 " Then said Rav Nachman, to his cook, " give her roast breast." This passage ! the Talmud (Chulin, 109, b.) is, as is well-known, embodied in the " Silluk " of Sabbath Parshath Parah. Yalta had several daughters, all of them noted for their modesty and thrift. Rich in knowledge was Em, the nnrse of Abaji (Nachmani) ben Kailil, the principal of SOME RABBIXICALLY LEARXED WOMEN. the college at Pumbaditha (on the River Baditha), the metropolis of the Jewish exiles in Babylon. Her real name is not known. In the Talmud, she is called by no other than that of Em, "mother." She was a kind of thaumaturgical doctress. She knew many, partly dietetic, partly therapeutic, mostly however, sympathetic medicines, which her foster-son Abaji, always introduces in her name with the words "Em told me." She had remedies against swoon, melancholy, the sting of a scorpion, different fevers (which she cured by sudorific potions), asphyxia, shortness of breath, and plethora in infants. As a sovereign plaster, she recommended a mixture of suet, wax and resin, something like our ceratum simplex, and in diseases of the ear she used goats' kidneys. Highly interesting are her pedagogical and dietary rules : " A child should be allowed to develop a certain amount of independence, and should from its earliest youth be trained in the exercise of its own will. Boys should begin the study of the Bible at the age of six (at variance with the teaching of Rabbi Jehuda ben Tema in the Mishna, Ethics v. 24). She warns against eating dates on an empty stomach, recommends them however, as a tonic after breakfast. "Roasted fruit-grains," she once says, "do the heart good, and drive away cares." " And town-talk lasts no longer than a day and a half." MEDIEVAL TIMES. I now come to some rabbinically learned Jewesses of the Middle Ages. Belletta, the sister of Rabbi Isaac ben Menachem, a distinguished Talmudical authority in Orleans, who lived about the year 1050, was (as Graetz puts it), " a Talmudically learned woman." At his instance, she taught the women of her native town their religious duties. Hanna, sister of R. Jacob Tarn of Orleans, a Tosafist (in no wiee identical or to be confounded with his great namesake, R, Jacob Tarn, Raschi's grandson), slain in London, on the day of the coronation of King Richard I. (Sept. 3rd, 1189), taught her sisters in faith that the benediction at the lighting of the Sabbath candles a duty peculiarly devolving upon women should not be pronounced until after both candles had been lighted. In the family of Raschi (R. Solomon ben Isaac) the famous Commentator on the Bible and Talmud, there exists a whole circle of learned women. Rachel, (called Bellejeune), his daughter, wife of R. Eliezer, was, like her two sisters, highly educated. " So great was her Talmudical knowledge, that during her father's illness she read to him the Rabbinical questions that came to hand, and wrote down in Hebrew the answer he dictated to her." Miriam, his grand- daughter, daughter of Rabbi Jehuda ben Nathan (Rivan) and wife of Rabbenu Tarn, was so versed in Rabbinical lore, that religious questions having a culinary bearing were submitted to her decision, and she is referred to by later Rabbinical authorities as a thoroughly trustworthy guide in such matters. Anna, another of his granddaughters, daughter of Rabbi Meir ben Samuel of Rameru (his son- in-law), and sister, therefore, of Rabbenu Tarn, Raschbam and Rivam, taught, like Belletta, the Jewish women their religions duties. The mother of R. Mattathias ben Joseph Provenci, Chief Rabbi of France, and wife of R. Joseph ben Joohanan in Paris, was, as Zunz expresses it, " well-nigh a Lady Rabbinist." The learned R. Simon ben Zemach Duran in Algiers, author, amongst other works, of the " Taschbatz," mentions her very honourably, and agrees with her in the opinion that the master, in his instruction, should be brief and precise in expression, not, how- ever, the pupil, when patting a question. As the matter is of more than passing interest, I enter into it more fully. In the Gemara Pesachim, 3b., we read (according to the second, and, there- fore, accepted reading), as follows: " Two pupils, one of whom was Rabbi Jochanan, itting before Rabbi (R. Jehuda I., the Patriarch, compiler of the Mischnah), thus asked, the one (Rabbi Jochanan) said, ' Why must we not have clean (undefiled) vessels, when gathering olives, just as we must for grapes' ? The other (whose name 8 SOME EABBINICALLT LEARNED WOMEN. is not given) said, ' Why may we use unclean (defiled) vessels, when gathering olives, and not when gathering grapes' ? both, it will be seen, asking the same question, but differently worded. Then said Rabbi, " I am confident that the former (Rabbi Jochanan) will yet be a Public Teacher in Israel, and so it was, for he indeed became one." Now, in answer to the question, put by some one to the above named Rabbi S. Duran, " Why did Rabbi not approve rather of the query, as put by the other (anonymous) pupil, who expressed himself more briefly than Rabbi Jochanan, seeing that the Talmud itself, on the very same page too, says ' One should ever adopt the briefest method of imparting instruction to his pupil, as more likely to impress itself on his mind,'" he (Rabbi Simon, Duran) Bays thus : "Many are the answers given to this question, amongst others I give the following, which I heard from my honoured father (who mentioned it) in the name of the Lady Rabbinist, the mother of Rabbi Mattathias ben Joseph . It is this, Rabbi commends Rabbi Jochanan's way of putting his question, because though not as brief as the other pupil, he was yet more select in his language, using only the word " clean," and not at all, the word " unclean." Now, (it is still our Lady Rabbinist, who is speaking), the Talmudical recommendation to be brief applies only to the teacher, so that the learner should not be bewildered by a long speech. Whereas, when a pupil asks something of his master, it is always advisable that he should be choice in his expression, even at the risk of diffuseness, for the teacher's mind being comprehensive, there is no fear of his being confused by prolixity. And, adds the celebrated Rabbi, ' It is a good answer.' " In Rome lived Paula del Mansi, daughter of Abraham ben Joab, Hassopher (the scribe or writer), and wife of Jechiel ben Solomon, of the family of Anavim or Piatelli. Versed in the Hebrew language and in Rabbinical Literature, she assisted her father in his profession. In the year 1288 she copied two quartos, Com- mentaries on the Bible, so neatly and correctly, that the manuscript is even now, at this distance of time, worthy of admiration. Five years later, on Wednesday, Nissan 2nd, 5053 (March 1293), she finished, in just as beautifully executed a style, the two quartos (a strong copy), of the " Halachoth," of Rabbi Isaiah da Trani the elder, for her relative, Menachem ben Benjamin, a distinguished patron of learning. The daughter of Rabbi Samuel ben R. AH Halevi, in Bagdad " Rosch Golah," Head of the Exile, who traced his descent to the Prophet Samuel, was so learned in the Bible and Talmud, that she delivered lectures in public to young men. Like Olympia Fulvia, who taught publicly at Basle, and whose writings are also printed there, this scholarly woman, also called Bath Halevi, sat at her lectures in a kind of a box, having opaque panes of glass, so that the young men should not, through seeing her, have their attention distracted. A like caution was exercised, 100 years later, by Miriam Schapira, daughter of Rabbi Solomon Schapira, and sister of Perez of Constance, who subsequenty became the ancestress of the Loria family, so famous in Rabbinical literature. Thoroughly conversant with the Talmud and the Rabbinical writings, she was for many years the Principal of a College, at which very many students attended as her pupils. She too, sat during the lesson with a veil over her face A remarkable woman is Dolze, wife of a distinguished German scholar and cabbalist, Rabbi Eleazer ben Jehudah (Rokeach). of Worms. She knew all the laws concerning forbidden meats, taught women the order of divine service, as well as the synagogal songs, and delivered on Sabbaths discourses in public. She was very pious, and as =mch never omitted to get ready in the House of God the lights for Sabbath and holy days. She stood all day Yom Kippurand would on no account ait down for one moment even. She supported her family (husband and children), was extraordinarily charitable, and withal so gentle in spirit that in a dirge, begin- SOME RABBINICALLY LEARNED JTOXEX. 9 ning with Prorerbs zzzi. 10, (" Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price is far above rabies,") composed in her memory her husband declares that never during the whole of their married life was he pained through or by her. This woman suffered martyrdom. Together with her two daughters (Bellette and Anne),lher son, and her husband's pupils engaged in study, she was slain, under circumstances of horri- ble cruelty, by two knights of Malta, on December 6th, 1213 or 1214, in Erfurt. A woman named Lea, versed in Rabbinical lore, sent (about the year 1400), in writing, a learnei question to the then Rabbi of Mayence, Rabbi Jacob ben Moses Moln Halevi, commonly called Maharil (after the initial letters of his name). Though by no means favourable to learned women, he yet, out of respect for her learned father, answered her in full. About this time there were, according to the testimony of the just named Rabbi of Mayence, many women in South Ger- many who were thoroughly faaiiliar with all the Rabbinical laws concerning their sex, and more at home in rabbinics than many men of the period. Of these were, amongst others, his own sister (whose teacher was the sister of acertain Rabbi Simcha) and Fromet,the daughter of Rabbi Issachar Ahrweiler, one of his own correspondents. She (the latter) copied in 1430 with her own hand, for her husband, Ribbi Samuel ben Moses, the rabbinical work, to this day unprinted, Mordecai Hakkatton (" the little Mordecai "), or Kitaur Mordecai (" the abridged Mordecai "), written by Rabbi Samuel ben Aaron Schlettetadt, of Strasbourg. This very correct copy is preserved in the French National Library in Paris. Hendel (Hendlin) Cohen, the widow of Paltiel Cohen of Breslau, or Schweidnitz corresponded, in a matter of succession, with Rabbi Israel Isserlein ben Petachja (Krems), Rabbi of Marpurg, the highest rabbinical authority of the period, author of " Trumath Haddeschen." So deeply impressed was he with her learned answer, that, in his second letter he addresses her with the Biblical passage (first used in Judges v. 24 by Deborah), "Be blessed amongst the women in the tent." To this same woman we presume it was, that Schondel, the wife of the just- named Rabbi I^serlein, wrote a German letter, conveying to her a rabbinical decision of her husband's. Dinah Wahl, usually called " the great woman," is celebrated for h