Midrash su Deuteronomio 28:56

There was an incident involving Miriam bat Baitus, whom Yehoshua ben Gamla betrothed [to him], and the king appointed him to be the High Priest.¹⁷³He was appointed to this position because his wealthy wife paid an exorbitant sum to bribe the king to make the appointment. One time, she entered [the Temple] to observe, saying: ‘I will go and see him when he reads the Torah on Yom Kippur in the Temple.’ [Her servants] laid out carpets for her from the entrance of her house to the entrance of the Temple so that her feet would not become irritated. Nevertheless, her feet became irritated. When Yehoshua, her husband, died, the Sages alloted two se’a of wine each day for her.¹⁷⁴This was part of her allotment from her husband’s estate. But did we not learn: One does not apportion wine to a woman? Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said: [Because] it leads to licentiousness, just as it says: “Licentiousness, wine, and new wine will have captured the heart” (Hosea 4:11). Rabbi Yeḥizkiya and Rabbi Abahu said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: For her cooked dishes.¹⁷⁵It is permitted to allot wine for cooking, it is prohibited for drinking. They allotted this significant amount of wine daily for the cooked dishes of her household, which demonstrates her immense wealth. Moreover, we learned: If she was nursing, one diminishes her handiwork and adds to her sustenance. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: What does one add? Wine, because wine increases the milk.¹⁷⁶This is another reason it is permitted to allot wine to a woman, and may have been the reason Miriam bat Baitus was allotted wine. Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Tzadok said: I will see the consolation,¹⁷⁷This was an expression of an oath, short for ‘may I not see the consolation of Jerusalem if I did not see such-and-such.’ if I did not see that they tied her hair to the tails of Arabian horses, and they had them pull her from Jerusalem to Lod. I read in her regard: “The tender and delicate woman among you…” (Deuteronomy 28:56).

Martha, the daughter of Beithus, was of one of the richest families in Jerusalem. She sent a messenger with instructions to buy fine flour. Before he came it was sold out, so he came back and informed her that there was ordinary flour, but no fine flour. Whereupon she said to him: "Go and bri me the usual flour." When he came there he found that his also was sold. He said: "I saw dark flour in the market." She asked him to bring that, but before he came this, too, was sold. He informed her that the dark flour was there no more, but that there was a barley flour, and again it happened that this, too, was sold out before he arrived. She put her shoes on and said she herself would try to find something to eat. While walking in the street dirt infected her foot and it caused her death. R. Jochanan b. Zakkai then applied to her the following passage (Deut. 28, 56) The woman, the most tender among thee, etc. According to others, she ate the fig that was thrown away by K. Zadok, which caused her death, for R. Zadok fasted forty years that Jerusalem might not be destroyed, [and so emaciated was he] that when he ate something it would be seen going down his throat. At the end of a fast he would take a fig and suck its juice and throw it away. When she was dying she took all the gold and silver and threw it in the streets, saying: "What do I need this for?" By this action the following passage was fulfilled (Ez. 7, 19) Their silver shall they cast into the streets.