Talmud sur Le Cantique des Cantiques 1:8

She has no claim to wine since poor Jewish women do not drink wine²⁴⁹And the rules are written only for the poor; Tosephta 5:8; Babli 64b.. Do rich women drink? Did we not state: It happened that the Sages assigned to Martha bat Boethos²⁵⁰The paradigm of a rich widow; cf. Yebamot 6:4, Note 75. two se‘ah of wine every day. How can the court assign wine²⁵¹Let a woman drink wine in the absence of a husband. The Babli, 65a, approves of not more than one cup of wine per meal.? Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Ada said, because of “Whoring, wine, and cider will destroy the mind.²⁵²Hosea 4:11. It is inferred that drinking wine induces sexual desires.” But did we not state: ”If she was nursing, one reduces the amount of her work and increases her food”? Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said wine, for it increases the milk²⁵³The same statement is in the Babli, 65b.. Rebbi Ḥizqiah, Rebbi Abbahu in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: Also²⁵⁴The original scribe wrote אין which by the first corrector was changed into אף. One has to assume that the scribe intended אִין, Babylonian Aramaic “yes”; in a Yerushalmi text this is a corruption. they assigned it for cooking²⁵⁵If her food was cooked with wine there was no problem since cooking eliminates the alcohol.. Nevertheless, she cursed them and said to them, so you should give to your daughters. Rebbi Aḥa said, and we answered her, Amen²⁵⁶As confirmation.. Rebbi Eleazar ben Rebbi Ẓadoq said, I should not see consolation²⁵⁷Being part of an oath formula, the positive has a negative implication and vice versa. The implication is that the speaker would give up his share of paradise if what he says is not true. if I did not see her collecting barley grains between horses’ hooves at Acco. I quoted about her the verse: “The dainty one among you and the pampered, …²⁵⁸Deut. 28:56, the chapter of curses.” “If you have no experience, most beautiful of women, go following the flock …²⁵⁹Cant. 1:8. This verse has a positive interpretation in all Midrash sources.”. But did we not state²⁶⁰The reliability of the tradition about Martha bat Boethos is questioned since a parallel tradition is reported about another woman. But it seems that both traditions are one and that Martha (“the lady”) bat (“of the family of”) Boethos is Miryam bat Simeon ben Boethos, cf. Yebamot 6:4, Note 75; Josephus Antiquities xv. 320 ff. In the Babli, 65a and 66b/67a (for the second story, Tosephta 5:9–10), both stories refer to one person, the widowed daughter-in-law of one Nikodaimon ben Gorion waiting for her levir; in the second story (in an intended contrast to the Yerushalmi) it is emphasized that nobody said “amen”, (because the unhappiness of a childless widow cannot be compensated with money.): It happened that the Sages assigned to Miryam, the daughter of Simeon ben Gorion, a daily supply of perfume for 500 denar, when she was only waiting for her levir. Nevertheless, she cursed them and said to them, so you should give to your daughters. Rebbi Aḥa said, and we answered her, Amen. Rebbi Eleazar ben Rebbi Ẓadoq said, I should not see consolation if I did not see her bound with her hair to a horse’s tail at Acco. I quoted about her the verse: “The dainty one among you and the pampered, …”.

Set a plan for yourself to study Torah. How so? When Moses our teacher saw [that his children] were not learned enough (in Torah) to be able to rise to leadership after him, he wrapped himself up and arose to pray. He said before God: Master of the World! Let me know who should come in and go out as the head of this people, as it says (Numbers 27:15–17), “Moses spoke to the Eternal, saying, Let the Eternal, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who will go out before them and come in before them.” The Holy Blessed One replied to Moses: Moses, [take Joshua for yourself. Then the Holy Blessed One said to Moses]: Go and find a disseminator for him, and have him give a teaching at the head of the great men of Israel.¹The disseminator transmits the words of the teacher to the multitude. By being told to establish a disseminator, Moses was being asked to appoint Joshua in his lifetime as a teacher of the nation. Immediately, Moses said to Joshua: Joshua, these that I turn over to you are not goats but kids, (and not sheep) but lambs. For they still have not taken on the mitzvot. They still have not become fully grown goats, as it says (Song of Songs 1:8), “If you do not know, most beautiful of women, go out and follow the footsteps of the flock, and graze your kids by the shepherd’s dwellings.”

Once, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai was walking through the marketplace and he saw a young woman who was collecting barley from under the legs of the animals of the Arabs. He said to her: My daughter, who are you? She was quiet. He said again: My daughter, who are you? She was quiet. Then she said to him: Wait one moment. She wrapped herself with her hair and sat in front of him and said: Rabbi, I am the daughter of Nakdimon ben Gurion. He said to her: So my daughter, where is all your father’s money? She said: Rabbi, isn’t it like what they say in Jerusalem: One who wants to preserve his fortune must give some of it up. (Or, as some say, must be kind.) He said to her: And what about your father-in-law’s household? She replied: One lost the fortunes of the other. Then Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai said to his students: All my life, I have read this verse (from Song of Songs 1:8), “If you do not know, most beautiful of women, go out and follow the footsteps of the flock, and graze your kids by the shepherd’s dwellings.” But I did not understand [that there was a punishment in] it until what I saw today. Now I see that Israel will be punished by subjugation to a lowly nation [and not only to a lowly nation, but to the dung droppings of their animals]. Again she spoke to him and said: Rabbi, do you remember that you signed my marriage contract? He said: Yes. Then he said to his students: It is true that I signed this young woman’s marriage contract, which was worth a million golden Tyrian dinars. Her father’s family would not leave their house to enter the Temple unless a woolen rug was laid out for them.