Beruriah (fl. 2nd c.)

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Beruriah (fl. 2nd c.)

Woman of the Talmud renowned for her learning and valor. Lived in the 2nd century, during the revolt of Bar Kochba (132–135 ce); daughter of Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion; married Rabbi Meir.

Beruriah is known as the only woman of Talmudic literature whose views were seriously considered by scholars. Living during the revolt of Bar Kochba (132–135 ce), the Jews' final attempt to liberate themselves from Roman rule, she was a teacher in the academy, a highly unusual position for a woman. In her own time and thereafter, Beruriah was legendary, and the phrase "Rightly did Beruriah say …" precedes stories that tell of her wisdom and righteousness.

Beruriah's husband Rabbi Meir, perhaps due to his wife's great talents, maintained a more tolerant attitude toward women's participation in studies than other Rabbis, allowing their attendance at his lectures. Eruvim 53b tells us that Beruriah expressed her own view as to the rabbinic attitude toward her sex by subtly confronting the prejudice against women:

Rabbi Jose the Galilean was once on a journey when he met Beruriah.
"By what road," he asked her, "do we go to Lydda?"
"Foolish Galilean," she replied, "did not the sages say this: 'Engage not in much talk with women?' You should have asked: 'By which to Lydda?'"

The most famous story about Beruriah concerns the sudden deaths of her two sons on the Sabbath. In order to avoid disturbing her husband's Sabbath peace, she withholds this news in a gesture which has been seen as illustrative of her role as a good wife and of her realization that her emotional strength surpassed that of her husband. Following Havdalah, the ceremony which marks the Sabbath's close, she tells her husband (Midrash Proverbs 30, 10):

Some time ago I was entrusted by a friend with some jewels for safekeeping and now he wants them back. Shall I return them?
Of course, answered Rabbi Meir, the jewels must be returned.
Beruriah then took him to where their dead sons were lying. When he collapsed and cried, she gently reminded him: "Did you not say we must return to the owner the precious jewels he entrusted to us? The Lord has given the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

The legend of Beruriah's tragic death maintains that Rabbi Meir, in order to test his wife and prove that the prejudices against women were not without basis, secretly arranged for one of his pupils to seduce her. Beruriah, feeling herself tempted by the pupil, realizes her weakness and kills herself. Following the death of his wife, it is said that Rabbi Meir fled to Babylonia, brokenhearted.