FROM THE 
 
 BENNO LOEWY LIBRARY 
 
 COLLECTED BY 
 
 BENNO LOEWY 
 
 1854-1919 
 
 BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 
^^ Cornell University Library 
 
 DS 115.Z81 1892 
 
 Some Jewish women, 
 
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\<^y 
 
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 the Cornell University Library. 
 
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Some Jewish Women 
 
 BY 
 
 Henry Zirndorf. 
 
 Translated from the German. 
 
 THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA. 
 
 1892. 
 
 :!>o 
 
Copyright, 1892. 
 By the Jewish Publication Society of America. 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 Kdward Stern & Co. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
TO THE MEMORY 
 
 OF MY DAUGHTER, 
 
 EMILIE ESTHER ZIRNDORF, 
 
 WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE IN 
 
 DETROIT, APRIL 23, 1882, 
 
 These Sketches of Notable Womanhood 
 are inscribed in undying ; 
 tenderness. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 7t\hen, sometime ago, I undertook to 
 
 ^^^ present an historic delineation of 
 the women of Judaism, I was led to think 
 that it would be better to adopt a method 
 of treatment different from that of previous 
 writers on the subject. After some hesita- 
 tion, therefore, I concluded to arrange my 
 material in the form of a series of biogra- 
 phies, this arrangement being best adapted 
 for emphasizing alike both the bright 
 and dark sides of the lives to be pre- 
 sented. 
 
 Mankind, in general, seems to show itself 
 in the most favorable light when sustained, 
 in suffering, by some degree of intellectual 
 power; and to this rule woman forms no 
 exception. The Talmudic period, however, 
 so far as concerns women, is, perhaps, the 
 richest within the entire domain of history. 
 In this epoch, with its great Hadrianic per- 
 secution and the several lesser ones, in this 
 
 (v) 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 age of a nation's sorrow and of harsh reality, 
 the enamored maiden and the matron, the 
 simple housewife and the spoiled, peevish 
 sultana of the middle classes, the modest 
 helpmeet, and the heroic sufferer, all stand 
 out as prominently as one could wish for 
 the purpose of description; while all the 
 needful humor is supplied by the shrew and 
 the Xanthippe. 
 
 The Talmud ic group of women provides, 
 if not a greater at least as great, a wealth 
 of material as the Biblical, For, in lieu of 
 the prophetesses, the Talmud gives us 
 women of true prophetic insight and of 
 mental greatness ; as, for example, the wise 
 Beruria, Akiba's wife, Rabbi Ishmaers 
 mother, and others. Yet the style employed 
 by the Talmud in writing history is often 
 obscure and difficult, and Talmudic litera- 
 ture, as a primary source, presents obstacles 
 for the literary worker which only the most 
 patient care can overcome. Any presenta- 
 tion of such a subject, must, above all, aim 
 at completeness, and it is often necessary to 
 fill out the groundwork of the picture by 
 
Preface. vii 
 
 drawing on our general knowledge of the par- 
 ticular time and localities treated. Neither 
 the smallest note nor the slightest variation 
 in the text must be passed over as unessen- 
 tial. 
 
 When, accordingly, I received the flatter- 
 ing invitation to issue, in an English transla- 
 tion, some of my sketches of Jewish women 
 contributed to The Deborah,'^ I was easily 
 persuaded, for the reasons already given, to 
 take up the Talmudic period and the closely 
 related epochs. 
 
 The reader will readily perceive that here, 
 as in other periods of history, the material 
 is not evenly distributed. There are times 
 so full of strife and human distress, that 
 woman and the domestic world are hardly 
 mentioned at all. Foremost among these 
 are the early Maccabean wars, during which 
 period there is seldom any reference to 
 women. From the apocryphal Scriptures I 
 could gather only enough material for the 
 sketches of Judith and the Mother of the 
 
 * A weekly journal published in Cincinnati. 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 Seven Martyrs, and both of these belong to 
 legend rather than to history. 
 
 In the succeeding period — the Graeco- 
 Roman — the conditions are more favorable. 
 Salome Alexandra, Mariamne, and Berenice 
 are characters whose good and bad quali- 
 ties alike might justly engage the pen 
 of a Plutarch. I have not, of course, 
 presumed to undertake so diflficult a task. 
 Although I have not shirked critical inves- 
 tigation and careful research, I shall be 
 amply content with the assurance of having 
 gathered available material for a future his- 
 tory of women. 
 
 I may say, in conclusion, that it is my 
 intention, at some future day, to add to this 
 collection the portraits of the women of 
 the time of the Gaonim and of the Middle 
 Ages. 
 
 The Author. 
 
 Cincinnati, October^ i8g2. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface, . . v 
 
 From the Apocrypha : 
 
 J^<iitli, 5 
 
 The Mother of the Seven Martyrs, 15 
 
 The Gr^co-Roman Period : 
 
 Queen Salome Alexandra, 27 
 
 Mariamne, the Hasmonean, 55 
 
 Helena, Queen and Proselyte, 83 
 
 Berenice, 106 
 
 The Talmudic Age : 
 
 Martha, Daughter of Boethus, 121 
 
 Ima Shalom, 139 
 
 Rachel, Rabbi Akiba^s Wife, 152 
 
 Beruria, 162 
 
 Rabbi Meir's Pupil, 174 
 
 Rabbi IshmaePs Mother, 184 
 
 Rabbi Judah's Maid-Servant, 193 
 
 The Married Couple of Sidon. (An Apologue), . 205 
 
 A Group of Xanthippes, 215 
 
 Jalta, 223 
 
 Abaji's Foster-Mother, 233 
 
 The Two Chomas, 243 
 
 Weasel and Well as Witnesses, 253 
 
 Conclusion, 268 
 
 A 
 
FROM 
 
 THE APOCRYPHA. 
 
L 
 
 JUDITH. 
 
 I^CToT long after the return of the Jews 
 -L ^ from the Babylonian exile, Nebuchad- 
 nezzar — who, strangely enough, is assumed 
 in the book of Judith to be still living,* and 
 appears there by way of variety, as king of ' 
 Assyria,! instead of king of Babylonia — is 
 reported to have despatched his general 
 Holof ernes to the western and southern 
 parts of Upper Asia, to subdue several of 
 the nations that began to waver in their 
 loyalty. On this expedition the Ass)rrian 
 
 * He died in 561 B.C. Of the Israelites it is said: 
 "For they had but newly (z. e., in 536) marched up out of 
 the captivity.*' Judith, IV, 3. This completely sub- 
 verts chronology. ' 
 
 t This designation cannot be allowed even as a mere 
 title ; for when Assyria (606) fell a prey to the allied 
 powers of Media and Babylonia, it was the former state 
 that took the main province, Assyria proper, as its share. 
 G. Rawlinson, The Seven Great Monarchies^ II. 239. 
 
 (5) 
 
6 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 army came into the vicinity of Bethulia or 
 Betliylua, a strong fortification in northern 
 Palestine, which neither history nor geog- 
 raphy has been able to locate up to the 
 present time. Irritated by the vigilance of 
 the Judeans, who were equipped for defence, 
 Holofernes prepared, by closely inves,ting it 
 and cutting off the supply of water, to 
 compel the city to surrender. While the 
 elders were considering the advisability of 
 submitting to the barbarous victor, a valiant 
 woman, on the other hand, was revolving 
 the design of freeing her fellow-citizens 
 from the impending horrors of war. 
 
 It was Judith, a beautiful widow of rank. 
 Ever since her husband's death she had been 
 leading a life of austerity, even imposing 
 upon herself prolonged fasts ; but, moved by 
 the general distress, she now emerged with 
 manly daring from her seclusion. 
 
 For the first time in three years she laid 
 aside the dark veil of mourning, bathed and 
 anointed herself with the fragrant spices of 
 the East, arranged her hair in neat braids 
 beneath her becoming head-band, and 
 
Judith, 7 
 
 wrapped her charming form once again in 
 gay, magnificent robes, so long neglected. 
 Her adornment was in every way complete ; 
 the sandals on her feet, her bracelets, the 
 clasps on her shoulders, her ear-rings, rings, 
 and many other ornaments, all shone 
 brightly, as in the happy days when Menas- 
 seh, her beloved husband, was yet alive. 
 
 " She made herself very beautiful to en- 
 snare the eyes of men." X, 4. 
 
 After these preparations and one of those 
 long and fervent prayers, in which apocry- 
 phal literature abounds, Menasseh's charm- 
 ing widow, attended by her maid, left the 
 city and turned her steps directly to Holo- 
 fernes' tent in the Assyrian camp. The 
 general's pride was flattered by her wily 
 words, while her whole appearance capti- 
 vated his senses. At night, in his tent, she 
 lulled him into a deep slumber with brim- 
 ming goblets of wine. Then, with his own 
 sword, she cut off his head and carried it 
 back with her, as a bloody trophy, to the 
 city. The Assyrians, deprived of their com- 
 mander, were seized with a panic and fled. 
 
8 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 just as the hordes of Sennacherib did on a 
 former occasion; and thus the city of Beth- 
 ulia was delivered from all fear of the enemy. 
 
 This picture, by no means well conceived, 
 gives evidence neither of wealth of imagi- 
 nation nor refinement of taste; nevertheless 
 it is of interest for our collection of female 
 portraits, in so far as it shows what the 
 poetry of that age, influenced as it was by 
 current opinion, regarded as the possible 
 attributes of a patriotic woman. And we 
 are at once impressed with the fact that we 
 are dealing with a period of great excite- 
 ment, which permitted love of country to 
 manifest itself only in wild excesses, sub- 
 verted all morality and sense of right, and 
 stripped even female nature of its noblest 
 characteristics. 
 
 "Its [the whole book's] moral principle,*' 
 very aptly says Dr. Wise, " eulogizing an 
 assassin, is low, and points to a time of 
 hostility and fanaticism.*'* 
 
 * I. M. wise, History of the Hebrews' Second Common- 
 wealthy p. 128. 
 
Judiths 9 
 
 There is but one period in all the history 
 of Judaism, in which there was the con- 
 currence of circumstances necessary to bring 
 about this state of feeling. I have reference 
 to the time of the struggle against Anti- 
 ochus Epiphanes. Hence Hugo Grotius 
 was right when he assigned the composition 
 of the book of Judith to the period of the 
 Syrian disturbances, and made the ethical- 
 religious principle of strengthening the 
 Israelites in their hope of victory its under- 
 lying basis.* But it is a pity that Grotius 
 weakened his hypothesis by an extremely 
 finespun allegory. Judith is said to repre- 
 sent the Jewish nation, Bethulia the Temple 
 of Jerusalem, Assyria the arrogance of the 
 enemy, Nebuchadnezzar is Satan, and to 
 Holofernes is awarded the distinction of 
 being i^nj "isbn, u e,, the beadle of the serpent 
 or demon, and in this form represents the 
 hated Antiochus. Now there is in Chaldaic 
 an expression nai^, meaning catch-poll, bea- 
 
 * Ut Judcei spe divince liberationis confirtnarentur, 
 Commentar. ad Judith. 
 
lO Some Jewish Women, 
 
 dle,^ but nothing can be done with the n 
 which occurs in the word, and indeed the 
 whole designation is both an anachronism 
 and un-Jewish. 
 
 Moreover, the explanation is not so far to 
 seek, and there is no need to resort to such 
 allegorical ingenuities. During the perse- 
 cution under Antiochus, it must not be 
 forgotten, Jewish patriots ran great risks in 
 candidly avowing their opinions concerning 
 the severe oppression which Israel endured. 
 It had to be done sub rosa^ that is, in the 
 guise of poetry; and doubtless it was at 
 this time that some enthusiastic Chasid 
 gave the story of Judith to the nation. 
 His object was unmistakable; this was his 
 way of exclaiming to his co-religionists: 
 *' Behold ! a weak woman is not incapable 
 of such a deed ! Will you men shrink from 
 the attempt ? Will you suffer yourselves to 
 be butchered unresistingly by the Syrians, to 
 be betrayed by the Hellenists in your midst ?" 
 
 * Genes. Rabba, 6i ; Levy, Neuhebr. und Chalddisch. 
 Worterbuch^ II, 490. 
 
Judith. 1 1 
 
 The author of this fiction, as already ob- 
 served, was no genius at poetical inven- 
 tion. Two of the principal features of the 
 production are mere reminiscences from the 
 earlier Scriptures. The slaying of a sleeping 
 man is a repetition of the act of Jael,* and 
 the flight of the Assyrian army is a some- 
 what more elaborated copy of the flight of 
 Sennacherib and his host.f It is only in his 
 constant emphasis of Chasidaic rigor, in his 
 preference for mortifications of the flesh, 
 abstinence, fasting, long prayers and similar 
 asceticism, that the unknown author has 
 shown some originality. Of the three hun- 
 dred and forty verses of the little book I 
 have counted exactly ninety-one, including 
 the prayers, which advocate a truly fanati- 
 cal abstinence and which could have been 
 written only by a Chasid of that agitated 
 epoch. This peculiarity, to which critics 
 have hitherto paid no attention, is, however, 
 
 * Judges, IV, 21. 
 
 t 2 Kings, XrX, 35 ; Isaiah, XXXVII, 36 ; 2 Chron- 
 icles, XXXII, 21. 
 
12 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 not unimportant for a proper estimate of 
 the little epic. Above all, the date of com- 
 position can thus be fixed with precision. 
 The legend of Judith owes its origin, as 
 already indicated, to the years of strife and 
 suffering from 170 to 166. 
 
 If we ask whether the Chasid poet suc- 
 ceeded in arousing the Jewish spirit, as he 
 intended, history answers with a significant 
 No. Besides, the native sense of truth, 
 characteristic of the Jewish mind, demands 
 even of poetry a larger measure of reality. 
 It is on this account that the Jewish con- 
 sciousness has always turned with a sort of 
 repugnance from the story of Judith ; for it 
 contains hardly a word of truth. Josephus 
 knows nothing of the book of Judith, or 
 perhaps pretends to know nothing; the 
 Talmud has no knowledge of it, and two 
 Midrashic' adaptations, which Jellinek has 
 incorporated into his Beth-Hamidrash,^ mani- 
 festly belong to a rather late period. The 
 very name Judith was only used in a later 
 
 * Books I and II. 
 
Judith, 13 
 
 age in naming girls, being scarcely ever 
 employed in the earlier rabbinical centuries. 
 
 All the more kind, on the other hand, was 
 the reception accorded the book of Judith 
 by the Christian church. Clemens of Rome, 
 one of the earliest Fathers of the Church, — 
 he died in the year 100 — mentions the work; 
 Jerome made a thorough study of it ; and 
 the Council of Trent, at its fourth session, 
 went to the extent of awarding it the full 
 honors of canonicity. 
 
 As to the heroine of this apocryphal book, 
 she has been especially favored by painters. 
 Few subjects have so often been treated on 
 canvas as Menasseh's enticing widow. Still 
 the manner of treatment, for the most part 
 sensational and grossly realistic, is not 
 exactly calculated to gain her sympathetic 
 friends. So far as I am personally con- 
 cerned, whenever I have visited a picture 
 gallery I sought to avoid the avenging 
 beauty. This, however, is next to impossi- 
 ble in the galleries of Europe, where pic- 
 tures of Judith of all styles fairly jostle one 
 another.' Indeed, at ever}^ turn you are 
 
14 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 sure to behold this beautiful, terrible 
 woman, with her purple sandals, her dia- 
 dem, her golden bracelets, her eyes that 
 draw forth your very soul, and, hanging at 
 her side, not the beaded purse and the bon- 
 l^onniire, but — O how horrible ! — the bloody 
 Gorgon head of the enemy. 
 
 
11. 
 
 THE MOTHER OF THE SEVEN 
 
 MARTYRS. 
 
 OF the many tragic scenes which owe 
 their origin to the cruelty of Antio- 
 chus Epiphanes one especially, by reason of. 
 its attendant circumstances, has deeply im- 
 pressed itself on the memory of posterity. 
 I refer to the martyrdom of a Jewish mother 
 and her seven heroic sons, as related in the 
 harrowing account that has come down to 
 us. Despite the edict of the Syrian despot, 
 a large number of Jews remained true to 
 the religion of their fathers. Among these 
 were seven brothers, who, with their mother, 
 were accordingly seized and brought before 
 the king. The historical part of this story 
 we must assign to the year 167-166 B.C., a 
 period of much suffering; and it is not at 
 all improbable that the scene of the dismal 
 event was Antioch, the Syrian capital, where 
 
 (15) 
 
1 6 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 many a distingmshed victim of those cruel 
 times met his fate. 
 
 By divers threats and atrocities these 
 eight innocent beings were to be forced to 
 eat swine*s flesh : in other words, to join in 
 the worship of the goddess Demeter, to 
 whom the pig was sacred. But, resisting 
 pressure and coercion, they refused to the 
 bitter end and perished one after another 
 amid unheard-of tortures, yet full of high- 
 souled contempt for the tyrant and with the 
 enthusiastic confession of their faith' on 
 their dying lips. 
 
 Such is the account given by Jason of 
 Cyrene, as we find it in the seventh chapter 
 of the Second Book of Maccabees. He is 
 otherwise unknown as a historian, having 
 flourished in an age of which we have very 
 scanty records. The book ascribed to Jose- 
 phus, however, and known by the name of 
 '* The Fourth Book of Maccabees, or Upon 
 the Supremacy of Reason," has treated this 
 remarkable subject in greater detail. Not- 
 withstanding its too elaborate embellish- 
 ments, in the Graeco- Alexandrian style, the 
 
The Mother of the Seven Martyrs. 1 7 
 
 unknown rhetorician has given us a narra- 
 tive of a truly elevating character. From the 
 Hebrew-Greek cycle of legends this story of 
 tears and bloodshed found its way into 
 Talmudical literature ; and it is a peculiar 
 circumstance, worthy of note, that the two 
 best known and most detailed narratives 
 from Talmudical sources place the event in 
 the Hadrianic period of persecution.* For 
 my own part, I conclude from this fact that 
 the story, in its main features, is not entirely 
 without historical value, in spite of its tra- 
 ditional trappings. A thoroughly mythical 
 story could accommodate itself only with 
 difficulty to such usage, while the reverse 
 might easily be the case with a tradition 
 based upon more or less distinct recollec- 
 tions of the popular memory. Most of the 
 speeches attributed to these hapless youths, 
 as well as many other rhetorical and Ha- 
 gadic embellishments, are, doubtless, later 
 accretions. As such, they are of course to 
 be rejected, while the event itself must be 
 
 * Gittin 57b ; Kcha Rabbathi on Kcha, i, 16. 
 
 B 
 
1 8 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 reduced to its true historical proportions. 
 But, this process of elimination once com- 
 pleted, there can no longer be any good 
 reason for discrediting what remains. 
 Scenes of torture and murder such as the 
 one here described must have been plenti- 
 ful, as, indeed, martyrs were common in 
 the days of the cruel Seleucidse. 
 
 This fearless woman, whose name is not 
 found in the earlier sources, is by the con- 
 currence of the Hagadic records of a later 
 date now commonly called Hannah^ although 
 the Echa-Midrash speaks only of a Miriam, 
 daughter of the baker Boethus. But Mi- 
 riam or Hannah — the name is immaterial — 
 fully merits the distinction of a place among 
 the noblest of her sex, and must be men- 
 tioned in any enumeration of prominent 
 Israelitish women. For, even if her right 
 to pass for a historical personage be dis- 
 puted, even if the hazardous attempt to 
 relegate her entirely to the realm of fiction 
 were successful, yet she belongs by insep- 
 arable ties to universal literature and, by 
 the legendary use which has been made of 
 
The Mother of the Seven Martyrs, 19 
 
 the character, poetry and rhetoric unite, as 
 it were, in declaring a Jewish woman quite 
 capable of such a sacrifice. 
 
 It is not necessary to dwell here on the 
 pathetic incidents of this story. Every- 
 body knows them either from the original 
 account or one of the many subsequent nar- 
 ratives ; nor, in view of the difficulty of the 
 attempt to discriminate between history 
 and fiction, would^ it be worth the trouble to 
 examine into the local conditions and cir- 
 cumstances of the different versions. The 
 afflicted mother, who, according to the Tal- 
 mud, rivals Abraham in the magnitude of 
 her sacrifice to the Deity, has not, indeed, 
 received from art the kindly treatment given 
 to other sorrowing women ; but poetry, on 
 the other hand, has taken the sufferer to 
 her heart and invested her with a full meas- 
 ure of glory. And we may say that the 
 martyred mother, reposing in an unknown 
 grave, gradually grew into a poetic charac- 
 ter; new refulgence has been shed upon 
 her, a fresh flower added to her wreath, by 
 each succeeding literary production, until 
 
20 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 now this heroine is associated in our minds 
 with the steadfast faith that knows no fear 
 of death. Neither in history nor in the cre- 
 ations of genius can we find a more effective 
 picture of piety embracing death in all its 
 forms. This noble woman's heroism has, 
 however, a deeper significance, when 
 thought of in connection with the new 
 period of splendor which the Maccabean 
 victories secured to the religious life of 
 Israel in the years that immediately fol- 
 lowed. It cannot be denied that martyrs, 
 as a rule, do not appear to advantage by 
 the side of conquering heroes ; but here it 
 is otherwise : the martyred mother makes 
 quite as strong an impression upon us as 
 the victorious Hasmonean. Indelibly 
 stamped on the history of the times as are 
 the triumphs of this illustrious priestly 
 family, yet their good fortune is 'but transi- 
 tory ; and we feel instinctively that Israel's 
 brightest hopes, as well as its richest spirit- 
 ual treasures, lie stored with the noble, 
 loyal dead — the sacrificed Chasidim. 
 
 On the whole, this was a most extraordi- 
 
The Mother of the Seven Martyrs, 21 
 
 nary age, reckless in warfare, daring in con- 
 quest, eager to brave suffering and death. 
 Here we have a resolute, heroic woman, 
 who, in the words of the unknown pane- 
 gyrist: " With spirit hard as adamant, lead- 
 ing on that number of sons to immortality, 
 adjures them to die for the faith/** Then 
 again we see the hoary priest Mattathias 
 and his five warlike sons, not one of whom 
 was destined to die a peaceful death. 
 Surely the picture of this great epoch is 
 incomplete without the woman who, as 
 wife, widow, and aged matron, presents the 
 most striking example of contrasted weak- 
 ness and strength to be found in the litera- 
 ture of mankind. 
 
 And shall not I, too, add some slight 
 token of my veneration for this heroine of 
 legend and history ? What classic pens 
 have written of her is known sufficiently; 
 but before me lies the book ^^ Anaf ez abot^'\ 
 by Baruch Schoenfeld, a talented Hebrew 
 
 * Fourth Book of Maccabees, 16. 
 t Buda, 1841. 
 
22 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 poet of recent times, and I find there a 
 poem instinct with deep feeling. It is 
 entitled, "- Miriam and Her Sons/* I have 
 made a free translation of its concluding 
 stanzas in the belief that, in thus honoring 
 the subject of this brief sketch, I am at the 
 same time contributing something to a 
 better appreciation of a writer whose name 
 I would fain preserve from unmerited 
 oblivion. 
 
 ' * With bland, dissembling speech the king conceals 
 
 The rage that bums within his savage breast ; 
 Yet son and mother steadfast still remain : 
 
 Much have they borne, and now will bear the rest. 
 And Miriam cries : ' Let venomed flattery 
 
 Not lead, O son, thy guileless mind astray ! 
 Think on thy brethren, in their bloom that died, 
 
 Lest God and race they basely might betray. 
 As angels pure, they at the throne of heaven 
 
 Now sound their harps to the Eternal One ; 
 Wouldst thou rejoin that blessed band, no path 
 
 Save that of blood will lead thee there, my son ! 
 
 ** Hodaia, noble oflfspring ! He quails not. 
 Upon his childlike features plays a smile. 
 Haste thee, blaspheming tyrant ! See, I scorn 
 Thee and thy fury, scorn each spiteful wile. 
 
The Mother of the Seven Martyrs, 23 
 
 My God still lives, from Him come weal and woe, 
 
 But Zeus and Ares are a mockery. 
 Set free anon, transfigured, in bright realms 
 
 We twain soon with our fathers' God shall be. 
 There days of darkness no more we behold, 
 
 Nor hear the sentence that once terrified ; 
 And raptures, to the earthly sense denied, 
 
 And songs of seraphim shall welcome us 
 To Bden's groves, who for the faith have died." 
 
THE 
 
 GR^ECO-ROMAN 
 
 PERIOD. 
 
III. 
 
 QUEEN SALOME ALEXANDRA. 
 
 THE Maccabean age, whose fierce com- 
 bats and constant excitement gave a 
 touch of passion even to piety, was on the 
 whole not very favorable to the development 
 of female genius. The period was one pro- 
 pitious to warfare, to the growth of new 
 ideas, and to those measures generally in 
 which the influence of men greatly predomi- 
 nates, and consequently women had very 
 little opportunity to distinguish themselves. 
 For nearly two entire generations, during 
 which the Hasmonean dynasty took the 
 lead in public affairs, they played such an 
 insignificant part in the important events of 
 the time as the brevity of ancient historians 
 would scarcely permit them to notice ; but 
 then, at last, a woman appeared who, by 
 reason of her great abilities, held undis- 
 puted sway for a long time. 
 
 Salome Alexandra, the first to bear the 
 
 (27) 
 
28 Some JewisJi Women. 
 
 name of queen under the new order of 
 things, twice as consort and once in her 
 own right as dowager, is also the woman in 
 Jewish history who has won renown in this 
 exalted station through her noble qualities, 
 her talents, and her rare achievements. 
 This lofty historical character, known in 
 Talmudical literature as Salominon or Salo- 
 mita in^oSty,* was born toward the year 143 
 B.C., about the time when the noble Jona- 
 than lost his life by Trypho's treachery. 
 History tells us nothing of her ancestry or 
 birthplace; but from the fact that Simon 
 ben-Shetach, president of the Sanhedrin, 
 was her brother, and also from her early 
 alliance with the Hasmoneans, it is proba- 
 ble that she was a native of Jerusalem. 
 The latter fact leads me to conclude that 
 she belonged to a family of the Aaronic 
 line ; for the early members of the aspiring 
 Hasmonean house moved in a circle com- 
 
 * Kohelet, Rabba on 7, 11; Sabbat i6b ; Graetz, 
 Geschichte der Juden^ Vol. Ill, p. 530, makes a. happy 
 emendation. 
 
Queen Salome Alexandra, - 29 
 
 posed exclusively of Chasidim, and were no 
 doubt influenced by policy and family tra- 
 dition to prefer their own relatives in their 
 choice of consorts. Furthermore, the inter- 
 est which her brother, who was well versed 
 in the Scriptures, took in the nazaritic 
 sacrifices, makes it more than credible that 
 he was connected with the priesthood. 
 
 However this may be, the noble Jewish 
 maiden, precocious as she was, soon became 
 a pet in the house of John Hyrcanus, and 
 in due time was betrothed to that ruler's 
 eldest son, Judah Aristobulus. Her spouse 
 inherited the brilliant rather than good 
 qualities of his glorious father : his ambi- 
 tion and martial spirit without his prudence 
 and circumspection, his Sadducean proclivi- 
 ties without his patriotism and sympathy 
 for the people. Salome, on the other hand, 
 was thoroughly imbued with the true spirit 
 of the Chasidim ; but, though she guarded 
 her ideals sacredly, she had early learned 
 the art of self-control and the value of se- 
 crecy. So long as Judah Aristobulus lived 
 under his father's government, this marriage 
 
30 Some Jeivish Women, 
 
 would seem to have been a happy one. His 
 young wife enthusiastically seconded the 
 aims of the newly formed Pharisaic party ; 
 she was proud of her brother, the foremost 
 scribe of his day ; she cherished the hope, 
 perhaps, of eventually turning her husband*s 
 unbridled love of conquest to some noble 
 purpose. John Hyrcanus having passed 
 away about the year 107, after a long life, 
 Judah^s ambition to ascend the throne, a dis- 
 tinction for which he had been secretly 
 longing, was finally realized. At this time 
 Salome had attained her thirty-sixth year, 
 and, as Judah Aristobulus was considerably 
 older than his four brothers, she must in all 
 probability have been married to him twenty 
 years. She was now styled queen ; for 
 Aristobulus (this name he took out of love 
 for the Greeks) was the first to place the dia- 
 dem upon his head.*^ Did this honor bring 
 her happiness ? Far from it. Though she 
 kept her anxiety locked within her own 
 breast, she was concerned about the future. 
 
 *Joseplius, Antiquities, XIII, ii, I. 
 
Queen Salome Alexandra, 31 
 
 The year that followed was a turbulent and 
 disastrous one, and Salome had many and 
 various troubles to contend against. Though 
 peaceful relations still existed between the 
 royal house and the popular party, signs of a 
 rupture were not wanting ; the disturbing in- 
 fluence of coming events was at work. What 
 is now to be related has been preserved by 
 tradition in the form of stories, more or less 
 fanciful, but the real facts are by no means 
 beyond recognition. The new king impri- 
 soned his aged mother, in order to deprive 
 her of the right to act as co-regent — a power 
 conferred on her by the last will of John 
 Hyrcanus. My pen shrinks from repeating 
 the further charge made by Josephus, who 
 holds Judah responsible for the starvation 
 of his mother ; indeed, this statement is 
 regarded by recent writers as an exaggera- 
 tion.* There is no doubt, however, that he 
 kept three of his brothers in a gloomy dun- 
 geon during his brief reign. For his remain- 
 ing brother — the brilliant, but thoughtless 
 
 * See Graetz and Wise. 
 
32 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 and unruly Antigonus — he retained a certain 
 fondness. But his morbid envy and the tat- 
 tle of courtiers soon disturbed even these 
 friendly relations. While on a march of 
 conquest; the glory of which Antigonus 
 shared with him, Judah was seized with an 
 insidious disease, which necessitated his 
 return to Jerusalem, and to his younger 
 brother was therefore entrusted the work of 
 completing his interrupted victory. This 
 circumstance it was which seems to have 
 first kindled the irascible Judah*s wrath 
 against the unfortunate prince. When, 
 shortly after, Antigonus led the army back 
 to the capital, the enemies of the victorious 
 general easily persuaded the king that he 
 had a most dangerous foe in his brother, and 
 the latter, ignorant of the designs on his 
 life, was accordingly despatched by the 
 guards in that part of the palace called 
 Strato's Tower. 
 
 Tradition has connected Antigonus' un- 
 happy fate with all the superstitions and 
 delusions of that age, and Josephus even 
 goes to the length of charging the queen 
 
Queen Salome Alexandra. 33 
 
 with complicity in the cruel deed. He tells 
 us that, by a treacherous message of hers, 
 the hapless Antigonus was betrayed into 
 the hands of his assassins.* So grave an 
 accusation is worthy of the attention of 
 history only when supported by strong 
 internal evidence ; in the absence of such 
 evidence, the accused, in this as in all simi- 
 lar cases, is entitled to be entirely exoner- 
 ated. A woman whose character was in all 
 other respects above reproach ought not to 
 be thus lightly convicted of participation in 
 so terrible a crime. Such a verdict bears 
 on its face the stamp of silly credulity. So 
 far as we can judge, the queen had nothing 
 to gain by her brother-in-law*s death ; and 
 simply to assume that she was actuated by 
 hatred, without any assignable reason, is 
 wholly unjustifiable under the circum- 
 stances. Of the two brothers next entitled 
 to the throne, Antigonus and Alexander, the 
 former was by far the more brilliant. More- 
 over, Josephus, who is alone responsible for 
 
 * Antiquities, XIII, 11, 2. 
 
 C 
 
34 Sofne Jewish Women. 
 
 this aspersion against the noble queen, has 
 otherwise shown himself so unfair in his 
 estimate of her — a matter about which I 
 shall have a word to say later on — that we 
 are hardly warranted in putting any faith in 
 his assertion. At all events, our classical 
 historian certainly lived in an age so far 
 removed from the period in which the 
 events described took place, that his narra- 
 tive could have been based only on unsafe 
 traditions, colored by the bitter animosities 
 of party strife. When political parties at- 
 tempt to write history, they are only too apt 
 to see crimes in each other*s successes, and 
 this, no doubt, explains how the crowned 
 widow, who was guilty of nothing more 
 than a somewhat too hasty marriage with 
 the passionate Jannaeus, came to be re- 
 garded by posterity as the mortal enemy of 
 the murdered Antigonus. It is quite possi- 
 ble, too, that even before the latter^s death, 
 slanderous tongues may have whispered 
 their base suspicions of a guilty passion 
 between Salome and Alexander. 
 
 Judah Aristobulus survived Antigonus 
 
Queen Salome Alexandra. 35 
 
 only a few hours, dying amid agonies of 
 body and soul to which he gave vent in 
 violent self-accusations. Salome Alexandra, 
 however, was not the woman to waste time 
 in . idle grief. She had a great wrong to 
 repair — the imprisonment of her three bro- 
 th ers-in-law ; and no sooner had her husband 
 closed his eyes than she released the cap- 
 tives. At this time, 106 B.C., the widowed 
 queen was the most resolute and courageous 
 of the Hasmonean line, and on her energy 
 this bold, proud family was solely dependent 
 for its continuance in power. To the eldest 
 of the liberated brothers, Alexander, she 
 offered her hand and the crown ; the second, 
 Absalom, stood in such subordinate rela- 
 tions to the throne that we hear nothing 
 more of him until he is referred to as the 
 father-in-law of Aristobulus II; the name 
 of the third, history has entirely forgotten. 
 Perhaps he is the same person whom Jose- 
 phus mentions as having been assassinated 
 by his brother Jannaeus.* 
 
 * Antiquities, XIII, 12, i. 
 
36 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 This marriage of the mature widow, 
 thirty-seven years of age, with Alexander, 
 a young man of but twenty-three, whose 
 surname appears in Josephus as Jannaeus, 
 in the Talmud as Jannai, has given rise to 
 considerable dispute among historians ; yet 
 few facts in history are better established. 
 As high-priest, it is urged, Jannai could not 
 possibly have married a widow; he was 
 even (Sanhedrin II, i), expressly exempted 
 from the Levirate marriage. Hence, Graetz 
 very strangely concludes that Salome's 
 marriage to Aristobulus must have been a 
 mere invention, and that Alexander was 
 the queen's first husband."^ But, in adopt- 
 ing this view, he introduces another im- 
 probability even more difficult of explana- 
 tion. Either he assumes that this unequal 
 marriage took place, without assigning the 
 slightest reason why a woman of thirty- 
 seven should marry a young man of twenty- 
 three, or he is compelled to show that 
 Salome was not so old by at least fifteen 
 
 * Geschichte der Juden, Vol. Ill, p. 158. 
 
Queen Salome Alexandra, 37 
 
 years as she is said to have been when 
 Aristobulus died. He makes no such at- 
 tempt, however,^ and, in view of the many 
 events in which she had hitherto been con- 
 cerned, it would have been quite futile. 
 
 Only two solutions of this difficulty are 
 conceivable. The marriage may have taken 
 place before Jannai was appointed high- 
 priest. Cases of this kind are, indeed, 
 minutely provided for in the Halacha. 
 " If," says the Mishnah, " he is appointed 
 high-priest after he has been betrothed to a 
 widow, he may contract marriage with her. 
 This actually happened in the case of 
 Joshua ben-Gamala ; he married the widow 
 Martha, daughter of Boethus, and after-, 
 wards the king appointed him high-priest."t 
 But it is a still more plausible supposition 
 that, at this early period, very little import- 
 ance was attached to such legal subtleties. 
 Without giving the matter much thought, 
 Jannai simply married his sister-in-law, and 
 
 * Geschichte der Juderiy Vol. Ill, p. 155. 
 t Jebamoth, 6, 4. 
 
38 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 together they assumed the royal power 
 which his ambition had coveted. Both 
 being persons of rank and influence, no 
 authoritative protest was made against 
 their resolution. There is another import- 
 ant circumstance in support of this opinion. 
 History strangely omits all reference to 
 Alexander's labors as high-priest, and in 
 the Talmud* only indirect mention is made 
 of the fact of his having held such an office. 
 It is just possible, too, that there was a pro- 
 vision for allowing substitutes in such 
 cases. 
 
 Salome Alexandra entered into this new 
 union with all the tact and prudence of a 
 great woman. What was it that united two 
 such dissimilar natures? Was it love, 
 worldly advantage, or political considera- 
 tions? A difficult question — which the 
 historian may not leave entirely unan- 
 swered. From a knowledge of Alexander's 
 character we are forced to the conclusion 
 that he could neither understand nor appre- 
 
 * Sota 48a. 
 
Queen Salome Alexandra. 39 
 
 ciate such, a woman as Salome Alexandra. 
 This prince gave the reins to the basest 
 passions. Deceitful, cruel, possessed of the 
 revengeful instincts of a brute, he was, at 
 the same time, dominated by insatiable 
 ambition. He was addicted to drink and, 
 as we know from Josephus,* led in other 
 respects a very dissolute life. In him we 
 see to how great an extent the Maccabean 
 race had already degenerated; military 
 valor was the only one of all the Hasmo- 
 nean virtues which he still retained. And 
 this was the man to whom Salome, with all 
 her clearness of vision and penetration of 
 mind, entrusted herself for twenty-seven 
 years. Bearing him two children, enduring 
 his many vices, having but little sympathy 
 for his ambitious projects, she sat patiently 
 on the throne which her cautious prudence 
 had helped to secure, perfectly resigned to 
 her lot. Nay, she really seems to have 
 loved this inordinately passionate man with 
 all the tender affection which women, and 
 
 * Antiquities, XIII, 14, 2. 
 
40 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 in fact human beings generally, lavish on 
 those for whose happiness and elevation 
 they have labored most zealously. Before 
 his baser self had gained complete mastery 
 over Alexander, this experienced woman 
 exercised a decided influence upon him. 
 More than once, without his knowing it, 
 she led her impetuous husband with a firm 
 hand from the path of error and restrained 
 him from acting rashly. 
 
 Yov a proper appreciation of this import- 
 ant period of the royal lady's life, it is far 
 more essential to know her attitude toward 
 the leading Jewish factions than to study 
 the many wars in which Alexander Jannai 
 was involved. These bitter strifes followed 
 one another in swift succession, and rarely 
 left any opportunity for an interval of 
 peace. During fully nineteen years of this 
 turbulent reign there was an almost un- 
 interrupted series of battles, victories and 
 defeats ; and in these hot contests, many of 
 which were acts of revenge, the strength of 
 the royal zealot spent itself long before its 
 time. The seizure of the maritime towns 
 
Queen Salome Alexandra. 41 
 
 led to a four years* war with Ptolemy Soter 
 (105-101), ending with Jannai's defeat by 
 Theodoras, prince of Philadelphia; but in 
 a campaign of two years* duration (99-97) 
 the Jewish king fully retrieved his losses, 
 regaining possession of the seaports by a 
 barbarous act of revenge. The Arabian 
 war (94-92) lasted more than two years, and 
 the ignominious retreat before the victorious 
 hosts of Obedas, by which Jannai was 
 obliged to terminate this struggle, inspired 
 his Pharisaic enemies at home with the 
 courage to undertake the disastrous war 
 against him which, continuing from 92 to 
 86 B.C., ended with the infamous battle of 
 Bethome. On that day Alexander, who, 
 with the introduction of foreign merce- 
 naries, resorted to hideous forms of cruelty 
 altogether alien to the Jewish race, had 
 eight hundred captured Pharisees nailed to 
 the cross amid the. most revolting circum- 
 stances. The years from 84 to 81 were 
 taken up with his conquests in the north- 
 east, and even in the last year of his life 
 (79) we see this restless warrior laying siege 
 
42 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 to Ragaba. His life offers a noteworthy 
 example of undeserved good fortune; for, $. 
 in spite of his repeated and disastrous 
 defeats, in spite of his clumsy and expen- 
 sive methods of warfare, and in spite of his 
 political hypocrisy, he bequeathed to his 
 successor a kingdom which, considerably 
 enlarged, commanded great respect. 
 
 The wise, pious queen witnessed these 
 successes and reverses, for the most part 
 without much show of interest. She di- 
 rected her attention to matters which, as 
 she judged, were of far greater importance 
 to the welfare of the state, namely, the 
 internal administration of affairs. For 
 eleven years she had managed to keep the 
 king on good terms with the Pharisaic 
 party, who represented the best element of 
 the nation. Historians must be very short- 
 sighted, when such truths escape their 
 attention. Everything, indeed, points to 
 this explanation as the correct view of 
 Salome's policy ; the aged Hyrcanus had 
 gone over to the Sadducees ; Judah Aristo- 
 bulus had administered the government, 
 
Queen Salome Alexandra. 43 
 
 during his brief reign, in the Sadducean 
 spirit ; in fact, Sadducean tendencies floated 
 in the air. The outlook for this proud and 
 aggressive party was most favorable ; even 
 the Sanhedrin had a Sadducean majority. 
 
 Yet the great body of the people was 
 Pharisaic at heart, their piety was tinctured 
 with Phariseeism, and in these times of 
 trouble the popular spirit derived comfort 
 from the law and ancestral customs. This 
 haughty prince, therefore, who permitted 
 nothing to stand in the way of his wishes, 
 was careful to spare the people's feelings. 
 He was not, indeed, drawn toward Pharisee- 
 ism; but he nevertheless tried to preserve 
 a becoming attitude of impartiality, taking 
 pains not to offend that very vigilant party. 
 This continued for the space of eleven 
 years. By what device of female wisdom 
 was Salome Alexandra enabled to bring 
 about this good understanding? For no 
 one will doubt that the honor belongs exclu- 
 sively to her. When she offered Alexander 
 her hand in marriage, thereby paving his 
 way to the throne, did she exact of him a 
 
44 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 solemn promise to spare the Pharisees? 
 By no means. The explanation is much 
 simpler. The queen was herself an enthu- 
 siastic Pharisee, and, above all, taught by- 
 example. It was this knowledge of her 
 friendly feelings in regard to them which, 
 beyond a doubt, made the Pharisaic party 
 prudent and loyal in their conduct toward 
 the court. 
 
 On the fatal Feast of Tabernacles of the 
 year 95, however, these peaceful relations 
 unfortunately came to an end. Inflated 
 with angry pride, the king, instead of emp- 
 tying the cup of water into the golden horns 
 of the altar, poured the contents on the 
 ground, in contemptuous derision of the 
 Pharisaic custom. According to an inge- 
 niously veiled account in the Talmud, this 
 was the act of a Sadducee, whom the in- 
 censed people thereupon pelted almost to 
 death with the Hadar fruits from the festi- 
 val boughs (Esrogim).* This Sadducee was 
 no other than the king himself, and on that 
 
 * Sukkah 48b. 
 
Queen Salome Alexandra. 45 
 
 day lie openly espoused the Sadducean cause. 
 And I may say here, in passing, that in this 
 and similar covert statements we cannot fail 
 to recognize a plain intention to do violence 
 to the text of the records — a sort of cen- 
 sorship in ancient days, dictated by a sense 
 either of shame or fear. Of the pelting 
 with the festival fruits Josephus* also 
 speaks, and he adds that the participants 
 paid dearly for it. The Pisidian body-guard 
 made a savage charge on the multitude, of 
 whom six thousand fell on that dreadful 
 day. 
 
 This scene of murder and riot had a very 
 important influence on the life of the sorely 
 tried queen. During the long wars which 
 called her husband from home she had prob- 
 ably acted as regent ; but now she ceased to 
 take an active part in public ajffairs, and de- 
 voted herself entirely to the education of her 
 young sons. It was not until her brother, 
 Simon ben-Shetach, returned from exile that 
 she came forth from her retirement and again 
 
 « Antiquities, XIII, 13, 5. 
 
46 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 became prominent in political life. Doubt- 
 less her return was prompted by the open 
 persecution of the scribes which went hand 
 in hand with the king's espousal of the Sad- 
 ducean cause. At various times prominent 
 Pharisees were removed from office and ban- 
 ished by the king and his minions; and 
 after the bloody battle of Bethome not less 
 than eight hundred adherents of this perse- 
 cuted party left their homes and country. 
 Among these fugitives was Simon ben-She- 
 tach. Perhaps, even before this time, the 
 Rabbi had incurred the despot's displeasure 
 by reason of his candor, or, as the authori- 
 ties state,* he had been slandered by mali- 
 cious courtiers. Be this as it may, the sage 
 kept himself concealed, but remained in 
 communication with his sister and bided his 
 time. At last the moment came. One day 
 some Persian notabilities appeared at the 
 king's board. ''Where is the noble old man," 
 inquired they, '' who entertained us so well 
 
 '^ Jenishalmi, Berachoth, 7, 2 ; Nasir, 5, 5 ; Genesis 
 Rabba, 91. 
 
Queen Salome Alexandra, 47 
 
 with his learning in the Law, when we were 
 here last time?" The king was ashamed 
 of his rash deed, gave his consort a hint, and 
 suddenly the president of the Sanhedrin 
 stood before the astonished guests. With 
 calm assurance he seated himself beween 
 the king and queen ; and the words with 
 which he justified this rare proceeding 
 have won a place among the world's lofty- 
 thoughts. '' Thou, O king,** said he, ^' owest 
 this place to thy gold; I, to the Torah."* In 
 this man's nature there was a deplorable 
 incongruity — a strange mingling of eleva- 
 tion of mind with intolerable harshness. As 
 a teacher and systematizer he was without 
 an equal in his age, and his labors fully 
 entitle him to the following high encomi- 
 um : " The world was desolate ; then Simon 
 ben-Shetach arose and restored to the Torah 
 its pristine glory. "f But, though noble- 
 minded in all other respects, severity and 
 cruelty were pronounced traits of his char- 
 
 ■:%~:m 
 
 *Jerushalmi, Berachoth, 7, 2. 
 t Kiddushin 66a. 
 
48 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 acter. The man of whom it is related that 
 he had eighty women executed in one 
 (Jay* — and such statements are never en- 
 tirely without foundation — has been judged 
 far too leniently by posterity. Nor is it in 
 harmony with Jewish morals that he per- 
 mitted his own son to be put to death in de- 
 fence of a principle of law.f For my part, 
 I never had any particular liking for heroes 
 of the stamp of Brutus, and I am glad to 
 say that Brutuses never thrived well on 
 Jewish soil. Nevertheless, with the re- 
 appearance of this wise and over-zealous 
 teacher, the Pharisaic party began to pros- 
 per again. The Sanhedrin soon freed itself 
 from its Sadducean members, and the twen- 
 ty-eighth of Tebeth, on which this victory 
 was achieved, is inscribed in the old scroll 
 (Megillath Ta'anit) as a day of great rejoic- 
 ing, which was long observed. So rigidly 
 and implacably did the two great parties 
 confront each other, as to awaken strange 
 
 -V, 
 
 * Sanhedrin, 6, 4. 
 
 t Jerushalmi, Sanhedrin, 6, 5. 
 
Queen Salome Alexandra, 49 
 
 doubts even in the minds of the royal auto- 
 crat; and when his weeping spouse im- 
 plored his last counsel, as he lay on his 
 death-bed, he answered her in these bitter 
 words of irony : " Fear neither the Pharisees 
 nor the party hostile to them. Names count 
 for naught, in all parties there are good and 
 bad men; only be on thy guard against 
 masked hypocrites." * 
 
 Long before the Pharisees regained a 
 part of their former prestige, however, 
 Alexander Jannaeus had wrested from his 
 enemies some of the pagan cities of Syria 
 and Perea, and forcibly converted them to 
 Judaism."! It is rather singular that the 
 only three conversions to Judaism on a 
 large scale should have been effected by 
 force under Sadducean rule ; the Pharisees 
 never cared to spread religion otherwise 
 than with book in hand. 
 
 If it is safe to draw a conclusion from the 
 historian's silence on the matter, Salome 
 
 * Sota 22b. 
 
 t Josephus, Antiq., XIII, 15, 4- 
 
 D 
 
JO Some Jewish Women, 
 
 Alexandra's two sons must have been ex- 
 cessively fond of her. The royal pair dif- 
 fered widely in their views, tastes, and 
 ambitions ; and the sons must have sympa- 
 thized either with their father or mother. 
 There was certainly some opportunity for 
 the adventurous Aristobulus to assist Jan- 
 nai in his many military expeditions ; for, 
 though younger than his brother, he was 
 old enough to engage actively in war. Yet 
 Josephus, who is always loquacious, has 
 nothing whatever to say on this point. 
 There can be no doubt, therefore, that the 
 two sons felt drawn only to their mother 
 and, finding in her a congenial spirit, must 
 have taken her part. Only on this supposi- 
 tion can we account for the significant 
 omission on the part of the historian. 
 
 And now followed a day of tears and 
 mourning. The royal sufferer was left 
 alone again in the cold world, though not 
 quite so forlorn as when Judah Aristobulus 
 died twenty-seven years before. The death 
 of Alexander marks the beginning of the 
 third period of the queen's life, during 
 
Queen Salome Alexandra. 51 
 
 which she was for nine years a widow and 
 sole ruler. She was now sixty-four, and the 
 stormy vicissitudes of these swiftly follow- 
 ing periods had prematurely whitened her 
 hair; yet, surely, among the leaders of her 
 day, none was more worldly-wise, more cau- 
 tious and discreet than this rare woman. 
 
 It was, therefore, a most fortunate occur- 
 rence that she, rather than one of her sons, 
 should have succeeded to the throne. Alex- 
 ander had ample proofs of his wife's abili- 
 ties and, in spite of his hard nature, was not 
 insensible to her many virtues; was this 
 preference, then, owing to his admiration of 
 her good qualities, or shall we regard it as 
 a result of her own ambition? It is no 
 longer possible to answer this question ; 
 but one thing is certain : Israel, in its un- 
 settled political condition, needed to pass 
 through this stage of its development under 
 the peaceful policy of a brave woman, in 
 order to fortify itself better against the in- 
 evitable storms of the future. 
 
 It is generally admitted that Simon 
 ben-Shetach, in conjunction with Judah 
 
^■A 
 
 52 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 ben-Tabai, continued at the head of the 
 Sanhedrin during Alexandra's rule. Satis- 
 factory proof of his having so long retained 
 the office cannot be gathered from the 
 authorities. But, if it be true that the 
 administration of justice was entrusted to 
 so pure and capable a man, the fact sheds 
 new lustre on the royal lady who permitted 
 the great and rigid scribe to have his own 
 way, guaranteeing him the full protection 
 of her high authority in the prosecution of 
 his labors. For it must not be supposed 
 that the highest tribunal of justice was 
 sufficiently protected by its own privileges. 
 History teaches us on every page that 
 justice has much to fear from royalty unless 
 there is a great, liberal-minded sovereign 
 on the throne. 
 
 To appreciate the character of Salome 
 Alexandra it is not necessary to dwell 
 minutely on the few events of the last nine 
 years of her reign. Her principal aim was 
 to promote the general prosperity of her 
 country, to dispel the clouds that had 
 gathered during the troublous times of her 
 
Queeu Salome Alexandra, 53 
 
 predecessors ; and these results she attained 
 through armed peace, whereby, without 
 stirring the flames of war, her restless 
 neighbors were kept in check. Tradition 
 has painted the blessings of this happy 
 reign in glowing colors. Many years later, 
 pictures of vegetables of uncommon size 
 were exhibited at Jerusalem, such as the 
 peasant's clod yielded in the days of the 
 good queen.* 
 
 In her latter years, contemplating with 
 tranquillity the approaching end of her 
 earthly career, she felt some anxiety con- 
 cerning her son's warlike propensities ; and 
 she displayed no little shrewdness in con- 
 triving so well to divert him with a sort of 
 mock campaign against Damascus. In the 
 soul of the aged queen there was, indeed, 
 no room for worldly ambition, and it would 
 have been well if the Pharisees had profited 
 by her example. But the baser elements of 
 the party, remembering the wrongs they 
 had suffered under Jannai, took advantage 
 
 * Taanit 23a. 
 
54 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 of the queen's leniency and conducted 
 themselves, in the words of Josephus,* '* as 
 if they differed in nothing from lords/' 
 The great historian's severe censure of the 
 queen rests solely on these excesses of the 
 Pharisees; for, while doing justice to her 
 rare wisdom and energy, he deplores that 
 "her management during her administra- 
 tion, while she was alive, was such as filled 
 the palace after her death with calamities 
 and disturbance."f In making amends for 
 an injustice so long acquiesced in, and 
 assigning to Salome Alexandra the place 
 among women and sovereigns to which she 
 is justly entitled, the muse of modern his- 
 tory performs one of her noblest tasks. 
 
 *Antiq., XIII, i6, 2. 
 \Ibid,, XIII, i6, 6. 
 
IV. 
 MARIAMNE, THE HASMONEAN. 
 
 ABOUT the year 57 B.C., amid the storms 
 of a turbulent age, Alexander, the 
 adventurous son of Aristobulus II, was 
 united in marriage to his cousin Alexandra, 
 daughter of Hyrcanus. The event occurred 
 shortly after Gabinius the Roman had foiled 
 the ambitious prince in his rash attempt upon 
 the fortresses of Judea. In the children, at 
 least, these nuptials seemed to reconcile 
 fathers who had for a long time been at en- 
 mity ; but the fates did not smile kindly on 
 the union. Alexandra had been married 
 only nine years, when her young husband 
 was seized by Metellus Scipio, the governor 
 of Syria, carried to Antioch, and there be- 
 headed at the express command of Pompey. 
 He was but twenty-five years of age when 
 he laid his head upon the block. His former 
 acts of rebellion having been pardoned, 
 Alexander's execution, it would seem, was 
 
 (55) 
 
56 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 not intended as a punishment for his own 
 misdeeds. It is rather to be ascribed in part 
 to an attempted insurrection of Aristobulus, 
 which had incited the Roman authorities to 
 the severest measures against the unhappy- 
 Maccabees, and in part to an inveterate 
 hatred of the entire family. 
 
 It was Pompey's habit to invest these 
 political executions with a sort of gloomy 
 Roman splendor, witnessing the butcheries 
 with the ghastly smile of a stoic. Quintus 
 Valerius, an adherent of the popular party 
 and a man of literary attainments, having 
 on one occasion fallen into his power, he 
 walked up and down with his victim for 
 some time, discussing learned matters. At 
 first he was delighted with Valerius' intelli- 
 gent remarks, but he soon grew tired, sum- 
 moned the lictors, and bade them despatch 
 him. So we are informed by Plutarch, no 
 mean authority on Roman atrocities.* 
 
 The unfortunate Maccabean prince left a 
 widow and two children, Mariamne and 
 
 * lyife of Pompey. 
 
Mariamne^ the Hasmonean. 57 
 
 Aristobulus, the third of that name, who 
 were reserved for a bitter fate. Antipater, 
 the crafty Idumean favorite, unmoved by- 
 Alexander's ruin, was drawing his snares 
 closer about the doomed family. The ofl&ce 
 of high-priest continued to be filled for an 
 indefinite term by the weak and confiding 
 Hyrcanus, who was also made nominal 
 ruler ; and with so helpless a protector Alex- 
 andra and her children had found a sort of 
 refuge. 
 
 It was under these circumstances that 
 Herod, the aspiring son of the Idumean 
 counsellor, saw young Mariamne blooming 
 into womanhood with all the inherited 
 beauty of the Maccabees. He ardently 
 desired to possess her, for his calculating 
 shrewdness saw the political advantage of 
 an alliance with the last of the Hasmoneans. 
 His father having been removed by the 
 poisoned cup of his rival Malichus, Herod 
 saw his path clear to the honors and power 
 which he coveted. Fortune favored his 
 designs. Antigonus, the younger brother 
 of the hapless Alexander, having with mis- 
 
58 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 guided zeal made an inroad into Jiidea, the 
 skilful Idumean leader, whose valor and 
 military talents were by far his most con- 
 spicuous qualities, found little difficulty in 
 dispersing the undisciplined bands of Anti- 
 gonus and his confederates. Upon the 
 victor's return to Jerusalem, Hyrcanus fool- 
 ishly placed the triumphal wreath upon his 
 brow. Excepting only the unfortunate 
 battle of the twenty-third of Sivan in the 
 year 63, when the genius of Judea wept 
 over Pompey's presence and the loss of 
 Jewish independence, this hour, in which a 
 Jewish prince with his own hands crowned 
 his future executioner, is by far the most 
 tragical in its history, now so quickly draw- 
 ing to a close. Nor did Hyrcanus stop at this 
 exhibition of his favor; in the same event- 
 ful year, 42, he gave his consent to Herod's 
 betrothal with the charming Mariamne. 
 Born about the year 56, she was but four- 
 teen when she wedded the man destined to 
 overthrow her family, and who was even 
 then planning the ruin of her uncle Anti- 
 gonus. Her mother Alexandra looked upon 
 
Mariamney the Hasmonean. 59 
 
 this strange betrotlial with conflicting emo- 
 tions. . Witnessing unheard-of deeds in 
 these troubled times, with their shifting 
 interests and almost daily political changes, 
 her heart grew hard and fierce, which 
 readily accounts for her failures and various 
 acts of severity. Herod, then perhaps 
 thirty years of age, upon allying himself 
 with the Hasmonean family, cast oflf his 
 first wife Doris. This clearly appears from 
 the following passage of Josephus : " So he 
 vented his anger first of all against Anti- 
 pater's mother, and took away from her all 
 the ornaments which he had given her, 
 which cost a great many talents, and cast 
 her out of the palace a second time/** Can 
 it be that Alexandra's ambition urged him 
 to make such a dangerous concession ? The 
 great historian is silent upon the matter, 
 and positively no other reason, conformable 
 with the character of the times and people, 
 can be found. 
 Meanwhile events took their uninter- 
 
 * Wars, I, 30, 4. 
 
6o Some Jewish Women, 
 
 rupted course. A faint, illusive ray of 
 fortune favored Antigonus' enterprise, and 
 by Alexandra's prudent advice Herod, at 
 the approach of the young commander and 
 his Parthian auxiliaries, fled with his be- 
 trothed and his household to the sheltering 
 mountains of Idumea. "Nor could any 
 enemy of his who then saw him in this case 
 be so hard-hearted, but would have commis- 
 erated his fortune, while the women drew 
 along their infant children, and left their 
 own country, and their friends in prison, 
 with tears in their eyes, and sad lamenta- 
 tions, and in expectation of nothing but 
 what was of a melancholy nature/' * 
 
 After some three years, however, there 
 was a complete turn of the tide. The Par- 
 thians had been driven out of Syria; 
 Herod, who could obtain anything from 
 Mark Antony by flattery, had received from 
 him the crown of Judea at the Roman capi- 
 tal, the proudest spot of the ancient world ; 
 and one of the finest armies that Asia had 
 
 *Joseplius, Antiq., XIV, 13, 7. 
 
Mariamne, the Hasmonean. 6i 
 
 ever seen lay encamped before Jerusalem, 
 and was preparing to invest the city closely. 
 In this camp, with the immediate prospect 
 of an inevitable conflict and the slaughter 
 of the besiegers, Herod celebrated his nup- 
 tials with Mariamne, to whom he had now 
 been affianced more than four years. This 
 took place in the spring of the year 37, and 
 perhaps it was his love of contrasts, ming- 
 ling so strangely with his other traits of 
 character, which led him to solemnize the 
 event at such a time. 
 
 A few weeks later Mariamne's uncle, the 
 vanquished Antigonus, stood in chains 
 before Herod. Antony would fain have 
 spared him, but the inexorable Herod did 
 not relax his efforts until he had delivered 
 up his harmless rival — harmless now that 
 he had lost his Maccabean courage — to the 
 executioner.* Antigonus was beheaded at 
 Antioch in the summer of the ill-fated year 
 37; for Graetz's statementf that he died on 
 
 * Josephus, Antiq., XIV, 16, 4. 
 
 t Geschichte derjuden, Vol. Ill, p. 198. 
 
62 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 the cross I have not been able to find any 
 warrant. Such were the mournful circum- 
 stances attending poor Mariamne's honey- 
 moon. 
 
 A brief survey of the political condition 
 of the world at this time is necessary to a 
 proper understanding of the events which 
 follow. For years Antony and Octavius 
 shared the supreme authority, but it was 
 only a question of time when the hollow 
 truce between them would be broken. The 
 political blunders and personal vices of 
 Antony hastened the rupture. His con- 
 duct of the Parthian war was marked by 
 all the disaster which springs from indo- 
 lence and ignorance. What wonder that 
 he no longer cared for affairs of state, when 
 he had thrown himself entirely away upon 
 the fascinating Cleopatra, and while the 
 creatures of this dangerous woman con- 
 tinually surrounded his pavilion and per- 
 suaded him to the most pernicious acts! 
 His wicked passion had so completely mas- 
 tered him, that he shamefully neglected his 
 noble spouse Octavia, the sister of his 
 
Mariamne, the Hasmonean. 63 
 
 powerful colleague and one of the most 
 high-minded women of Rome. She fol- 
 lowed him to Athens, but he wrote insult- 
 ing letters to her, forbidding her his pres- 
 ence ; and, not content with this, he openly 
 gave away Roman provinces to Cleopatra's 
 sons. The first wrong Octavius bitterly 
 resented. As for the other, while the 
 Roman people could not pardon it, yet with 
 a certain forbearance the Senate declared 
 war not against the guilty Roman states- 
 man, but against the Egyptian queen, and 
 the consequence was that short, decisive 
 campaign known in history as the Battle of 
 Actium. 
 
 • But in Asia some time elapsed before the 
 true condition of affairs was known, and 
 consequently Cleopatra was in a position to 
 assume a sort of dictatorship over the 
 smaller Roman dependencies; she acted 
 precisely as if the destinies of the empire 
 were already dependent upon her changing 
 whims. Alexandra, putting faith in the 
 Egyptian's pretended favor, was persuaded 
 into adopting a domestic policy which only 
 
64 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 hastened the ruin both of herself and her 
 family. Nor did Herod, though more pru- 
 dent, succeed in entirely escaping her influ- 
 ence. Nevertheless, his conduct in this 
 matter represents him at his best. He never 
 acquitted himself so well, he never acted so 
 honorably during his long career. At this 
 time the Idumean was in the full vigor of 
 manhood, before excesses had undermined 
 his health. He was the perfect embodi- 
 ment of martial dignity and manly beauty, 
 and the siren of the Nile had conceived a 
 violent passion for him. But he vigorously 
 resisted the allurements by which she hoped 
 to entangle him in her snares; he never 
 stained his hands with her blood, though 
 the temptation to rid the world of this per- 
 nicious woman was great ; and, at the same 
 time, he saved his little kingdom from her 
 all-grasping fangs.* No one that reflects 
 upon these things can deny that the Herod 
 of those days had a claim on the gratitude 
 of Jewish patriots. The relation with 
 
 *Josephus, Antiq., XV, 4, 2. 
 
Mariamne, the Hasmonean. 65 
 
 Egypt, against which the prophet Jeremiah 
 had long before raised his warning voice, 
 existed but a few days when its first disas- 
 trous consequences manifested themselves 
 on the appointment of a successor to the 
 ill-fated Antigonus. The ephod rightfully 
 belonged to some descendant of Aaron; but 
 Herod entirely ignored his brother-in-law 
 Aristobulus, and selected for the office an 
 obscure Babylonian, Ananelus by name. 
 Aristobulus, it is true, was rather young ; 
 nevertheless we can easily pardon the ma- 
 ternal pride which led Alexandra to take 
 offence at Herod's conduct. But she did 
 wrong in appealing to Cleopatra, and even 
 to Antony, for assistance in her endeavors 
 to obtain the office for her son. True, she 
 accomplished her immediate purpose. Ana- 
 nelus was forced to vacate the high-priest*s 
 chair, and Aristobulus, who was only seven- 
 teen years of age, succeeded him. But, by 
 reason of her secret correspondence with 
 the Egyptian court, Alexandra forfeited the 
 confidence of her son-in-law, who thence- 
 forth kept her a prisoner in the palace. 
 
66 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 Chafing under the restraint, she devised a 
 plan by which she and her son, feigning 
 death, were to be carried in coffins to the 
 banks of the Nile ; but the plot being dis- 
 covered, the fate of the young Maccabean 
 was sealed. Perhaps the Idumean would 
 have acted less quickly, had not the ill-con- 
 sidered display of sympathy for Aristobu- 
 lus, on the part of the people, fanned his 
 smothered fury into a flame. For when the 
 priest, now eighteen, stood at the altar on 
 the Feast of Tabernacles, in all the beauty 
 of blooming youth, a murmur of applause 
 ran through the great crowds gathered on 
 the hill of the Temple, inasmuch as, by the 
 usurpation of the slave's son, xtv^D nnj;, as 
 Herod was called in suppressed rage,* the 
 Hasmonean family had grown not a little 
 in popular favor. 
 
 A few days after this occurrence, several 
 youths were bathing in a pond at Jericho. 
 While engaged in this apparently harmless 
 sport, one of the number was forced under 
 
 * Baba bat. 4a. 
 
 ^m^'> 
 
,*.,.■■ 
 
 Mariamne, the Hasmonean. 6y 
 
 water by his companions and kept there 
 until life was extinct. When the body was 
 taken out, it was found to be that of no less 
 a person than Aristobulus, the high-priest ; 
 the others were assassins hired by Herod. 
 This happened in the year 35 B.C. Poor 
 Mariamne ! To how dangerous a man had 
 she allied herself! Alexander, Antigonus, 
 and young Aristobulus — three illustrious 
 victims from this ill-starred house in so 
 short a time ! 
 
 For this atrocious deed Herod was now 
 summoned to appear before the Roman 
 ruler at Laodicea. But why ? we naturally 
 ask. One murder more or less made very 
 little difference to the Roman authorities. 
 And, besides, was not this purely a matter 
 of local concern ? Our text-books and annal- 
 ists have shed no light on the subject; even 
 Graetz views it only in its external bearings. 
 JosQphus, it is true, furnishes us with all 
 the historical facts, but he is too little of 
 a pragmatic historian to draw the proper 
 inference from his own premises. Without 
 recourse to the pragmatic method, however, 
 
68 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 we can obtain no satisfactory answer to our 
 question. Beyond all doubt Mark Antony 
 had the best of reasons for thus taking 
 Herod to task ; for, in the absence of some 
 such supposition, the stony-hearted Idu- 
 mean's dread remains wholly inexplicable. 
 These reasons are not very far to seek. 
 There was a turn in the tide of Mark An- 
 tonyms fortunes. As we well know, rulers 
 never guard their rights and privileges so 
 jealously as when their power is on the 
 decline, and the triumvir's brilliant career 
 was rapidly nearing its end. Of this the 
 crafty Herod was well aware ; he had al- 
 ready determined on a plan of approaching 
 Octavius when the proper time arrived ; but 
 his well-laid schemes were now to be frus- 
 trated by Antony's unseasonable anger. 
 And now we can easily understand the 
 cause of Herod's apprehensions. Besides, 
 we must not forget another circumstance. 
 The sensual Roman, who had seen a pic- 
 ture of Aristobulus,* had for some time 
 
 * Josephus, Antiq., XIV, 2, 6 and 7. 
 
Mariamne, the Hasmonean. 69 
 
 taken a personal interest in the handsome 
 youth. 
 
 Herod accordingly repaired to Laodicea 
 to conduct his defence. Upon the disastrous 
 consequences of this journey we shall touch 
 but lightly, it being no part of our purpose 
 to write a biography of the wicked king. 
 Before his departure, he committed the gov- 
 ernment to his confidant Joseph, an uncle of 
 his and also the first husband of his sister 
 Salome, and secretly instructed him to put 
 Mariamne to death, if he should be deprived 
 of his own life by Antony. In his passion- 
 ate love for his beautiful wife he now dis- 
 played, for the first time, all the cruel, 
 brutish instincts of the Idumean nature — a 
 savage ferocity which Jewish culture had 
 not been able to subdue. He loved her, and 
 would therefore surrender her to no succes- 
 sor, least of all to Antony. Is there not 
 something in this man's character that re- 
 minds us of England's crowned Blue-beard, 
 Henry VIII ? Bad as it is to be hated by 
 others, it is infinitely better than to be loved 
 by such monsters. They kiss and embrace 
 
yo Some Jewish Women. 
 
 their favorites, it is true; but their very- 
 caresses are torture. 
 
 Through Joseph^s indiscretion Mariamne 
 learned the fate that awaited her in the 
 event of Herod's death. The hapless 
 woman had once loved the tyrant, and, 
 pardoning his cruel jealousy, she loved him 
 again with all the intensity of which her 
 pure soul was capable. During eleven years 
 of wedded life she bore him five children, 
 of whom one son and two daughters died 
 in infancy. The two surviving sons, Alex- 
 ander and Aristobulus, were reserved for a 
 mournful death — a death that covered their 
 unnatural father with fresh ignominy. As 
 matters now stood, Mariamne could do 
 nothing in her sorrow except loathe her 
 husband, and, alas ! there was to be no lack 
 of fuel for the hatred which took possession 
 of her. The secret which Joseph had 
 betrayed cost him his life, the fatal blow 
 being dealt without a trial or sentence. 
 Mariamne herself was his accuser. Open- 
 hearted and sincere, she upbraided her 
 spouse with his cruel conduct, and, though 
 
Mariamney the Hasmonean. 71 
 
 lie only smiled incredulously when the 
 same thing had previously been reported 
 to him by his mother Cypros and his sister 
 Salome, the two evil demons of his house, 
 the despot did not hesitate a moment to 
 believe her. And now Nemesis began 
 speedily to do her work in the Idumean's 
 family; with each twig of the Hasmonean 
 trunk that fell beneath the blow of the 
 tyrant's axe, he was incited to acts of equal 
 violence against his own flesh and blood, as 
 witness the cruel fates of Joseph, Casto-. 
 boras, Pheroras and Antipater. ^ 
 
 Meanwhile more than four years passed 
 away, but no comfort came to the afflicted 
 Mariamne. She was still young, still at an 
 age when women, even though they be not 
 queens, have aspirations which they expect 
 to realize, and, in spite of her tribulations, 
 her beauty was unchanged. Herod's palace 
 had grown to be a veritable pandemonium, 
 the limbo of Dante's Hell could not have 
 furnished a more melancholy sight. Herod 
 had from time to time . added four or more 
 women to his harem, so that polygamy, 
 
72 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 which seemed to have been practically 
 abolished by the example of the Hebrew 
 kings, prophets, rabbis, and other eminent 
 men, was now revived by him in its most 
 repulsive form. The consequences can 
 easily be imagined. Eight or more pas- 
 sionate women, hating each other with all 
 the hate of deadly enemies, were constantly 
 thrown together in the halls and galleries 
 of the palace ; courtiers, eunuchs, hirelings, 
 barbers, sycophants, maids, moved to and 
 fro in large numbers, regaling this or that 
 mistress with their idle gossip. 
 
 And regard for the truth compels us to 
 censure her, too, whom we would fain spare 
 ' ' on account of her misfortunes. Mariamne 
 was by no means the gentlest in this 
 chaotic household. With various other 
 traits of the Hasmonean character, she 
 especially inherited their inflexible pride, 
 bluntness, and harsh arrogance. Even 
 Josephus, though obviously partial to her, 
 admits that " she treated her husband impe- 
 riously enough, because she saw he was so 
 fond of her as to be enslaved to her. She 
 
Mariamne, the Hasmonean, 73 
 
 did not also consider seasonably with herself 
 that she lived tinder a monarchy, and that 
 she was at another's disposal, and accord- 
 ingly would behave herself after a saucy 
 manner to him, which yet he usually put o£E 
 in a jesting way, and bore with moderation 
 and good temper. She would also expose 
 his mother and his sister openly, on account 
 of the meanness of their birth, and would 
 speak unkindly of them/'* 
 
 Meanwhile, on September 2, B.C. 31, the 
 naval battle of Actium had been fought, 
 which in a trice changed the political com- 
 plexion of the world. The Jewish vassal 
 prepared to journey to Rhodes, in order to 
 cajole his new liege lord into pardoning his 
 faithful allegiance to Antony for so many 
 years. But, before leaving, Herod took care 
 to rid himself of all the dangerous elements 
 in the Maccabean party; for, in case his 
 plans failed, even the weakest representa- 
 tive of that race might have served as a 
 rallying-point for malcontents. Accord- 
 
 * Antiq., XV, 7, 4- 
 
74 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 ingly, the aged Hyrcanus, now in his 
 seventy-fifth year,* to whom Herod owed 
 all his good fortune, had to suffer death. 
 He was very quickly executed in the palace. 
 The particulars are omitted as unessential. 
 Weakness is sometimes so near akin to 
 wickedness and even to crime, that his 
 doom, I venture to assert, was not alto- 
 gether undeserved. Josephus never tires of 
 lauding his gentle disposition ; but he says 
 nothing in condemnation of Hyrcanus' moral 
 cowardice, which cost many of the ablest men 
 their lives and put an end to the liberty of 
 Judea. Judaism regards life too seriously 
 to excuse the vacillations of a roi ddbonnaire ; 
 such a nonentity does not in any age deserve 
 to be leniently dealt with by the historian. 
 Moreover, only a few persons mourned the 
 loss of the aged man, and his grand- 
 daughter Mariamne was certainly not among 
 
 * Josephus (Antiq., XV, 6, 3) makes him above eighty 
 years old ; but this is most unlikely, for he could hardly 
 have been born before the year 105. Josephus is not 
 always to be relied upon for dates, owing to his predi- 
 lection for round numbers. 
 
Mariamne, the Hasmonean. 75 
 
 them; for it was the death of her father 
 and her brother, not the execution of her 
 grandfather, with which, in a fatal hour, 
 she reproached her husband.* She had not 
 yet forgotten, we may be sure, that it was 
 the thoughtless Hyrcanus who cast her in 
 the Idumean*s arms. 
 
 Nevertheless, the destruction of her world- 
 weary grandsire was a sure precursor of the 
 dreadful fate reserved for the brilliant 
 Hasmonean herself. Herod was now about 
 to start on his journey, the preparations 
 attending his departure for Laodicea being 
 for the most part repeated with much 
 greater caution and severity. The females 
 of his household were placed in safe custody. 
 Not content this time, however, with simply 
 confining Mariamne in the palace, he sent 
 her and her mother to the fortress Alexan- 
 drium, and put them in charge of his 
 treasurer Joseph and of Sohemus the 
 Iturean. These men received the same 
 secret order, which, four years before, had 
 
 * Antiq., XV, 7. 4- 
 
"](> Some Jewish Women, 
 
 cost another Joseph — Herod*s uncle — his 
 life. If he should fail in his undertaking, 
 the two women were to be executed by 
 their custodians. 
 
 On account of the striking similarity of 
 the circumstances, there really was no secret 
 to keep; the imprisoned women must have 
 been stupid indeed not to anticipate a repe- 
 tition of Herod's cruel injunction. Yet our 
 historian has a great deal to say about 
 Sohemus' indiscreet talk, and represents him 
 as having suffered death for the same offence 
 for which Herod's uncle, Joseph, was exe- 
 cuted. It is just possible, however, that 
 Sohemus may have been put out of the way 
 for quite a different reason, since every petty 
 scheme of Herod's to advance the interests 
 of his house involved the inevitable slaugh- 
 ter of one or more innocent persons. It was 
 part and parcel of the policy of the court. 
 
 I am, therefore, inclined to think that 
 Mariamne's doom was sealed before Herod 
 set out on his journey of homage. The aver- 
 sion with which she recoiled from him when 
 he returned, puffed up with the favor Au- 
 
. Mariantne, the Hasmonean. yy 
 
 gtistus had shown him; the open disgust 
 with which his caresses filled her, — this 
 rapid change of affection to hate served but 
 to hasten the inevitable end. How were it 
 possible for a noble woman to live any- 
 longer with such a man ! She had but one 
 haven of rest — death, and death alone. 
 
 And amid such conditions began the year 
 29 B.C. Hate, injured pride, and jealousy 
 had for the moment so far overcome the 
 love which Mariamne's fascinating charms 
 still kept aglow in the despot's breast, that, 
 maddened with rage, he consented to have 
 her condemned to death by a venal court. A 
 good pretext for seeking her destruction was 
 soon found. There was no occasion for Sa- 
 lome to invent the story that Mariamne had 
 prepared a poisoned draught or love potion 
 for the king. As if the unfortunate woman 
 had not already suffered enough, another 
 bitter drop was added to her overflowing 
 cup from a source whence she had least ex- 
 pected it. Alexandra, her unnatural mother, 
 in order to purchase the tyrant's good-will, 
 cast off her daughter and pursued her with 
 
78 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 such vile abuse, while the uncomplaining 
 sufferer was led to the place of execution, 
 that it excited the indignation of the specta- 
 tors. But the queen's last moments cannot 
 be better portrayed than in the matchless 
 words of Josephus : *' At the first she gave 
 her not a word, nor was discomposed at her 
 peevishness, and only looked at her, yet did 
 she, out of a greatness of soul, discover her 
 concern for her mother's offence, and espe- 
 cially for her exposing herself in a manner 
 so unbecoming her : but as for herself, she 
 went to her death with an unshaken firmness 
 of mind, and without changing the color of 
 her face, and thereby evidently discovered 
 the nobility of her descent to the spec- 
 tators, even in the last moments of her 
 life."* 
 
 For having thus softened the painful de- 
 tails of this death-scene with an artist's skil- 
 ful touch, we owe Flavins Josephus a debt 
 of gratitude. As the Greeks in Euripides' 
 masterpiece, Hecuba, cover the body of the 
 
 *Antiq., XV, 7, 5- 
 
Mariamne, the Hasmonean, 79 
 
 dying Polyxena with ivy leaves to hide it 
 from view, so the famous annalist mag- 
 nanimously throws the veil of his lofty com- 
 passion over the bleeding remains of this 
 true queen. Had Josephus written nothing 
 else of worth, this one paragraph alone enti- 
 tles him to a place among the greatest 
 writers. 
 
 We have heard so much of Mariamne's 
 moral purity and nobility of soul, that we 
 are naturally led to ask whether she did not 
 possess the virtues of the better Maccabees. 
 It cannot be denied that we miss in her the 
 Hasmonean piety, the devotion of the Chas- 
 idim, their humility and unselfish patri- 
 otism. And to the absence of these virtues 
 must be ascribed the mysterious fact that 
 precisely where we should expect to find an 
 account of the tragedy of her life — in rab- 
 binical literature, that workshop of Judaism, 
 — no mention whatever is made of it. Had 
 her nature taken on more of the polish of 
 Jewish life, who knows but that she might 
 have been reserved for a better fate or died 
 in a better cause ! Who knows but that his- 
 
8o Some Jewish Women. 
 
 tory might to-day have placed her at the 
 side of her great ancestress, the honored 
 Salome Alexandra ! But the later Hasmo- 
 neans were bent on furthering their own 
 worldly interests, apart from the higher 
 aspirations of their people ; and the nation, 
 through its best minds, duly avenged itself 
 by ignoring them as unpatriotic and selfishly 
 ambitious. 
 
 Mariamne was but twenty-seven years of 
 age, when her cruel husband condemned her 
 to death. Of her position in the world*s 
 literature I cannot speak, as I have read 
 none of the various tragedies and other pro- 
 ductions of which she forms the central 
 figure. 
 
 During more than twenty-six years she 
 lived on in her murderer's memory, to tor- 
 ture his soul with remorse ; and this circum- 
 stance inspired the following well-known 
 stanzas, from the Hebrew Melodies, where 
 Byron gives a most vivid picture of the 
 grief-stricken despot lamenting her for 
 whose untimely death he had only himself 
 to blame. 
 
Mariamne, the Hasmonean. 8i 
 
 *' Oh, Mariamne ! Now for thee 
 
 The heart for which thou bledst is bleeding ; 
 Revenge is lost in agony, 
 
 And wild remorse to rage succeeding. 
 Oh, Mariamne ! Where art thou? 
 
 Thou canst not hear my bitter pleading : 
 Ah ! couldst thou — thou wouldst pardon now, 
 
 Though Heaven were to my prayer unheeding. 
 
 **And is she dead ? And did they dare 
 
 Obey my frenzy's jealous raving? 
 My wrath but doomed my own despair : 
 
 The sword that smote her 's o'er me waving. 
 But thou art cold, my murdered love ! 
 
 And this dark heart is vainly craving 
 For her who soars alone above, 
 
 And leaves my soul unworthy saving. 
 
 '* She's gone, who shared my diadem ; 
 
 She sunk, with her my joys entombing ; 
 I swept that flower from Judah's stem 
 
 Whose leaves for me alone were blooming ; 
 And mine's the guilt, and mine the hell, 
 
 This bosom's desolation dooming ; 
 And I have earned those tortures well. 
 
 Which unconsumed are still consuming !" 
 
 Alexandra did not long enjoy the fruits 
 of her unnatural conduct and base hypo- 
 crisy. The sword that had ended the beau- 
 
82 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 tiful Mariamne^s life was already whetted 
 to cut off the head of her guiltier mother, 
 and after the expiration of only a few weeks 
 she fell a victim to her reckless and inces- 
 sant political machinations. 
 
V. 
 
 HELENA, QUEEN AND PROSELYTE. 
 
 To THE east of the river Tigris, between 
 its tributaries Lycus and Caprus (now 
 called the great and little Zab), there lies a 
 small but fertile stretch of country which, 
 under the name of Adiabene, once formed 
 an important dependency of the Parthian 
 empire. About the time of which we are 
 now speaking this province was under the 
 rule of an ancient race of princes, some of 
 whom were specially distinguished for their 
 excellent qualities. The country itself is 
 exceedingly small in extent — the whole 
 area being comprised within 35^ 30' and 36° 
 30' north latitude ; and, up to the first 
 century of our era, its sole claim to fame 
 rested on the victory of Alexander the 
 Great near the old capital Arbela (now 
 Arbil), which was achieved in 331 B.C. But, 
 about the period of its history with which 
 we are here concerned, the Adiabenian 
 
 (83) 
 
84 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 annals are adorned with the names of a far 
 greater number of high-minded sovereigns 
 than we should then have expected to find 
 at the Asiatic courts. In the present sketch 
 we shall speak in particular of an august 
 royal lady, whose life is most deserving of 
 the reader's attention. 
 
 Helena — the hdSdh ■'j'7^n of the Talmud* 
 — was born probably about the year 15 B.C. 
 In conformity with the depraved custom of 
 Oriental dynasties, a custom for which, as 
 Graetzf correctly observes, the Macedonian 
 court was chiefly to blame, she was married 
 to a near relative ; according to Josephus,:|: 
 her own brother. By her marriage with 
 king Monobazus I she had two sons, of 
 whom the younger, Izates, born in the year 
 S C.E., became his father's idol. The details 
 of the king's partiality for Izates are of too 
 little importance to be recounted in so brief 
 a historical sketch ; suffice it to say, that he 
 
 *Nasir, 3, 6 ; Tosefta, Sukkah, i, et al, 
 t Geschichte der Juden, III, 332. 
 X Antiq., XX, 2, i. 
 
Helena^ Queen and Proselyte, 85 
 
 preferred him not only to his elder brother, 
 afterwards Monobazus II, but also to the 
 sons of his other wives. In order, however, 
 to protect Izates from the envious hatred of 
 his brothers, the boy*s education was en- 
 trusted to king Abennerig, a friend of his 
 father, who reigned over Charax-Spasinu, on 
 the northern coast of the Persian Gulf. In 
 his new home young Izates found not only 
 a second father, but also a wife in the per- 
 son of the king's daughter, Samacha; he 
 gained something else, moreover, which 
 proved to be of great value to him in after 
 life. 
 
 While Izates was residing here, a Jewish 
 merchant, Ananias by name, paid frequent 
 visits to Abennerig's court. He was a man 
 well versed in the Scriptures, and, in offer- 
 ing his dainty and rare wares to the ladies 
 of the palace, it was but natural for him to 
 talk about the Bible now and then, and to 
 teach them '*to worship God according to 
 the Jewish religion."^ What has often 
 
 ''^Josephus, Antiq., XX, 2, 3. 
 
86 So7ne Jewish Women, 
 
 been observed in thousands of cases, before 
 and afterwards, at Rome, Damascus, and 
 other places, happened in this instance. 
 Noble women grew enthusiastic in their 
 praise of the spiritual beauty of Judaism, 
 and particularly were they impressed with 
 the difference between the position of 
 Jewish women and that of their heathen 
 sisters ; the former treated with respect, the 
 latter held in degrading subjection. It was 
 among the ladies of the palace that Izates 
 first came in contact with the eloquent 
 Jewish missionary, by whom he was so 
 greatly influenced that he became an ardent 
 convert; probably, too, his wife Samacha 
 had set him the example by adopting the 
 Jewish faith herself. 
 
 His favorite son having now been absent 
 many years, the elder Monobazus, who had 
 grown quite old, naturally longed to see him 
 once more ; and when, at his father's com- 
 mand, Izates prepared to return to Adiabene, 
 so earnest was he in his zeal for his new 
 confession that he persuaded Ananias to 
 accompany him. The king of Adiabene 
 
Helena^ Queen and Proselyte, 87 
 
 did not long survive this meeting with his 
 son; he died shortly after, in the year 35 
 C.E. But before his father's death, Izates 
 made the surprising discovery that his 
 mother had become a Jewess. During her 
 son*s absence Helena had made the ac- 
 quaintance of a Jewish teacher of the Law, 
 and through his instruction she was led to 
 abjure paganism ; whether or not this was 
 done with her husband's sanction, we are 
 not informed. 
 
 The death of Monobazus I marks the 
 greatest epoch in the history of the Adia- 
 benian dynasty ; for, after the old king had 
 passed away, Judaism at once became a 
 power in the affairs of the state, its civiliz- 
 ing influence being plainly visible in all 
 subsequent events. The first matter of 
 importance was to settle the succession to 
 the throne. Izates had been singled out 
 for the crown by his father's capricious 
 favor; but this testamentary provision, if 
 any of those interested refused to give their 
 assent, could be carried into effect only by 
 a bloody revolution in the palace, and such 
 
88 Soute Jewish Women. 
 
 a scene of horror the pious queen wished 
 to prevent. She accordingly convoked the 
 grandees of the realm, communicated to 
 them the late king*s wish, and asked their 
 counsel. The nobles were content to 
 acknowledge Izates as king ; but they sug- 
 gested the necessity of putting all the other 
 princes to death, after the true Oriental 
 fashion, in order to render his position 
 secure. The noble-minded Helena was 
 shocked at this terrible proposal, and it 
 required all her tact to prevent an atrocity 
 sanctioned by the custom of the age. 
 
 On account of Izates' absence from court 
 — he had gone to the province conferred on 
 him by his father — Monobazus, the elder 
 brother, acted as regent; only for a few 
 days, however, for Izates presently arrived 
 at the capital. Then Monobazus, with the 
 consent of all concerned, voluntarily sur- 
 rendered the reins of government to his 
 younger brother. The new king imme- 
 diately released his brothers and relatives, 
 who, according to the prevailing practice, 
 had all been imprisoned. But in order, at 
 
Helena, Queen and Proselyte, 89 
 
 the same time, to guard his throne against 
 revolts and ambitious schemes, he hit upon 
 the expedient of banishing the princes : one- 
 half he sent to the imperial palace at Rome, 
 where they were still living during the em- 
 peror Claudius' reign ;* the other half, to the 
 Parthian king Artabanus III at Ctesiphon. 
 With his elevation to the throne, Izates 
 lost none of his enthusiasm for Judaism. 
 All his religious duties were performed 
 with the utmost conscientiousness. He 
 could not rest satisfied with the assurance 
 of his teacher Ananias that the observance 
 of the Abrahamic covenant was not in- 
 cumbent upon a 3iyin *ij, a proselyte of the 
 gate ; he preferred to follow the more ortho- 
 dox view of one Eleazer of Galilee, who 
 held this ceremony to be binding on all 
 proselytes alike.f As bearing upon a theo- 
 logical dispute which has arisen in more 
 recent days, this historical incident is of 
 more than passing interest. 
 
 *Joseplius, Antiq., XX, 2, 3. 
 \Ibid., XX, 4. 
 
90 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 The first few years of the royal proselyte's 
 reign were blessed with undisturbed peace 
 and general prosperity. When his suzerain, 
 Artabanus, was driven from his throne and 
 kingdom for the second time, about 41 C.E., 
 Izates loyally espoused the fallen monarches 
 cause, mediated between him and his dis- 
 contented subjects, and compelled the 
 usurper Kinnamus to abdicate.^ The rein- 
 stated king showed his gratitude by adding 
 the district of Nisibis to Adiabene. 
 
 But this condition of things did not last 
 "long. Artabanus dying in 42 C.E., the Par- 
 thian empire again became the scene of 
 long-protracted disturbances, into which, 
 much to his sorrow, Izates was also drawn. 
 Bardanes, Artabanus* successor, wished to 
 force his feudatory to take part in the war 
 against Rome, and was just about to chas- 
 tise him for his refusal when he himself was 
 slain by conspirators.f So, at least, we 
 are told in the account which Josephus 
 
 * Rawlinson, The Sixth Oriental Monarchy y VI, 14. 
 t Tacitus, Annals, XI, 10. 
 
Helena^ Queen and Proselyte. 91 
 
 gives of this affair. Tacitus, however, 
 makes express mention of Izates' encounter 
 with all-powerful Rome;* but the combat 
 is stated to have taken place sometime after 
 the year 46 C.E„ which could not have been 
 prior to the reign of the Parthian Gotarzes. 
 The Talmud here appears to side with the 
 Roman historian, for the war spoken of in 
 Nazir., Ill, 6, which also delayed Helena's 
 intended pilgrimage to Jerusalem, seems; 
 in view of the surrounding circumstances, 
 to refer, unmistakably, not to the later 
 military exploits of Izates, but to the strug- 
 gle with Rome.f Besides, if Dio Cassius 
 may be trusted,;}: the Roman war must 
 have dragged along for many more years 
 than is commonly supposed, nay, it must 
 have outlasted Izates' reign, inasmuch as 
 peace was concluded by his successor Mono- 
 bazus II, who gave hostages to the Romans 
 Through his brother's conversion, Mono- 
 
 * Annals, XII, 13, 14. V 
 
 t Cf. also Hamburger, Real-Encyclopcsdie, II, 802. 
 
 Jlxii, 23. 
 
92 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 bazus and other members of the royal house 
 were led to embrace the Jewish faith. The 
 courage and publicity with which they did 
 so roused the anger of the pagan Adiabe- 
 nians, and accordingly they rose up in revolt 
 against their ruler. But Izates, who had 
 been unfortunate for a while, again pros- 
 pered in his undertakings, nor did fortune 
 ever again entirely desert him. The Ara- 
 bian king, Abia, to whom the rebellious mag- 
 nates had appealed for assistance, suffered 
 so disastrous a defeat, that in despair he put 
 an end to his life. Vologases, who occupied 
 the Parthian throne at Ctesiphon since 52 
 C.E., thereupon took the field in person 
 against his feudatory. He was at the head 
 of a strong army, but, on learning that 
 robber hordes had broken into his own 
 provinces, he was obliged to turn back 
 without having accomplished anything. 
 
 I have thus outlined Izates' political 
 career, for a period almost co-extensive with 
 his reign, in order not only to present the 
 historical events in their unbroken sequence, 
 but also for the purpose of showing how 
 
Helena^ Queen and Proselyte. 93 
 
 clearly the good influence of Helena's faith- 
 ful observance of the Jewish moral laws 
 manifests itself in both the court policy and 
 the general conduct of her sons. In what 
 follows, however, I shall confine myself more 
 particularly to the life of the widowed queen. 
 As soon as Izates ceased for a time to be so 
 busily occupied with affairs of state, she 
 made use of her sad leisure to carry out a 
 long-cherished project. Having heard a 
 g^eat deal of Jerusalem, and her reverence 
 for Judaism increasing daily, she was seized 
 with a longing to visit the incomparable 
 Temple, the only place of worship of the kind 
 in the world. The anxious mother had made 
 a vow to lead the life of a Nazarite for seven 
 years, in the event of her son's safe return 
 from the war, by which, as already indicated, 
 the Roman campaign is meant. When, at 
 last, — about the year 45 C.E. — a brief interval 
 of peace succeeded, Izates not only gave his 
 consent to his mother's journey, but also 
 aided her royally in her preparations. 
 
 As Adiabene is at some distance from 
 Palestine, the news of the pious queen's 
 
94 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 project could not but have excited great 
 interest and curiosity long in advance of 
 her arrival ; and when, after many days of 
 suspense, the foreign train with its numer- 
 ous attendants made its entrance through 
 one of the north-eastern gates, the Fish-gate 
 perhaps, it is certain that the Holy City was 
 alive with joyous excitement. Would that I 
 had the brilliant, glowing colors of Byzantine 
 art, or the resources of an Alma Tadema or 
 Benjamin Constant, the modern imitators 
 of that school, that I might depict this 
 reception in all its gorgeous magnificence ! 
 The flowing robes, the rustling brocades, 
 the peculiar features of the long line of 
 attendants, captivating the eye by their 
 strangeness, the central figure of the queen 
 in her royal palanquin amid ,the surging 
 crowd, who gazed on eagerly in the proud 
 consciousness of the honor conferred on 
 their city — all this pomp, glitter, and com- 
 motion beneath the glorious splendor of the 
 Eastern sun, how grand a spectacle it must 
 have been ! Helena^s arrival dispelled for a 
 moment the deep gloom of tyranny and 
 
Helena, Queen and Proselyte. 95 
 
 oppression which was settling upon hapless 
 Judea. After the murder of good king 
 Agrippa, Rome had sent another of her 
 pliant tools, the procurator Cuspius Fadus, 
 to Jerusalem, He it was who now ruled 
 over Judea ; and the bitter envy, the spiteful 
 derision, with which the Roman officials 
 must have witnessed this moral victory 
 of the down-trodden Palestineans, can be 
 better imagined than described. 
 
 But Helena had not come to parade 
 foreign splendor. She was now sixty-four, 
 and led a very retired life, devoting herself 
 almost exclusively to pious works. From 
 the disciples of Hillel she ascertained the 
 conditions of nazariteship required by the 
 Law, and, some unimportant incident having 
 delayed the execution of her design, she 
 lived under the self-imposed restrictions 
 of a' Nazarite for fourteen long years — 
 almost the remainder of her life.* She 
 divided her time between Jerusalem and 
 Lydda, and in Acra, one of the quarters of 
 
 '.=%> 
 
 * Nazir, III, 6 ; Gemara, ihid.^ 20a. 
 
96 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 the former city, she erected a magnificent 
 palace, which fell a prey to the flames of 
 the destructive year 70.* This was not the 
 only splendid edifice with which the Adia- 
 benian line beautified the capital. Some- 
 what later perhaps, Helena's younger rela- 
 tive, Grapte, erected an equally extensive 
 building in the quarter known as Ophel.t 
 Even at this time influential scholars were 
 living at Lydda, who were fond of resorting 
 to the house of the 'high-minded queen. 
 While in this provincial town, during the 
 Feast of Tabernacles, — so the Tosef taj tells 
 us — she was on one occasion sitting in her 
 bower, which in her naivete she had built 
 in the huge proportions prompted by her 
 Eastern love of display, when her rabbini- 
 cal friends entered. The politic sophrim, 
 noticing at once this violation of the Hala- 
 chic ordinance,§ very pardonable in a prose- 
 
 "^ Josephus, Wars, VI, 6, 3. 
 t Ibid.y IV, 9, II. 
 X Sukkah, I. 
 
 \ A sukkah must not exceed twenty cubits in height. 
 (Sukkah, I, i.) 
 
Helena^ Queen and Proselyte, 97 
 
 lyte, only smiled inwardly, without uttering 
 so much as a word of comment. 
 
 When Helena went to Jerusalem, she was 
 accompanied by the five sons of Izates, who 
 received there an education in keeping with 
 the religious spirit of the place."^ Her two 
 sons, Izates and Monobazus, often stopped 
 at the Judean capital, and other Adiabe- 
 nians of rank from time to time followed the 
 example of their generous princes. For 
 more than a century from this date, as can 
 be demonstrated, the Jewish race and the 
 inhabitants of the small Parthian fief were 
 on terms of the most friendly intercourse.f 
 It is very necessary, however, for Jewish 
 writers to make a thorough investigation of 
 such epochal conversions, and especially of 
 those on a large scale, with a view to deter- 
 mine their genuineness. This is indispens- 
 able, if for no better reason than because 
 the most important events of this kind, e,g., 
 the Khazar conversion of the eighth cen- 
 
 * Josephus, Antiquities, XX, 3, 4. 
 
 t Hamburger, Real-Encyclopcedie^ II, 18. 
 
98 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 tury, are either designedly ignored or else 
 denied by many Christian scholars of the 
 present day. 
 
 The Adiabenian dynasty soon won renown 
 in Jenisalem and throughout the rest of 
 Palestine by their great acts of benevolence. 
 Long after Helena's arrival at Jerusalem, 
 about 47 C.E., a dire famine prevailed in 
 Judea, which must have continued for years, 
 as Josephus speaks of it twice in connection 
 with the maladministration of two procur- 
 ators, Cuspius Fadus and Tiberius Alexan- 
 der.* The generous queen had corn bought 
 up in Alexandria, and figs in Cyprus, at an 
 enormous outlay, and distributed these pro- 
 visions in bulk among the famishing people. 
 When her son heard of the calamity, eager 
 not to be outdone by his good mother, he 
 sent very large sums of money to the prin- 
 cipal men of Jerusalem for the same charit- 
 able purpose ; and at this very time — what 
 a contrast! — a degenerate scion of Israel 
 was ruling over Jerusalem by means of the 
 
 Antiq., XX, 2, 5 and 5, 2. 
 
Helena^ Queen and Proselyte. 99 
 
 sword, cross, and scourge, in the name of 
 rapacious Rome. Tiberius Alexander, the 
 son of a noble father, Alexander Lysimachus, 
 alabarch of Alexandria, and of a still nobler 
 uncle, the philosopher Philo, had not only, 
 through some unaccountable perversion of 
 the best influences of home, turned recreant 
 to the grand traditions of his ancestors ; he 
 had not only renounced the God of Israel for 
 Jupiter Capitolinus and all the other super- 
 stitions of Roman mythology ; but he was, 
 moreover, one of the most abandoned apos- 
 tates that disgrace the history of the Jewish 
 race. Josephus, to whom the details of this 
 man's life were quite familiar, has, much to 
 his own discredit, purposely concealed three- 
 fourths of his misdeeds. Even in the two 
 or three crimes of which he accuses the 
 wicked procurator, the great historian 
 plainly palters with the truth, being doubt- 
 less actuated by the desire not to give 
 offence to his Roman friends. A careful 
 reading of the paragraph to which I refer^ 
 
 *Antiq.,XX, 5, 2. 
 
lOO Some Jewish Women, 
 
 will convince the reader of tlie justice of 
 my charge. Here we find another instance 
 of that censorship, practised in antiquity 
 and dictated by the fear of men and princes, 
 to which I was the first to call attention. 
 While now this apostate hireling of mighty 
 Rome found glory, nay, savage delight, in 
 whetting the Roman sword for the necks of 
 his own brethren, there sat in her palace at 
 Acra an august lady, who had journeyed 
 thither from the distant table-land of Assyria, 
 and who, though belonging to quite a differ- 
 ent race, was so closely allied to the Jewish 
 people in her thoughts and feelings, that she 
 sympathized with them in all their woes, and 
 spent almost a life-time in trying to heal some 
 of the many wounds which this degenerate 
 man had inflicted on his land and people. 
 
 In the account given by Josephus of 
 Helena's visit to Jerusalem, after relating 
 the matters on which we have touched, he 
 promises to speak later of her other acts 
 of munificence;* but, as sometimes hap- ' 
 
 ^Antiq., XX, 2, 5. 
 
Helena^ Queen and Proselyte. loi 
 
 pens with busy writers, tie fails to redeem 
 his promise. Perhaps he referred to 
 Helena's valuable gifts to the Temple, of 
 which special mention is made in the Tal- 
 mud. She dedicated a golden candlestick 
 to the sanctuary,* or, as the Gemaraf 
 defines it, a concave mirror, whose reflected 
 rays, indicating the hour of sunrise, served 
 to mark the proper time for reciting the 
 Shema ; and also a golden tablet, on which 
 the section Sota (concerning the suspected 
 wife. Numbers, V; 11-31) was engraved. 
 The example of his mother excited in Mono- 
 bazus a spirit of generous rivalry, and 
 accordingly he provided with golden 
 handles % ^ the sacred vessels used on the 
 Day of Atonement. Of the life of this 
 man history has left us very scanty records, 
 evidently because his reign extended be- 
 yond the period to which Josephus pro- 
 posed to confine himself ; but ancient 
 
 * Joma III, 10. 
 
 t37b. 
 
 { Tosefta, Joma II. 
 
'i^.; 
 
 1 02 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 traditions single him out as by far the 
 most charitable of his race. His liberality 
 became a positive passion ; and when, on 
 one occasion, his relatives reproached him 
 with having, in a year of scarcity, dis- 
 tributed among the poor almost all the 
 treasures inherited from his ancestors, the 
 magnanimous Adiabenian replied in the 
 following lofty words, which have been 
 handed down to posterity : " My fathers 
 garnered riches for this world, I garner for 
 brighter realms; they deposited their 
 wealth where human hands may seize it, 
 I have placed mine beyond human reach ; 
 they amassed treasures that yield nothing, 
 those gathered by me produce a large reve- 
 nue ; they accumulated money and money's 
 worth, I gain men's gratitude ; they hoarded 
 for others, I hoard for myself ; my ances- 
 tors, in fine, gathered for this life alone, I 
 lay up store in the other world for all time 
 to come."* What greater glory could 
 Helena have asked, even if this were all she 
 
 ^Tosefta, Pea IV. 
 
Helena^ Queen and Proselyte. 103 
 
 had done, than that of having brought up 
 such sons? 
 
 Izates* well-spent life drew to a close in 
 the year 60 C.E ; he died at the age of fifty- 
 five, after a reign of nearly a quarter of a 
 century. When the royal mother heard of 
 her dear son's decease, his memory impelled 
 her irresistibly to return to her native land. 
 Though now in her seventy-fifth year, she 
 suffered no great inconvenience from the 
 journey; it was vouchsafed her to reach 
 the spot where her favorite son had expired 
 with her name upon his dying lips, and 
 here she lingered to bedew the dead body 
 with her tears. Only a few days later, she, 
 too, passed away. Monobazus, succeeding 
 Izates upon the throne, had the revered 
 remains of his mother and brother carried 
 to Jerusalem, and placed in the mausoleum 
 destined for them. Hard by the northern 
 wall of the Holy City, which divided the 
 suburb Bezetha from the open country, and 
 only one-third of a mile distant from the 
 lower town (Acra), stood a huge marble 
 pile, built in the Grseco-Egyptian style. 
 
I04 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 Helena had had this showy structure 
 erected in her life-time, as a final resting- 
 place for the bodies of herself and family. 
 This is the same tomb which Pausanias 
 saw at a later date, and must not be con- 
 founded with the well-known sepulchres of 
 the kings ; it lies somewhat farther to the 
 west, very near the tower of Psephinus. 
 
 The Jewish race gratefully cherished the 
 memory of good queen Helena far down 
 into the Middle Ages. In a later Midrash^ 
 she occupies a conspicuous place among 
 ten royal proselytes. Nor must it be for- 
 gotten that this noble-hearted dynasty con- 
 tinued true to the Jewish nation to the 
 very last. On the day when Cestius Gallus, 
 attacking Jerusalem, was forced by Jewish 
 valor to make a most ignominious retreat, 
 two kinsmen of the royal house, Monobazus 
 and Kenedeus, perished on the field of 
 honor,-!* and they were not the only Adia- 
 benians who unsheathed their swords in 
 
 * Beth-Hamidrash, ed. JeUinek, IV, p. 133, ei seq. 
 tjosephus, Wars, II, 19, 2. 
 
Helena^ Queen and Proselyte, 105 
 
 the deadly struggle for Jewish independ- 
 ence. When the tragic end came, the re- 
 maining members of this high-minded 
 family naturally incurred the wrath of 
 Titus, though, by his determination to take 
 them with him to Rome as hostages, they 
 escaped a much worse fate.* 
 
 * Josephus, Wars, VI, 6, 4. 
 
VI. 
 
 BERENICE. 
 
 THE daughter of Agrippa I, called Ber- 
 enice — a favorite name among the 
 Alexandrian Greeks — was born in the year 
 28 C.E. If we except a certain kindness of 
 heart, such as persons of lax morals and 
 loose habits often possess, this woman*s 
 life presents very little worthy of commen- 
 dation. I hardly feel at liberty, however, 
 to omit all mention of her, not only because 
 her career is intimately bound up with the 
 history of that turbulent century, but also 
 because her very shortcomings serve admir- 
 ably to characterize the kind of women — 
 not a very exalted or attractive class, to be 
 sure — that we might naturally expect to 
 find amid the vicissitudes of the Herodian 
 house, nay, that we must of necessity find 
 under such mental and moral conditions, 
 with their manifold allurements and temp- 
 tations. 
 
 (106) 
 
Berenice, 107 
 
 Berenice's personal charms brought her 
 numerous suitors, while she was -yet very- 
 young. Historians speak of her striking 
 beauty, which disturbed for a moment the 
 tranquillity of mighty Rome itself, in terms 
 of extravagant praise. She was probably 
 still a child, when her father married her 
 to Marcus, son of Alexander Lysimachus, 
 the rich and highly educated alabarch of 
 Alexandria. But Marcus died very soon 
 after he was united to his charming wife, 
 and thus the young princess was left a 
 widow even in her childhood. Knowing 
 from his own adventurous youth that it was 
 not well for his daughter to remain single, 
 the king lost no time in giving her again 
 in marriage. She now became the spouse of 
 her uncle Herod, to whom, through the inter- 
 cession of his brother and father-in-law, the 
 emperor Claudius granted the Syrian prin- 
 cipality of Chalcis. Shortly after, in the 
 year 44, her father died, most likely through 
 poison, and about the same time Berenice, 
 then not above sixteen, appears to have lost 
 her second husband. She was now placed 
 
io8 Some Jewish Wo7ne7t. 
 
 ■under the guardianship of her brother, 
 Agrippa II, concerning whose relations to 
 his sister malicious tongues whispered a 
 most damaging story. Doubtless these 
 rumors were not without foundation, as 
 Josephus* reluctantly admits ; and certainly 
 could it have been consistently done, Titus' 
 subsequent liaison with Berenice would 
 have induced him, for the Roman's sake, to 
 pass over the matter in silence. But, as 
 Juvenal's celebrated satiref fully attests, 
 the affair had already been noised abroad 
 through the medium of Roman literature. 
 In the hope of putting an end to the evil 
 reports concerning her, Berenice, after many 
 years of widowhood, not very creditably 
 spent, entered into the nuptial state for the 
 third time. A petty Asiatic king, Polemo 
 of Cilicia, influenced by Berenice's charms 
 and bribed by Herod's gold, embraced the 
 Jewish faith for the purpose of marrying 
 her. Soon growing tired of Polemo, how- 
 
 * Antiq., XX, 7, 3. 
 t VI, 157, ei seq. 
 
Berenice. 109 
 
 ever, slie deserted him in order that she 
 might be perfectly free to follow her own 
 unrestrained inclinations, while he, on his 
 part, returned to his former faith. Her two 
 sisters, Mariamne and Drusilla, deserve to 
 be censured almost as severely as she for 
 their dissolute lives ; in imitation of Roman 
 depravity, they were continually changing 
 husbands — a custom which very soon found 
 its way to the East, where it was made 
 attractive under new forms. Of her young- 
 est sister, the beautiful, blooming Drusilla, 
 Berenice was very envious and subjected 
 her to all manner of annoyances. 
 
 The character of these women shows us 
 how low the Herodians had sunk in Bere- 
 nice's time. The seed sown by bloodthirsty 
 Herod had borne poisonous fruit, and in 
 these scions of the Idumean stock, forcibly 
 engrafted on Judaism, scarcely a vestige of 
 Israel's spiritual nature can be discerned. 
 But, however little Jewish history need 
 concern itself with the wanton misdeeds of 
 the Herodians, particularly on the female 
 side, — misdeeds causing them not alone to 
 
 •• f 
 
no Some Jewish Women. 
 
 drift away entirely from Judaism, but also, 
 hastening that proud family's doom — it is 
 provoking to find that among the Romans, 
 as may be observed in the contemptuous 
 tone of their writers, these outcasts should 
 have been regarded as true representatives 
 of the Jewish race. There is but one way 
 to account for this error: the victorious 
 Romans were so inflated with conceit, that 
 they rarely troubled themselves to inquire 
 minutely into matters which concerned 
 only their subjects. 
 
 Meanwhile the awful catastrophe that 
 befell Judea was vigorously approaching. 
 The last and worst of the procurators, Ges- 
 sius Floras, came to Jerusalem with the 
 determination to stir up the angry passions 
 of the inhabitants by new acts of violence, 
 in order that he might find in their meas- 
 ures of self-defence some sort of pretext to 
 rob and murder them. In the month of 
 May, 66 C.E., his brutal cohorts burst into 
 the Upper Market Place, to begin their 
 work of pillage and slaughter. Berenice 
 chanced to be in the capital at the time ; a 
 
Berenice, 1 1 1 
 
 nazaritic vow, it is said, made her presence 
 there a necessity.'^ How strange a contrast 
 even in these strangely turbulent times — 
 this frivolous descendant of Herod in the 
 role of an abstinent, pious Nazarite ! The 
 sight of the horrible scenes enacted before 
 her very eyes awakened the better impulses 
 of her nature ; the Maccabean blood in her 
 veins boiled at these excesses of Roman inso- 
 lence ; the sacred character of her surround- 
 ings excited within her a feeling of pity for 
 the people who, in spite of the lustre which 
 they had shed on her house, were now 
 being goaded on to destruction by her own 
 family. She sent her servants and the 
 officers of her household before the tribunal 
 of the cruel Florus, to intercede for the 
 unhappy Jews ; nay, she herself stood bare- 
 foot before the tyrant, conjuring, imploring 
 him to put a stop to the atrocities — but all 
 in vain. Obliged to conceal herself in her 
 palace, Berenice remained during the entire 
 night exposed to the utmost danger, having 
 
 * Josephus, Wars, II, 15, i. 
 
112 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 no other protection against the fury of the 
 Roman soldiery than that which the guards 
 of her household afforded her. This event 
 occurred on the i6th of Ijar(the Artemisius 
 of Macedonian chronology) of the troublous 
 
 year 66. 
 
 Some days later her brother Agrippa 
 returned home. He had been at Alexan- 
 dria, where he congratulated the apostate 
 Tiberius Alexander, the alabarch's degener- 
 ate son, on his good fortune in having 
 secured the office of governor of Egypt. 
 The alabarch was closely related to the 
 Herodian house by various intermarriages : 
 his elder son, Marcus, had been Berenice's 
 first husband, and the other son, Deme- 
 trius, had wedded Mariamne, Berenice's 
 younger sister. The news of the outrages 
 committed in Jerusalem had no doubt 
 hastened Agrippa's return ; he flattered 
 himself that he could persuade the national 
 party to submit to Rome, hoping thereby 
 to increase his influence with the Roman 
 authorities. For this purpose he delivered 
 his celebrated oration in favor of peace, 
 
Berenice, 113 
 
 which has been transmitted to ns too fully 
 by Josephns,* who has enlarged and gar- 
 nished it in the Livian style. Agrippa 
 chose a fit locality for this ornate speech. 
 It was an open court in the vicinity of the 
 Temple. Here stood the Herodian titular 
 king and near by, in gay attire, sat his sis- 
 ter, on a veranda of the Hasmonean palace, 
 where all could see her. She looked sad, 
 she wept ; and there are good reasons for 
 believing that her tears were not wholly 
 affected. In spite of all her shortcomings 
 she was a far better woman than her sister 
 Drusilla, who, following the custom of the 
 time, had discarded her husband, married 
 the procurator Felix, and become a pagan. 
 She it was, as we learn f rora the early Chris- 
 tian records, who sat by the side of her 
 Roman spouse when Paul appeared before 
 him ;f and on the celebrated Raphael tapes- 
 try, at Dresden and at Hampton Court 
 Palace, her figure, standing out more prom- 
 
 * Wars, II, 16, 4. 
 
 t Acts of the Apostles, XXIV, 24. 
 H 
 
Ii4 Some Jewish Womett. 
 
 inently than the rest, may be seen in all its 
 voluptuousness. 
 
 The mention of Berenice in connection 
 with this exhibition is the last we hear of 
 her prior to the winter of 67, when, proba- 
 bly about the month of February, she again 
 figures in history. It was at this time that 
 Vespasian landed at the port of Ptolemai's. 
 His son Titus followed him from Egypt 
 with two legions, and now it was very ap- 
 parent that Rome was weaving its meshes 
 of war about ill-fated Judea. All sorts of 
 Asiatic feudatories, accompanied by their 
 auxiliaries, appeared there also, to curry 
 favor with the Roman imperator. Agrippa 
 was present, and among his train was his 
 sister Berenice. She was still an attractive 
 woman, and the tender relations which 
 afterwards existed between her and the de- 
 stroyer of her people, Titus, who was twelve 
 years her junior, date from this time. Jose- 
 phus, generally so diffuse, makes no men- 
 tion whatever of this liaison. He had good 
 reasons, of course, for keeping silent. But 
 Tacitus, who was too conscientious to sup- 
 
Berenice. 115 
 
 press events of historical importance, has 
 recorded the fact of Berenice's presence on 
 this occasion and has also informed us that 
 it was her gold which fed Vespasian's insa- 
 tiable avarice.* What remains to be told 
 the reader will find in Suetonius. 
 
 When Rome needed an emperor in place 
 of the weak Vitellius, the appearance of 
 Tiberius Alexander and his Egyptian troops 
 turned the scale in favor of Vespasian, who, 
 through Berenice's scheming, also secured 
 the assistance of her brother-in-law, the 
 Egyptian prefect. As for young Titus, he 
 was so completely under her control, that 
 Berenice already fancied herself securely 
 installed as empress in the palace of the 
 Caesars. One year later the proudest hopes 
 of the newly founded Flavian dynasty were 
 realized. Judea had been vanquished ; she 
 lay in fetters at her victors* feet. While 
 the gorgeous procession, Vespasian in its 
 midst, moved in triumph up the Via Sacra 
 to the Capitoline arx, the brave general, 
 
 * Historia, II, 81. 
 
Ii6 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 the dauntless leader of the Zealots, Simon 
 ben-Gioras, was executed in the Mamertine 
 prison, according to that savage Roman 
 custom which demanded a triumphal sacri- 
 fice. And at a window of the imperial 
 palace stood a degenerate daughter of 
 Israel, gazing on the wonderful pageant 
 with a cold, calculating glance — a picture 
 that presents to us one of those contrasts 
 by which the caprice of history is wont 
 to signalize the close of great epochs and 
 civilizations, the downfall of states and 
 nations. 
 
 Under the name of friend {amica), Bere- 
 nice led an unworthy life in the great 
 Roman's house for more than ten years. 
 Titus' morbid, capricious taste made him a 
 slave to her fading beauty ; he guarded her 
 with argus-eyed jealousy and went so far as 
 to have Caecina, a Roman of rank, put to 
 death, because he suspected him of being a 
 rival for her favor. Nay, Titus wished to 
 make her his wife ; but the Romans frowned 
 at the thought of such an alliance, and 
 finally public opinion compelled him to 
 
Berenice. 117 
 
 banish her from Rome."^ This happened 
 probably at the time of his elevation to 
 the throne, in the year 79 ; and though Bere- 
 nice never became his wife, neither did he 
 marry any one else. 
 
 Whither did this childless woman, now 
 fifty-one years of age, wend her way, and 
 how long did she survive her disgrace ? Cut 
 off from the moral culture of two great 
 races, all her family ties broken, homeless 
 through the cruel and degrading abuse of 
 her own freedom, she at last found a grave, 
 leaving to the world an illegible epitaph 
 and — though scarcely deserving to be re- 
 membered at all — an unlovely, but tragic 
 memory. 
 
 * Suetonius, Titus, VII. 
 
'^'' 
 
is: 
 
 THE 
 
 TALMUDIC AGE. 
 
VIL 
 
 MARTHA, DAUGHTER OF BOETHUS. 
 
 "WTow inexpressibly sad is the lot of the 
 -■■ •'- unfortunate woman whose story we 
 are about to relate ! What could she have 
 done to merit the punishment of being 
 thrown into the very midst of the deadly 
 conflict of the Jewish people? Could she 
 have rightfully claimed all the virtues in 
 woman's golden alphabet,* — and it cannot 
 be denied that she possessed some — living 
 among such cruel men and in such evil 
 times, she would still have been irretriev- 
 ably lost. Unfortunately, she possessed, be- 
 sides, the pride of better days, the pride by 
 which noble persons not infrequently hasten 
 their downfall, and which, amid the ruin of 
 empires and sanctuaries, sometimes rises to 
 tragic guilt. She was lacking both in tact 
 
 *The alphabeticaUy arranged Praise of Woman : Prov' 
 erbs, XXXI, 10-31. 
 
 (121) 
 
122 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 and graceful submissiveness, when the time 
 came for her to step down from the height 
 to which she had attained. Once of the 
 highest rank, a pampered woman, whose 
 very name Martha «niD (that is, ruler) 
 betokened her imperious pride — is it a won- 
 der that she still imagined herself encircled 
 by the halo of her past glory. But let us 
 not condemn her too severely for this femi- 
 nine weakness. 
 
 She was the daughter of Boethus, a man 
 otherwise unknown. He must have been 
 very wealthy, and belonged apparently to 
 the Sadducean circles. The name Boethus, 
 to which the Sadducees were very partial, 
 seems to have been tainted* with heresy 
 and to have been shunned in rabbinical 
 circles. In the Echa Rabbati, a Midrash of 
 
 * Boethus and Zadok became, according to Aboth 
 derabbi Natan, 5, the founders of two sects named after 
 them, whose creeds deviated from tradition. Hambur- 
 ger's assertion {Real-EncyclopcBdiCy II, 1042), that the 
 Boethusians took their name from Simon Boethus, the 
 father-in-law of Herod, is, on the other hand, to be dis- 
 missed as without foundation. 
 
; ; 
 
 Martha^ Daughter of Bo'ethus. 123 
 
 pretty ancient date,* our heroine is continu- 
 ally mentioned as Miriam, the daughter of 
 Boethns, a master-baker. f The designation 
 was no doubt chosen intentionally to denote 
 one who had grown rich in the bakery busi- 
 ness, as we should say. There can be no 
 question, moreover, as to the identity of 
 the two names.J Kayserling's hypothesis,§ 
 which makes her the sister of a queen, of 
 the beautiful Mariamne II, wife of Herod 
 and daughter of the Alexandrian priest 
 Simon ben-Boethus, is, therefore, untenable. 
 No ancient authority makes the slightest 
 mention of this relationship. Were Kayser- 
 ling right, she must have married the high- 
 priest Joshua ben-Gamala when a woman 
 
 *Zunz, Gottesdienstliche Vortrdge^ p. 179. 
 t Bcha Rabbati, 67, Col. 3, 4. 
 
 X Compare, for example, Jerushalmi, Ketuboth, 5, 13, 
 with Bcha Rabbati, /. c. It is not to be wondered at that 
 this Midrash (/. c.^ Col. 4) confounds the baker's daughter 
 with the Mother of the Seven Martyrs (see second 
 sketch). Such transpositions are numerous in the earlier 
 Hagada. 
 
 \ Die judischen Frauen, p. 56. 
 
124 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 of more than fourscore years, and the suffer- 
 ings of the nonagenarian, at the time Jeru- 
 salem was reduced to ashes, would hardly 
 have been emphasized as a cause of her 
 untimely death. The absurdity involved in 
 the acceptance of this hypothesis is evi- 
 dent. 
 
 We give preference to the name Martha, 
 vouched for by the Talmud.* We do not 
 believe we shall go far wrong, if we place 
 the birth of Martha — or Miriam — about the 
 year 30 of the common era. When scarcely 
 more than a child, she was married to a 
 man whose name history has not taken the 
 trouble to record, and who after a short 
 period left her a widow amid serious and 
 stormy conditions of life. Who could this 
 short-lived man have been, who bestowed 
 upon the baker's daughter both his heart 
 and his wealth, and then died to make room 
 
 * Both Gemaras agree in this appeUation : Joma i8a ; 
 Jebamoth, 6, 4 ; 6ia ; Ketuboth 104a ; Sukkah 52b ; Gittin 
 56a ; Jerushalmi, Ketuboth, 5, 13 ; furthermore, Sifra, 
 Deut, 281. 
 
Martha^ Daughter of Boethus, 125 
 
 for an ambitious priest, friendly to Rome ? 
 We only know this, that he was himself a 
 priest ; for a son of Martha, who must have 
 been born during her first marriage, offi- 
 ciated as such. Were it not for a casuistical 
 dilemma, to which reference will be made 
 presently, it is more than probable that 
 nothing at all would have been known of 
 her widowhood. 
 
 The priest Joshua or, as Josephus* calls 
 him, Jesus, son of Gamala, was of an age 
 when ambition impels us either to vigorous 
 interference or to diplomatic inactivity, 
 according to the exigencies of the case. 
 When the widow was rich and still attrac- 
 tive, he succeeded in winning her hand. It 
 was in the summer of the year 63, and at 
 that time Rome was represented in Jerusa- 
 lem by the procurator Albinus. High- 
 priests were successively installed in office 
 amid the greatest tumult, dislodging one 
 another like fleeting, shadowy forms. 
 
 * Life, 38, 41 ; Antiquities, XX, 9, 4, 7 ; Wars, IV, 4, 
 
 V 
 
 3 ; 5, 2. 
 
126 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 Agrippa II, titular king and president of 
 the Temple, had this high ofl&ce at his dispo- 
 sal, and during that year as many as three 
 persons, wearing the insignia of high-priest, 
 followed one another at the altar. After 
 Ananus, who remained, in office only three 
 months, came Joshua ben-Damneus, who in 
 a short while was succeeded by Joshua ben- 
 Gamala.* As in the days of the greatest 
 corruption, the dignity was purchasable 
 with money or flattery. This time a wo- 
 man's fond affection paid the required 
 sum. 
 
 Agrippat needed money, much money, for 
 his buildings and his luxurious mode of 
 living. The priest's wife, but recently mar- 
 ried, betook herself to him, followed by her 
 
 * Josephus, Antiquities, XX, 9, 4. 
 
 t According to the Talmud, Jebamoth 6ia, Joma i8a, 
 the venal king was Alexander Jannai. But he had been 
 laid in the royal sepulchre 142 years before. Besides, 
 Jannai was himself vested with the ojEce of high-priest. 
 Except as to Halachic matters, the Talmud often con- 
 tains statements wholly at variance with the facts. 
 
Martha^ Daughter of Boeiktis, 127 
 
 slaves, who dragged after her three kabs^ 
 filled to the top with denarii,\ This was the 
 price which Joshua ben-Gamala paid for the 
 privilege of being anointed high-priest. 
 As such he was really forbidden to marry a 
 widow; but, not being possessed of this 
 dignity at the time of his marriage, the Law 
 was modified for him by a rule of casuistry, 
 and he was permitted to retain his wife.:]: 
 
 The Talmud§ calls attention to the small, 
 aristocratic hand of Joshua ben-Gamala. 
 He certainly had the dainty hand of a priest, 
 one excellently adapted both for burning 
 incense and bestowing the blessing. The 
 couple, it must be admitted, employed their 
 wealth ' beneficently and wisely. The two 
 sacrificial lots, made of boxwood, which 
 were used on the Day of Atonement, he re- 
 
 "S^ I kab = 4 lugs = 96 eggs. 
 
 f The roman silver denarius was equal at that time to 
 about twenty cents of our money. 
 
 X Jebamoth, 6, 4. 
 
 \ Jerushalmi, Joma, 5, 2. 
 
128 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 placed with golden ones.* This can hardly 
 be considered an act of extraordinary liber- 
 ality for such wealthy persons, but tradition 
 gratefully records every worthy deed. 
 
 Martha fairly worshipped her husband; 
 she was the happiest of women. Alas, that 
 her joyous days should have ended so soon! 
 On the Day of Atonement she repaired to 
 the Temple, to admire her husband in the 
 splendor of his sacred office and as reader 
 of the Torah. On this occasion the way 
 from her residence to the Temple mount was 
 laid with the costliest carpets.f 
 
 But we may pardon this love of ostenta- 
 tion, when we remember the great reform 
 which the new high-priest effected in' school 
 affairs — a reform rendered possible, indeed, 
 only by the aid of the noble Martha s gold 
 and good-will. In the earliest tinies, chil- 
 dren were taught at home by their parents. 
 Consequently, orphans and the children of 
 the ignorant received, in many instances, 
 
 * Joma 37a. 
 
 t Bcha Rabbati, 67, 3. 
 
Martha^ Daughter of Boethus. 1 29 
 
 no instruction at all. Later, Simon ben- 
 Shetach founded schools in Jerusalem ; but 
 the right of admission was restricted to ad- 
 vanced pupils, not less than sixteen or sev- 
 enteen years of age. Ben-Gamala first 
 recognized the urgent need of making the 
 fountain of learning accessible to all. In 
 ever)'- large city a school was established, in 
 which instruction of the young was begun 
 as early as their sixth or seventh year. 
 Posterity has preserved the memory of this 
 exceptional deed in the lofty words of 
 praise : " We owe it to the good high-priest 
 that divine learning in Israel has not fallen 
 into oblivion."* 
 
 As already mentioned, Martha had a son 
 by her first marriage,f who, as an ordinary 
 priest, took part in the service in the sanc- 
 tuary with the other priests. The Talmud 
 speaks in most extravagant terms of his 
 
 * Baba batra 21a ; Samuel Marcus, Zur Schulpdda- 
 gogik des Talmud^ p. 15, et seq. 
 
 t This appears from the fact that he was of the lawful 
 age to officiate as priest. 
 
 I 
 
130 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 physical strength,* which is the only char- 
 acteristic that distinguished him from the 
 multitude. After this, no further mention 
 is made of him, and he disappears alto- 
 gether from the recollections of the time. 
 Probably he lost his young life amid the 
 disturbances of the year 67, in the slaughter 
 of the moderate party by the Zealots.f 
 
 When her star was still in the zenith, 
 Martha found herself eclipsed by the mater- 
 nal happiness of her contemporary, the pious 
 Kamit. What woman, whether the wife of 
 a priest or of any one else, could, according 
 to the then accepted notions, compare with 
 Kamit! She had seven sons, and she had 
 seen them all in the vestments of high- 
 priest.:!; Of course, most of them acted 
 merely in the capacity of substitute high- 
 
 * Sukkah 52b. 
 
 t Such seems to be the conclusion of Josephus, Wars, 
 IV, 5, 2. It is hardly likely that a man of rank, who 
 sympathized with Rome, should have survived this 
 massacre. 
 
 X Joma 47a ; Jerushalmi, Joma, i, i ; Horajot, 3, 2. 
 
Martha^ Daughter of Boethus, 131 
 
 priests, and the honor was not one of long 
 duration ; sometimes two elections for a 
 substitute were necessary in one day. 
 Nevertheless, it was the quintessence of 
 maternal happiness in those primitive days 
 to have seven sons who could boast of such 
 a distinction. 
 
 But poor Martha*s good fortune was 
 destined to come to a speedy end. The 
 lustre of her fleeting glory was wholly 
 obscured by the gloom overshadowing her 
 succeeding years. Her husband was not 
 able to retain his high ofifice longer than a 
 year ; after that, Agrippa II found it con- 
 venient to name a successor in the person 
 of Mathias ben-Theophilus (64-65).^ His- 
 tory has not stated the motive for this 
 action, but it may easily be read between 
 the lines. Peaceable mediators like ben- 
 Gamala are out of place in such stormy 
 times; their compromises make them dis- 
 agreeable to all parties. 
 
 Unfortunately for himself, the deposed 
 
 * Josephus, Antiquities, XX, 9, 7. 
 
132 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 high-priest retained his influential place in 
 the Sanhedrin. As a friend of Josephus, 
 and a secret sympathizer with Rome,^ he 
 incurred the suspicion of all parties, and on 
 that account he was singled out for certain 
 destruction. To add to his evil destiny, he 
 possessed, in no small degree, an eloquence 
 of the kind which, upon the approach of 
 catastrophes, embitters opponents without 
 satisfying adherents. 
 
 The Idumean troops, called in by the 
 Zealots, lay encamped before the gates of 
 Jerusalem. Joshua ben-Gamala conjured 
 them in a long harangue, delivered from the 
 walls, to return home to their province.f 
 The issue showed with what little success. 
 On the following night the Idumeans forced 
 their way into the ill-defended capital, and 
 the inhabitants were subjected to all the 
 horrors of military despotism. A horribly 
 cruel judgment was visited upon the moder- 
 ate party. Ananus and Joshua ben-Gamala 
 
 * Josephus, Life, 41. 
 t Ibid,, Wars, IV, 4, 3. 
 
Martha, Daughter of Boethtcs, 133 
 
 were the first of the long array of the 
 slaughtered, and the victors, in their fierce 
 fury, even grudged their mangled corpses 
 the peace of the grave.* 
 
 Thus Martha, the pampered daughter of 
 wealth, became a widow before she was 
 thirty-seven years of age. It cannot be said 
 that suflFering had softened her disposition. 
 She, who was still a rich woman, turned to 
 the Great Council for the customary widow's 
 pension ; and that body, with true Jewish 
 generosity, provided for all her wants, even 
 allowing her two sedis\ of wine per day, 
 though this was contrary to the law, which 
 did not grant wine to women. Yet these 
 efforts in her behalf fell far short of her 
 expectations, and she swore at the reverend 
 tribunal with an unwomanly outburst of 
 passion : " That may be good enough for 
 your daughters ;" she cried, '' not, however, 
 for Martha, daughter of Boethus." The 
 
 *Josephus, Wars, IV, 5, 2. 
 
 X I sea = 24 lu£'s. Hence a respectable quantity, the 
 expression being, of course, hyperbolical. 
 
134 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 Rabbis, provident fathers, murmured softly, 
 " Amen ! We ask no more for our daugh- 
 ters."* Here — as the greatest poets since 
 Homer and the ablest historians teach us — 
 we have another instance of the coarse 
 realism of life. If we expect to find nothing 
 but what is noble and ideal in the heroes of 
 history and tradition, we may as well lay 
 aside the annals of mankind. There is 
 small choice between the fictions of the 
 poets and the severe candor of truth. 
 
 A similar exhibition of coarseness is re- 
 lated of another rich woman of those days, 
 Martha, or Miriam,! the spoiled daughter 
 of the wealthy Nicodemus ben-Gorion. She 
 found herself in the same unhappy predica- 
 ment, and also flew into a passion because 
 her widow's pension, though quite liberal, 
 was in her eyes insufficient. The extrava- 
 gant elaboration of this story of Nicodemus* 
 
 * Jerushalmi, Ketuboth, 5, 13. 
 
 t Ketuboth 66b. In Jerushalmi, Ketuboth, 5, 13, she is 
 caUed Miriam, daughter of Simon ben-Gorion ; in ^cha 
 Rabbati, 67, 3, Miriam, daughter of Nicodemus. 
 
Martha^ Daughter of Bo'ethus, 135 
 
 daughter shows that some of the incidents 
 were copied by tradition from the narrative 
 of the daughter of Boethus. The end, too, 
 of the former is adapted mythically"^ to the 
 unhappy death of the latter. Turning now 
 from this short digression, let us again di- 
 rect our attention to the vicissitudes which 
 mark the close of our heroine*s career. 
 
 The unhappy woman seemed destined to 
 empty sorrow's bitter cup to the very dregs ; 
 her arrogance brought upon her the full 
 measure of retribution. The famine in be- 
 sieged Jerusalem was, day by day, assuming 
 a more and more terrible aspect. On one 
 occasion Martha sent her maid to market. 
 ** Buy me some fine flour,'* she said. The 
 girl came back and reported, " There is no 
 more fine flour, but perhaps I may be able 
 to obtain some sifted," — " Then hurry and 
 get me some of it." The same scene was 
 repeated a number of times. But there was 
 
 * For instance, the picking up of the barleycorns and 
 the circumstance of her being dragged to death by a 
 horse : Ketuboth 66b ; Jerushalmi, Ketuboth, 5, 13 ; Kcha 
 Rabbati, 67, 3. 
 
1 36 Some Jewislt / Vomen, 
 
 no sifted flour, no bran, no barley, no meal, 
 nor, in fact, anything of the kind in market. 
 Then, in desperation, she went herself in 
 search of something to eat. According to 
 one account, she grew faint, was overcome 
 by illness, and died in the public street, 
 delivered at last from her misery. Another 
 version, however, tells us that she sustained 
 herself a few days longer on sucked figs, 
 nay, on the seeds of grain lodged in the 
 hoofs of horses.* 
 
 A whole group of legends clusters about 
 the last moments of this unhappy woman. 
 She is said to have been swept by the tide 
 of the fugitives or captives as far as Acco. 
 Here she was furnished with clothing 
 enough to keep her from entire exposure, 
 for she had lost everything. One writer 
 claims to have seen her, tied by the hair to 
 the tail of a fleet horse, dragged along the 
 road from Jerusalem in the direction of 
 Lydda.f It is much more probable, how- 
 
 * Gittin 56a ; Jerushalmi, Ketuboth, 5, 13. 
 t Echa Rabbati, /. c. 
 
Martha, Daughter of Bo'ethus, 137 
 
 ever, that her death was caused by insuflfi- 
 cient and nauseous food.* Toward the end 
 of her career she realized how powerless 
 her riches were to help her, and the thought 
 greatly embittered her. She packed her 
 money and jewels into a bundle, and threw 
 it contemptuously into the street. "Lie 
 there, paltry trash !" she cried, in her last 
 throes. *' Valuable treasure, indeed, that 
 could not even help me to a piece of 
 
 bread !"t 
 
 Thus ended the life of Martha, the rich 
 baker's daughter. While it cannot be de- 
 nied that she was proud and selfish, and 
 had many other ignoble traits of character 
 besides, yet, on the other hand, she was not 
 without some of the better and more refined 
 characteristics of the Jewish female mind. 
 It almost seems as if this sensitive woman 
 had been designedly selected by the events 
 of her time to illustrate, by her vicissitudes 
 and torments, how a great and highly civil- 
 
 * Gittin, /. c; Jerushalmi, Ketuboth, /. c, 
 t Gittin, /. c. 
 
138 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 ized government comes to an end. Rarely, 
 indeed, are the stormy conflicts of an age so 
 faithfully reflected in the convulsive pangs 
 of any individual career; and for this reason 
 we thought it due to the unhappy daughter 
 of Boethus to present the reader with some- 
 thing more than a bare outline of her life. 
 
VIII. 
 IMA SHALOM. 
 
 ^ I ^HE tiglily-gifted daughter of Simon 
 ■*■ ben-Gamliel, Ima Shalom, was born 
 about the year 50 C.E., in time to witness 
 the fast departing splendor of Jerusalem. 
 Her father, the energetic president of the 
 Sanhedrin, was not only a zealous defender 
 of the oral Law, but also a patriot, who, 
 according to an uncontradicted tradition of 
 the age, suffered death for his resistance to 
 Rome. As far as fierce party passions 
 would permit, this noble man figured as a 
 sort of leader during the last days of the 
 Jewish commonwealth; and, before his 
 execution, his family saved themselves from 
 the general ruin by living in happy obscur- 
 ity, awaiting the return of more peaceful 
 times. Thus the inherited claims to power 
 of the house of Hillel, deriving its descent 
 from David, were preserved, and trans- 
 mitted to a long line of illustrious patri- 
 
 (139) 
 
140 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 archs. At the fall of Jerusalem, Gamliers 
 son, subsequently known in history as the 
 second of that name, was still young, but 
 he found in Rabbi Jochanan ben-Saccai a 
 trusty friend and adviser. Ima Shalom was 
 several years older than her brother Gam- 
 liel. Marrying a distinguished teacher of 
 the Law, Rabbi Eliezer, son of Hyrcanus, 
 she accompanied him to Lydda, whither he 
 had transferred his school ; but afterwards 
 they went to Caesarea. They had several 
 children, whose striking beauty the chroni- 
 cler deemed worthy of record. This is 
 about all we know of the outer life of the 
 woman who meets us at the threshold of 
 the Talmudic world.* 
 
 However, chance and the peculiar charac- 
 ter of such scanty information as we have 
 of her disclose certain traits in Ima's char- 
 acter that not only reveal the deeper side of 
 her nature, but also cast a strong light upon 
 the women of those days. Ima was no 
 ordinary woman. Thoroughly imbued with 
 
 * Nedarim 20a, b. 
 
^^^■ 
 
 Ima Shalom, 141 
 
 the culture of the school of Hillel, she 
 was quick, witty, and even had some knowl- 
 edge of the Law ; for so completely had its 
 wisdom impregnated the intellectual atmos- 
 phere of her age, that no noble mind could 
 have wholly escaped its influence. But she 
 had nothing of Hillel's gentleness; suf- 
 fering and the cruelties of war had every- 
 where changed this characteristic into 
 severity and dogmatism. Whithersoever 
 one might look, rigid views of life prevailed, 
 and its most innocent pleasures were pro- 
 hibited. 
 
 By reason of the paucity of the authori- 
 ties, and the disconnected style of their 
 narratives, Jewish history of this period 
 must be read between the lines. Because 
 our historians, dominated by their bias for 
 certain details of absorbing interest to 
 themselves, have failed to do this, all 
 existing histories of the Jews need, in 
 part, to be entirely reconstructed. It is not 
 enough to give a history of the Tanaim and 
 Amoraim, an account of the Halachoth, the 
 Midrashim, and the earliest forms of prayer ; 
 
142 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 no, the Jews were also a nation, with a 
 national existence, as the Bar Cochba insur- 
 rection and other events attest ; and they 
 had a social life as well, always aglow, to be 
 sure, with the intense ardor of religion. 
 Moreover, the history of the Talmudic age 
 is in no small degree the history of Jewish 
 women — women such as Israel may well be 
 proud of. But the Hebrew sibyl, the queen, 
 even the simple housewife and mother, were 
 forgotten in these evil times, whose auster- 
 ity impressed itself on all things. Jewish 
 women had now become embittered ; the 
 more prominent ones, at least, had caught 
 the harshness engendered by interminable 
 controversies, sopheric prejudices, and sec- 
 tarian narrowness. 
 
 While Ima Shalom was living under the 
 guardianship of her brother, the Nasi, or 
 else while on a visit at his house,* a scoffer 
 at religion one day asked Gamliel one of 
 those impertinent questions which then 
 
 *The common editions speak of Gamliel's daughter, 
 riTi'l^. Perhaps the younger Gamliel's father is meant, 
 the word '' Simon " being omitted. 
 
Ima Shalom. 143 
 
 formed the chief subjects of dispute. Ac- 
 cording to one account, this man was a 
 Jewish Christian 'lao of a philosophic bent ; 
 another version speaks of him as the 
 emperor — lO'^p — himself. But, like " consu- 
 laris ** the word " caesar ** appears to have 
 been used to designate any Roman of rank. 
 '' By your own Bible/* said the scoffer, 
 " your God is little better than a thief ; he 
 stole a rib from the sleeping Adam's body.'* 
 On hearing these words, Ima Shalom, hav- 
 ing obtained her brother's permission to 
 resent the insult, cried out : " Lead me 
 before the Prefect (ddh) ; before the Prefect, 
 I say, at once !" — '' What wouldst thou with 
 the Prefect ?" returned the scoffer. — '' I have 
 been wronged. An impudent man broke 
 into my house last night and carried away 
 some silver vessels, leaving golden ones in 
 their stead !" — " And this thou callest a 
 wrong? Would to heaven, such wrong 
 were done me every day." — " Now, see ye, 
 this was exactly Adam's case ; for a worth- 
 less rib God gave him a helpmeet." — ''But 
 the Deity ought not to do good by stealth." 
 
144 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 — '' Bring me some meat," replied the clever 
 woman. What she demanded was brought 
 her, and, raw and bloody as it was, she 
 roasted it before her questioner's eyes and 
 begged him to taste it. He turned away 
 in disgust. '* Seest thou," she concluded, 
 '' Adam would also have been displeased, 
 had he been permitted to witness the crea- 
 tion of the first woman." 
 
 The intercourse with Jewish Christians, 
 from whose society cultivated Jews, and 
 especially members of the patriarchal 
 family, could not keep aloof, gave rise to 
 various misunderstandings and differences. 
 An adherent of that sect, — Kayserling* calls 
 him a lawyer; according to the Talmud,t 
 though this is less probable, he was a 
 philosopher — with the importunity pecu- 
 liar to sectarians, hung about Ima Shalom, 
 trying to persuade her to institute a suit at 
 law against her brother about a legacy. In 
 passing, I ought to say that the philosopher 
 
 ^ Die judischen Frauen^ p. 126. 
 t Sabbath 11 6a, b. 
 
Ima Shalom, 145 
 
 must, of course, have known of the quarrel 
 between Gamliel and his brother-in-law 
 Eliezer ; otherwise this incident is not 
 easily understood. To set a trap for this 
 tortuous interpreter of laws, Ima offered 
 him a golden candlestick as a bribe, and he 
 gave her the following opinion : " Your law 
 disinheriting daughters is repealed by a 
 new ordinance, which provides for an equal 
 division of the inheritance between the 
 daughters and sons.** By the new law 
 (NiTinx xn^niN) he alluded unmistakably to the 
 Gospel. Gamliel, so the story continues, 
 did not let the matter rest there ; he outbid 
 his sister by making the philosopher a pres- 
 ent of a Libyan ass. Then the arbitrator 
 reversed his first decision, this time evi- 
 dently referring to the following passage of 
 the Christian evangelist :* " I came not to 
 destroy the law, but to fulfil it.*' The lady 
 now scornfully reminded him of the candle- 
 stick as a sorry symbol of the legal light that 
 had left her cause in such darkness. '* Yes," 
 
 * Matthew, V, 18. 
 J 
 
146 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 said Gamliel, with the somewhat clumsy- 
 wit of his day, *'my ass alone is to blame for 
 this; he came and upset the candle-stick." 
 This story must have an historical basis, for 
 it appears elsewhere in Hagadic literature.* 
 Apart from its historical value, however, 
 this incident is important for the further 
 reason that it reveals most clearly the true 
 relation in which brother and sister stood 
 to each other. Honored as Eliezer was, he 
 had made himself disagreeable by his 
 obstinacy and positiveness, and the quarrel 
 between him and Gamliel had now become 
 a serious matter. As president of the San- 
 hedrin, Gamliel excommunicated his brother- 
 in-law, and, in consequence, the celebrated 
 teacher of Lydda was not only misjudged, 
 but also ostracized, and persecuted in a man- 
 ner which was uncommon even in those ages 
 of implacable dogmatism. Yet Ima Shalom 
 did not waver for a moment in the fulfilment 
 of her duty. The persecuted man being her 
 husband, she felt for him all the sympathy 
 
 * Pesikta de Rab Kahana, Section Echa, Jalkut, 2, 258. 
 
Ima Shalom. 147 
 
 of a wife, and harbored a lasting resentment 
 against the rash patriarch. No wonder, 
 then, that she did not scruple to annoy the 
 man who called himself her brother with 
 lawsuits about an inheritance. 
 
 The Talmud further relates an incident, 
 which is so entirely out of harmony with 
 the spirit of our age, that it can be conveyed 
 to the reader only in a circuitous way. Con- 
 vinced as Ima was of her husband's inno- 
 cence, she was apprehensive lest the prayer 
 of one so deeply wronged might work harm 
 to her brother, and she accordingly made 
 Eliezer promise to omit that part of his 
 morning prayer which reserves blessings for 
 the penitent. One day, however, the Rabbi 
 neglected this caution. " Alas,'* she cried, 
 " what have you done ! Perhaps you have 
 caused my brother's death !" This display 
 of fear was all that remained of her sisterly 
 love. And, indeed, the news of the patri- 
 arch's decease is said to have come shortly 
 after.^ How callous and unbending were 
 
 * Baba mezia 19b. 
 
148 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 the people of that generation ! What faith 
 they reposed in miracles and works ! Is it 
 at all strange that, only a few decades later, 
 the insurgent Bar Cochba found most en- 
 thusiastic supporters? 
 
 The practice of foretelling the death of 
 notorious transgressors accorded well with 
 the mental habits of that restless age. On 
 one occasion a pupil of Eliezer's presumed 
 to give certain decisions on his own account 
 in the master s presence. The rabbi, not a 
 little jealous of his authority and embittered 
 through a life of enforced seclusion, flew into 
 a passion, and predicted the presumptions 
 youth's early death. "^ At such times^ turn- 
 ing to his sensible wife, he would say : '' Do 
 you see that man, Ima Shalom ? He will 
 surely come to grief." This testifies to a much 
 closer intellectual union between husband 
 and wife than was common in those days ; 
 for the Tanaim and Amoraim never took 
 their wives into their confidence on such 
 occasions. As there are two other accounts 
 
 * Erubin 63a. 
 
Inia Shalom. 149 
 
 of this incident in the Palestinean Talmud,* 
 where the Rabbi figures prominently under 
 the title of " Liezer, the exile," we may be 
 sure that it is based on facts. At Caesarea, 
 where Eliezer's school was located at this 
 time, he brooked no interference with his 
 authority. While at Jamnia, the patriarch 
 had subjected Eliezer to all manner of 
 humiliating annoyances, excluding him even 
 from the academy ; but in North Palestine, 
 where he lived during his banishment, he 
 was his own master, and his disciples, mak- 
 ing up in faithfulness what they lost in 
 numbers, clung to the sorely-tried sage with 
 unwavering devotion. And his wife's un- 
 failing love, too, cheered and comforted him. 
 What sweet solace to one in whom humility 
 and self-love were so strangely united ! If 
 any officious person thrust himself in his 
 affairs, he would say to his highly-gifted, 
 though somewhat quick-tempered wife — for 
 intellectual women are always quick-tem- 
 pered — "Take a good look at that man, Ima 
 
 *Gittin, I, 2; Shebiit, 6, i. 
 
I JO Some Jewish Women, 
 
 Shalom! .He will surely come to grief. 
 Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, were not a 
 whit worse." How significant are these 
 words, when considered in this connection ! 
 They give us a glimpse of the domestic 
 life of the great master of the Halacha. A 
 man can hate doubly well, when assisted by 
 a wife who is his intellectual equal. 
 
 But it would be a mistake to suppose that 
 Eliezer ben-Hyrcanus was at all partial to 
 strong-minded women ; he did not like even 
 the moderate specimen of his day. "As 
 well teach a girl what it is improper for her 
 to know," said the Rabbi, '' as instruct her in 
 the Torah.""^ And when a wealthy lady 
 once asked this son of Aaron — for to judge 
 from the Maccabean name Hyrcanus, he 
 must have belonged to that tribe — a very 
 sensible question concerning some passage 
 of the Scriptures, he rebuffed her in an 
 extremely offensive manner, thereby forfeit- 
 ing a valuable present which she had in- 
 tended to give him as a tithe. This incident 
 
 ^ Sota 2oa. 
 
Inia Shalom, 151 
 
 is authenticated by four similar versions, 
 one of which is to be found in each of the 
 two Gemaras, one in the Midrash, and one 
 in the Tosafist.* 
 
 The exiled teacher did not long survive 
 his inexorable antagonist. He passed away 
 in the academ)'^ at Caesarea, surrounded in 
 his last moments by a devoted band of 
 pupils. Neither history nor tradition makes 
 any mention of Ima Shalom in connection 
 with her husband's death. Perhaps she 
 preceded him to the grave ; for, as a rule 
 the later descendants of the house of Hillel 
 were not long-lived. 
 
 * Jerushalmi, Sota, 3, 4 ; Joma 66b ; Numeri Rabba, 9 ; 
 Tosafot upon Sota 21b. 
 
IX. 
 
 RACHEL, RABBI AKIBA'S WIFE. 
 
 THROUGH the medium of poetry, very 
 little of which has any real value, as 
 well as through legendary accounts more or 
 less embellished and distorted, the story of 
 RacheVs life has become a commonplace in 
 readers and chrestomathies, and the subject 
 can only be approached with caution by one 
 who would present it from a critical point 
 of view. However, we can get a good idea 
 of the truly feminine and beautiful traits of 
 Rachel's character from some of the main 
 facts of her history, to which, faithfully 
 preserved as they have been by tradition, 
 we will now give our particular attention. 
 
 Very few persons were fortunate enough 
 to save their possessions from the general 
 ruin consequent on the fall of the Holy 
 City ; and among these was a certain Kalba 
 Shebua, a wealthy citizen of Jerusalem. 
 When the capital was besieged, he promised 
 
 (152) 
 
Rachel, Rabbi- Akibas Wife. 153 
 
 to supply the people with a sufficient quan- 
 tity of corn out of his own resources, even 
 though the siege should last twenty-one 
 years. Among the servants who tended 
 this Croesus' flocks was one of alleged 
 pagan extraction, a handsome man, of fine 
 physique, past the age of youth, who, on 
 subsequently entering the higher walks of 
 life, became famous in history and science. 
 At this time, however, Akiba ben- Joseph — 
 for such was the shepherd's name — was not 
 on good terms with the learned men of his 
 age. Nay, he even hated the Rabbis and 
 sopherim with all the fierceness that belongs 
 to strong, undisciplined natures. " Could I 
 lay my hands on one of these pupils of the 
 learned," he used to say, ** no wild ass would 
 bite him more quickly."* And the very 
 grotesqueness of this hatred seems to have 
 been the means of bringing Akiba to the 
 notice of her who afterwards conferred 
 upon him happiness and renown. 
 
 Besides being very rich, Kalba Shebua 
 
 * Pesachim 49b. 
 
154 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 was also the happy possessor of a daughter, 
 who was no other than Rachel herself, and 
 when the noble, high-minded girl heard of 
 the audacious words of her f ather^s ignorant 
 servant, — intercourse was free and easy in 
 that age of simplicity — she went in search 
 of Akiba and took him severely to task. 
 *' Pray, what harm have the Chachamim 
 done you ?** the girl asked, in surprise. 
 ** Does such speech become a Judean ?" — 
 "And do the learned behave any better?'* 
 was the pointed reply. ''Do not they, in 
 their pride, look down upon us as defiled?" 
 This observation was, indeed, founded in 
 fact; the doctors of the Law, full of self- 
 conceit, had drawn a sharp line between 
 themselves and the masses. To satisfy 
 one's self on this point, it is only necessary 
 to read the hard things which are said of 
 the ignorant in the Talmud.* But, be this 
 as it may, even as they argued they looked 
 more and more deeply into each other's 
 eyes, until at last the generous Rachel asked: 
 
 * Pesachim 49a, b. 
 
Rachel, Rabbi Akibas Wife, 155 
 
 *'And if I should give myself to thee for 
 life, wouldst thou, out of love for me, be- 
 come a pupil of the sages ?"* It is scarcely 
 necessary to add that they were m.arried. 
 The incident took place in southwestern 
 Palestine, near the city of Jabne, the seat 
 of the Sanhedrin, whither the leaders of 
 the nation fled after Jerusalem had been 
 laid in ashes. The precise locality is not 
 known. It may have been Bene Berak, an 
 unpretending town, not far from the Medi- 
 terranean, where Akiba afterwards estab- 
 lished his school. At any rate, Rachel and 
 Akiba were united about the year 80, when 
 the traditions of national life were still 
 fresh in the people's memory. Akiba, as 
 has already been observed, was past the 
 first flush of youth ; he had, we are told,f a 
 son by a former marriage. 
 
 Through this rash alliance the young 
 couple incurred the unrelenting hatred of 
 RacheVs father. It is the same old story in 
 
 * Ketuboth 62b, 63a. 
 
 t Aboth derebbi Natan, 6. 
 
156 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 ancient as in modern times : the course of 
 true love never did run smooth. Cast off 
 and disinherited by Kalba Shebua, they were 
 now thrust upon the cold world, and before 
 many days had gone by were glad enough 
 to secure so much as a pallet of straw on 
 which to lay their heads. But, in spite of 
 all her privations, this opulent Judean^s 
 pampered daughter uttered not a word of 
 complaint. On the contrary, when she 
 arose in the morning she would smilingly 
 disentangle the straw from her husband's 
 hair; and he, turning his admiring eyes 
 upon her, would then exclaim : '' Oh, had I 
 but the means, how gladly would I adorn 
 thy dark locks with a Jerusalem diadem.'* 
 Akiba here refers to the golden head-bands 
 stamped with the image of the Holy City in 
 ruins, which were worn by the wealthy 
 Jewesses of that day. This ornament served 
 to express the general longing to repossess 
 that venerated spot, Jerusalem — a fervent 
 longing that gathered fresh intensity each 
 year until, finally venting itself in the Bar 
 Cochba insurrection, it caused the blood of 
 
Rachel, Rabbi Akibas Wife, 157 
 
 the nation's best men to flow in torrents. 
 But poor as were Akiba and his wife, no 
 one more unfortunate than they ever 
 knocked at their hut in vain ; and when 
 their destitution reached the lowest point, 
 the faithful Rachel disposed of her luxu- 
 riant braids of hair for a fe^ pieces of gold.* 
 What has been related of this couple's pri- 
 vations is not in the least exaggerated; 
 many similar cases are reported to have 
 occurred in ancient times, and, besides, the 
 facts are corroborated by parallel passages 
 of the Talmud. Most likely the proceeds 
 derived from the sale of Rachel's hair were 
 intended to assist poor Akiba on his 
 journey; for after this dreary honeymoon 
 followed years of separation, which Rachel 
 spent in seclusion, while her husband at- 
 tended the academies of Eliezer ben-Hyr- 
 canus and Nahum — the greatest teachers of 
 their day — at Lydda and Gimso. Probably 
 he also sojourned for some length of time 
 at Jabne. 
 
 * Jerush., Sabbath, 6, i ; ibid., Sota, 9, 16. 
 
158 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 In these years of utter loneliness and 
 extreme want the poor woman was abused 
 and insulted, and her neighbors sneered at 
 her. One day she was accosted by an old 
 acquaintance of her family, who had known 
 her in happier days. " Wilt thou wait for- 
 ever for one so entirely unworthy of thy 
 love," said the aged man, " thou whom fate 
 has treated more cruelly than a widow ?"* 
 The period of Akiba's absence, as also the 
 number of his pupils, has been grossly 
 exaggerated by tradition ; but, however 
 that may be, the hour of meeting came 
 at last : an honored Rabbi, a new teacher in 
 Israel, had returned home at the head of a 
 countless multitude of disciples, and the 
 people gathered in crowds to greet him. A 
 beggar clad in rags also hastened thither, 
 and, on recognizing her husband, fell at his 
 feet in speechless agitation. The pupils 
 wanted to thrust her aside, but the sage 
 interposed. ^*Nay, let her be," said he, 
 clasping his faithful wife once more to his 
 
 * Ketuboth 62b, 63a. 
 
Rachel, Rabbi Akibas Wife, 159 
 
 breast. " What I am, I never could have 
 become, nor could ye have learned of me 
 what ye did, had it not been for her/* 
 
 And now this worthy couple's trials were 
 at an end. Kalba Shebua not only forgave 
 them, but, retracting his cruel vow, lavished 
 his wealth and possessions on them. Akiba 
 made the noblest use of his riches, although, 
 in this instance, too, our authorities have 
 been guilty of pardonable exaggeration. 
 He particularly remembered the promise 
 once made to Rachel on their pallet of 
 straw ; a golden diadem, exquisitely wrought 
 and ornamented with an image of the Holy 
 City, shone in the handsome woman*s hair. 
 When the wife of the patriarch Gamliel H 
 saw this precious ornament, it excited her 
 envy, but she begged for one in vain. 
 ** Not every wife,'* said the Nasi, somewhat 
 ungallantly, " has done for her husband 
 what Rachel did for Akiba.'** 
 
 Akiba's great admiration for his noble- 
 minded wife is beautifully, reflected in some 
 
 * Jerush., Sabbath 25b. 
 
i6o Some Jewish Women. 
 
 of his sententious sayings. On one occa- 
 sion the question, " Who is to be esteemed 
 rich ?" came up for discussion among the 
 students of the Torah. ** Whoever pos- 
 sesses a hundred vineyards and just as 
 many acres and servants/* said Rabbi Tar- 
 phon. " No," spoke the great teacher of 
 Bene Berak. '' he only is rich who possesses 
 a sensible, virtuous wife/'* 
 
 In a very concise and enigmatical way we 
 are informed that the daughter of this illus- 
 trious couple, following her mother's exam- 
 ple, proved to be just as faithful to her 
 betrothed, the learned Ben Asai, under 
 equally trying circumstances. ''As the ewe, 
 so the lamb ; the child always takes after 
 its mother,"*!* said the Rabbis, in speaking of 
 Akiba's daughter, who is nowhere men- 
 tioned by name. The fact that this young 
 girl's love affair is shrouded in such mystery 
 points to the period of the persecution of 
 the Jews under Hadrian as the probable 
 
 * Sabbath 25b. 
 t Ketuboth 63a. 
 
Rachel, Rabbi Akibas Wife, i6i 
 
 date of its occurrence — a period of evil and 
 disorder, when the noble Rachel was already 
 dead, and the hour of Akiba*s painful mar- 
 tyrdom was rapidly approaching. Accord- 
 ing to another authority, however, Akiba's 
 son-in-law bore the name of Joshua ben 
 Kapusai,* while Simon ben-Asai, who was 
 something of an enthusiast, remained 
 
 single.f 
 
 The Bible tells us of a Rachel whom 
 Jacob loved so well, that he served her 
 father faithfully, amid many difficulties, for 
 fourteen long years. Here we have the pic- 
 ture of another and a better Rachel, who 
 wore upon her tender neck the yoke of that 
 severest of all severe task-masters — dire 
 want. 
 
 * Sabbath 147a. 
 
 t Sota 4b, Tosafot upon Ketuboth 63a. 
 
BERURIA. 
 
 Zj^HO has not heard of Beruria, Rabbi 
 ^^J-^ Meir^s gifted wife? Ministering 
 faithfully to her husband's wants, devoted to 
 her children, possessed of a soul pure, but 
 cold as the freshly fallen snow, with a nature 
 hardened by the terrible deeds and dangers 
 quite common in her day — combining, in 
 short, all the qualities which we should 
 expect to find in a truly great woman of 
 this memorable epoch, she stands out as a 
 classic figure among the female characters 
 of the Talmudic age. She ought to have 
 had some such biographer as Plutarch to 
 record her virtues and eccentricities. Had 
 this privilege been granted her, she would 
 to-day be mentioned in the same breath 
 with distinguished Romans and other illus- 
 trious personages, and her name would be 
 heard in colleges and lecture-rooms. Even 
 
 as it is, she has, in a measure, won renown; 
 
 (162) 
 
Beruria, 163 
 
 she is and ever will be the greatest female 
 genius, the real heroine of her century. 
 Within the sphere of a woman^s vocation, 
 Beruria could not find an outlet for all the 
 passionate ardor of her richly-endowed 
 nature; it reveals itself in its full beauty 
 only in her faith and religious enthusiasm. 
 In times of cruel persecution, when the 
 Jews were closely watched on the slightest 
 suspicion and scholars had to endure much 
 suffering for their devotion to the Law, she 
 was all the more attached to it. Well 
 versed in Halachic lore, she became a skil- 
 ful, ready, witty controvertist, and though 
 her brilliant sallies and flashes of wit are 
 often marred by a certain caustic gruffness, 
 natural to that unattractive, militant age, 
 yet we never fail to hear a rich note of 
 feminine tenderness. 
 
 When — shortly after the terrible year 135 
 — the brave and distinguished Rabbi Cha- 
 nina ben-Teradion, so relentlessly perse- 
 cuted by Hadrian, yielded up his life in the 
 cause of Judaism amid the most exquisite 
 tortures, he left his family destitute and 
 
164 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 witHout a protector. The wife of this tin- 
 fortunate man is said to have shared her 
 husband's martyrdom, while his younger 
 daughter was dragged a captive to Rome ; 
 but her life and honor were saved by her 
 brother-in-law, Rabbi Meir, who — so at least 
 we are told'^ — carried her off secretly. The 
 story of Rabbi Meir's journey to Rome 
 has, however, too romantic a setting to be 
 accepted as historical. In a much more 
 impressive account of the terrible punish- 
 ments inflicted on the principal victims of 
 Roman revenge we are told that a son of 
 Rabbi Chanina, probably during his father's 
 life-time, came to an untimely and inglo- 
 rious end, after having followed the career 
 of a licentious adventurer.f We shall have 
 occasion to revert to the melancholy fate of 
 this hapless youth. 
 
 Our illustrious heroine, at least during 
 the greater part of her life, was far more 
 fortunate than the rest of her family. 
 
 * Aboda sara i8a. 
 t Semachoth, 12. 
 
Beruria, 165 
 
 Througli personal charms and mental en- 
 dowments slie won the heart and hand of 
 the renowned Halachist, Rabbi Meir, who 
 then mingled freely with the great Akiba's 
 disciples. As a mere girl, — she was born 
 about the year 100 — Beniria attracted the 
 notice of her foremost contemporaries by 
 reason of her masculine vigor of intellect 
 and rare learning. In those days troubles, 
 trials and tribulations made it necessary 
 even for the worthiest women to familiarize 
 themselves with the passwords of the 
 schools. It is true that Christianity was 
 then still in its infancy, but its adherents 
 formed a dreaded sect among the Jews and, 
 as its growing influence gave rise to serious 
 dissension in the social world, the nation's 
 noblest minds had always to be on the 
 alert, ready at a moment's notice with their 
 cues and pungent replies. To which must 
 be added the further fact that the undefined 
 political aspirations of Israel's hot-blooded 
 patriots foreshadowed a desperate struggle 
 against all-powerful Rome. Whatever 
 Beruria had to say about any disputed point 
 
i66 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 of the Halacha not only received the re- 
 spectful consideration of the learned, but 
 was also taken into account in helping them 
 to arrive at a conclusion. Even the patri- 
 arch, Rabbi Judah, once expressed his 
 unqualified approval of some opinion of 
 hers."^ The ways and regulations of the 
 academy she knew well, and she would 
 often jestingly whisper to the pupils her 
 experience and advice as to the best method 
 of instruction. Seeing a disciple, in con- 
 trast to the Oriental readiness of speech and 
 gesture, poring over his parchments in 
 utter silence, she said to him : " Not thus, 
 my friend, canst thou acquire wisdom. In 
 Samuel II, 23, 5, it is written that the body 
 must aid the activity of the soul."t At 
 times she even quizzed the sages, because 
 of the barriers they had raised to a free' 
 intercourse between the sexes. " Which 
 way to Lydda ?" inquired Jose the Galilean 
 of her. ** You might have saved two 
 
 * Tosefta, Kelim 8, p. 579, ed. Zuckermandel. 
 t Krubin 53b, 54a. 
 
Beruria, 167 
 
 words," she replied, "in asking that ques- 
 tion ; ' Where Lydda 7 would have fully- 
 answered the purpose. You learned men 
 say, you know, that one ought not to waste 
 words on a woman."* 
 
 In her controversies with sectaries and 
 Jewish Christians, whose company no intel- 
 lectual person could altogether shun, and 
 who by their acrimony proved to be a 
 hostile, disintegrating element in the social 
 life of that time, Beruria showed to better 
 advantage. On one occasion, a Sadducee — 
 this is probably but a euphemism for an 
 adherent of the new religion — aimed a blow 
 at Judaism. '' Israel has outlived its use- 
 fulness ; your own prophet speaks sarcasti- 
 cally of its barrenness," said he, referring to 
 Isaiah LI V, i . " Not at all," was the pointed 
 reply ; ** the concluding words of the verse 
 prove the contrary; we lack only such 
 degenerate fellows as yourself, and we are 
 glad of it."t This is the origin of the expres- 
 
 * lErubin 53b. 
 f Berachoth loa. 
 
1 68 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 sion, xnp-i h^B'dS S^3ty, "Look to the concluding 
 words of the verse!" which afterwards found 
 a place among the pointed sayings of the 
 schools. How gentle, on the other hand, was 
 her remonstrance when her husband, pro- 
 voked to ungovernable anger by the spiteful 
 conduct of some wicked neighbors, invoked 
 curses on their heads. "Nay, Rabbi," said 
 she, calmly; "we ought to pray God to put 
 an end to the sin, not to the sinner/'* But 
 then again, we cannot help feeling shocked 
 at her behavior on the occasion of her bro- 
 ther's tragic death. When this profligate 
 youth was lying on his bier, his mouth filled 
 with stones and his body mutilated by the 
 infuriated men who murdered him, Beruria, 
 we are told, had the heart to step up to the^ 
 corpse and speak this verse from the book 
 of Proverbs : " Bread of falsehood is pleas- 
 ant to a man ; but afterward his mouth will 
 be filled with gravel-stones. "f What an 
 awful exhibition of mental strength, and 
 
 * Berachoth loa. 
 
 txx, 17. 
 
Beruria. 169 
 
 how well adapted to that steel-hearted 
 generation ! 
 
 It is through her abiding faith in God, as 
 evidenced by her conduct at the death of 
 her sons, that Beruria is best known to the 
 world. The episode is so touching, that no 
 apology is needed for repeating it here. 
 One Sabbath afternoon, while Rabbi Meir 
 was lecturing in the Beth-Hamidrash, his 
 two promising sons died suddenly. The 
 aflflicted mother had the bodies placed on a 
 bed in an upper chamber, and when her 
 husband returned in the evening received 
 him, to all appearance, with her accustomed 
 tranquillity. 
 
 *' Where are my sons?'' asked the Rabbi. 
 
 "I suppose they are still at the academy.'' 
 
 "No; they were not there, I missed 
 them," returned the husband. 
 
 " They cannot be far away," said Beruria, 
 handing him the wine-cup and giving him 
 his supper. Then she resumed the con- 
 versation. 
 
 " Rabbi, some time ago an acquaintance 
 gave me some jewels to keep for him, and 
 
170 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 now he demands them again. Shall I give 
 them back to him?" 
 
 *' I am astonished that my wife should ask. 
 Can there be any doubt about the matter?" 
 
 ''Hardly; and yet I did not care to do 
 even this plain duty without thy consent." 
 
 Then, leading the Rabbi in silence to the 
 upper chamber, she withdrew the cloths 
 which covered the remains of her beloved 
 children. 
 
 " My sons !" cried the stricken father, his 
 wail echoing through the house. ''My 
 sons ! Light of my eyes ! My teachers and 
 guides !" 
 
 " Rabbi, didst thou not say even now that 
 we ought to return to the owner, without 
 complaint, what has been entrusted to our 
 safe-keeping? The Lord gave, the Lord 
 hath taken away, blessed be the name of 
 the Lord!" 
 
 Strange to say, this well known story, 
 which has passed into universal literature, 
 is taken from a rather late Hagadic record.* 
 
 * Midrash Mishle upon Prov., XXXI, 10 ; Jalkut, 2, 963. 
 
Beruria, 171 
 
 The incident probably happened at Tibe- 
 rias. Here the great Rabbi took up his 
 abode at the close of the Hadrianic persecu- 
 tion, and with the scanty sums that he 
 earned by making copies of the Torah, 
 much sought after on account of the neat- 
 ness of the writing, he managed to support 
 his family. 
 
 What has just been related of Beruria is 
 the last we hear of her in history. Whether 
 she lived to share her husband's glory to 
 the end of his career, or, if not to the end, 
 for what length of time ; whether she accom- 
 panied him on his numerous journeys, and 
 whether she was cognizant of the inter- 
 course between Rabbi Meir and the Neo-pla- 
 tonic philosopher Numenios — the same who 
 recognized in Plato the Attic Moses* — are 
 matters which we do not know. From the 
 deep silence of the scanty authorities on 
 these points we must infer that her span of 
 
 * According to the latest biographer, Adolph Blumen- 
 thal (Rabbi Meir^ Frankfort o. t. M. 1888), Abnimus 
 Hagardi was no other than the cynic CEnomaus of 
 Gadora. 
 
t^^ Some Jewish Women, 
 
 life was not very long. So highly gifted a 
 woman would certainly have manifested 
 her presence by some wise saying, subtle 
 turn of expression, and the like. Besides, 
 had Beruria still been alive at the time of 
 the disagreement between her husband and 
 the patriarch Simon III, her influence as a 
 peacemaker would surely have made itself 
 felt. 
 
 The last moments of this great woman's 
 career are enveloped in dismal gloom. The 
 Talmud^ says that Rabbi Meir fled from his 
 home to Babylon, and that, according to 
 one of the two accounts of the affair then 
 extant, the act was prompted by some mis- 
 conduct on Beruria's part. This vague 
 statement the latest Hagadaf has elabor- 
 ated into a story of a very tragic character, 
 which I must mention here because my 
 sketch would not be complete without it. 
 May the evil tale be buried for all time to 
 come, and its awful shadow never again fall 
 
 * Aboda sara i8b. 
 
 t See Rashi upon the passage. 
 
Beruria. 173 
 
 across the path of our illustrious heroine! 
 The great Tana's wife, we are told, was 
 often provoked to anger by the saying that 
 **A woman's heart is fickle,"* and would as 
 often ridicule it. '' Do not speak so lightly 
 of the sage's words," said the Rabbi one day, 
 in a tone of reproof; "perhaps you may 
 yourself some day experience their truth." 
 And so it happened. Falling into the trap 
 set for her by the Rabbi, who had persuaded 
 one of his pupils to test her virtue, she was 
 so ashamed and mortified by the exposure 
 that she put an end to her life. Now, in 
 the light of all that we positively know to 
 be true concerning Rabbi Meir and his dis- 
 tinguished wife, the improbability of this 
 occurrence is too obvious for demonstration. 
 Without attempting any critical elucida- 
 tion, therefore, I shall conclude by simply 
 recording my conviction that this calumny 
 ought no longer to be permitted to tarnish 
 the memory of the pure and noble-minded 
 Beruria. 
 
 * Kiddushin Sob. 
 
XL 
 
 RABBI MEIR'S PUPIL. 
 
 CHAMTA — the Chamat of the Bible— is a 
 town close by Tiberias, so near, in 
 fact, that subsequently the two cities were 
 consolidated into one district.**^ Rabbi 
 Meir's place of residence was, at that time, 
 in the latter city, the seat of the Sanhedrin, 
 and here this great teacher and public 
 educator supported himself on the scanty 
 earnings which his mechanical labors, as a 
 transcriber of the Torah, yielded him. 
 
 Rabbi Meir's activity, however, was not 
 confined exclusively to Tiberias. He deliv- 
 ered learned discourses on the Halacha for 
 students and scholars ; while his lectures on 
 the Hagada were designed for the general 
 public, including the women. Through 
 
 *Jerushalmi, Erubin, 5, 7 ; Neubauer, La Geographic 
 du Talmud^ p. 207. Three towns are caUed by the name 
 of Chamat in the Bible. Our Chamta is identical with 
 the place mentioned in Joshua, XIX, 35. 
 
 (174) 
 
Rabbi Me'irs PupiL 175 
 
 these ingenious homilies, with which he 
 intermingled all sorts of fables, particularly 
 the favorite fable of the fox, — through the 
 homely wisdom, in fact, which is pleasing 
 to the masses, he became the truly popular 
 man of his time. To judge from their 
 effect, his teachings must have fallen from 
 his lips with passionate, persuasive elo- 
 quence. Owing, however, to the unfavor- 
 able conditions of the times, no evidence of 
 his creative powers has come down to us, 
 with the exception of the mere remnants of 
 three of his three hundred fables of the 
 fox.* 
 
 Circumstances connected with the im- 
 
 * The faint aUusions to the three fables in Sanhedrin 
 38 b, f, Rashi in his commentary tries to make clearer. 
 Perhaps the age of Rashi still possessed reliable tradi- 
 tions concerning this and other Hagadic allusions and 
 subjects. Hai Gaon, too, in his responses, contained in 
 the Collection of Responses of the Gaonim (Schaare 
 teschuba) carefully examines one of Meir's fables. 
 He was even then acquainted with the Indian origin of 
 this species of poetry, and very properly refers to the 
 book, Kalila vedimna. 
 
176 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 portant events of his age often called the 
 amiable sage from home, and on such occa- 
 sions he was easily persuaded to deliver a 
 lecture in whatever place he happened to 
 sojourn. Sabbath, and especially Friday 
 evening, was the time which he preferred 
 for the popular sermon. It is to be observed 
 that the Friday evening discourse, now so 
 much in vogue, can boast of great antiquity. 
 Rabbi Mei'r frequently appeared in Chamta, 
 the little suburb of Tiberias, to instruct the 
 multitude. A large assembly always wel- 
 comed him there, among whom was a con- 
 siderable number of women. Woman has 
 always played some part in the early stages, 
 and even in the later development, of reli- 
 gions. When Israel's first paean was sung, 
 Miriam led the women's chorus, and prob- 
 ably the verse attributed to her is one of 
 the older parts of that song known to be 
 genuine.* 
 
 Rabbi Meir was the favorite preacher 
 
 * See my dissertation, Der Gesang am Meere, in The 
 Deborah, 1885. 
 
Rabbi Meirs PupiL 177 
 
 among women. He knew how to reach 
 their hearts, how to stir their souls. One of 
 his auditors, a daughter of Chamta, burning 
 with desire for knowledge, came very near 
 losing both her peace of mind and her 
 happiness on account of her zeal. To this 
 story I must now invite your attention. 
 The peculiar incident probably took place 
 about the year 150. No mention is made in 
 this connection, and at this time, of Beruria, 
 the noble wife of the great Tana. Perhaps 
 she was no longer among the living, as such 
 sensitive, patient natures seldom live long.* 
 If she had been present, her prudent words 
 and ready wit would certainly have been 
 heard on that occasion. 
 
 In relating- this incident, I must, in 
 advance, crave the reader's pardon for re- 
 ferring to some revolting manners which 
 belong to this age, and which exemplify the 
 maxim, *' Like country, like custom." 
 
 Having returned to Chamta, — a town 
 which has become all but historical through 
 
 *See the sketch, "Beruria,** p. 162. 
 If 
 
178 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 the event about to be related — the Rabbi 
 occupied his usual place on the platform in 
 the academy * It was Friday evening (as 
 our authorities expressly state), and the ser- 
 mon had lasted some time. The lights in 
 the large academy were growing dimmer, 
 but the more faithful among the men and 
 women, in their zeal for learning, persisted 
 in remaining to the end ; for the honored 
 teacher had seldom spoken with such charm 
 and enthusiasm. Among those who left the 
 hall last was a woman, who by her soulful 
 attention had early roused the curiosity of 
 those present. She was never absent from 
 these discourses, and her eyes were ever 
 intently fixed upon the preacher's lips, with 
 that deep, fervent expression which gives 
 such rounded, spiritual beauty to the female 
 countenance. We shall call her simply 
 Rabbi Meir's pupil, for she is not known 
 under any other name, and this seems to 
 
 * That the sermon was preached in Chamta is clear 
 from Jerushalmi, Sota, i, 14— certainly the oldest accessible 
 authority. See also A. Blumenthal, Rabbi Meir^ p. 124. 
 
Rabbi Men's Pupil. 179 
 
 have been Tier usual designation among the 
 people of Chamta. 
 
 As she rose to go, she threw an almost 
 mournful glance at the platform ; she must 
 have surmised what was in store for her at 
 home. She found her husband in a sulky- 
 mood. The light of the Sabbath lamp had 
 gone out ; she had neglected woman's chief 
 duty on the Sabbath eve — to fill the lamp 
 with oil. The uncomfortable darkness of 
 the house was an accusation against her. 
 She felt this, and hesitatingly approached 
 her husband. She stammered an apology ; 
 but he took no notice of it. 
 
 " Where have you been so long T he cried 
 out harshly, in the gloom. 
 
 "I sat and listened to the Darschan," was 
 her reply. 
 
 "Is that all?" continued the domestic 
 tyrant, spitefully. "Well then, leave me, 
 and enter my house no more until you have 
 spat the preacher in the face.'* 
 
 Such was the treatment of women in the 
 East; we cannot alter the facts. There was 
 in this speech not only coarse scorn, but 
 
l8o Some Jewish Women, 
 
 also a strong element of anti-religious feel- 
 i;Qg. "The man was a religious scoffer," 
 says one authority, significantly,*^ and with 
 these words points out the real truth of the 
 matter. The age of the Antoninuses was 
 strongly tinctured with crude philosophical 
 skepticism. The stoic played the role of 
 philosopher, and Christianity, though still 
 in its infancy, had already begun to rebel 
 against the mother religion. 
 
 Like a weeping outcast, the poor woman 
 left her love-lorn home. She had no child 
 there to detain her; otherwise, perhaps, 
 things would not have come to such a pass. 
 Her neighbors were still sitting outside, 
 chatting at their doors ; and as they sat there 
 in groups, strangely agitated by conflicting 
 emotions of pleasure and pain, the stars 
 shed their twinkling light upon them. The 
 outcast soon found shelter in the home 
 which some kind friend offered her, and in 
 this hospitable house she spent three weeks 
 without knowing what to do next. On the 
 
 Deut. Rabba, 5. 
 
Rabbi Meirs Pupil. i8i 
 
 third Sabbath, however, the neighbors urged 
 her to come to some decision in the matter. 
 "Come w:ith us to the academy,** they said, 
 " something must be done to reconcile you 
 again to j^our husband." 
 
 Rabbi Meir had by this time learned how 
 cruelly the philosophical skeptic had treated 
 his wife ; an affair of this kind could not be 
 kept a secret for any length of time in 
 Chamta. ** The holy spirit had discovered 
 it to him," as it is expressed in the peculiar 
 language of the time by two of our authori- 
 ties.* *'The spirit of the prophet Elias, 
 whose memory is a blessed influence (Secher 
 letob), appeared unto the Rabbi," remarks 
 the other authority.f This can only mean 
 that some inward illumination helped the 
 sage out of the difficulty; for, when the 
 Jews were in great trouble, they always, 4- 
 following the popular belief, had recourse 
 to the benign '' Secher letob." 
 
 "A serious affection of the eye has sud- 
 
 * Jemshalmi, Sota, 1,4; Ivcvit. Rabba, 9. 
 t Deut. Rabba, 5. 
 
1 82 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 denly come upon me," said the Tana, as lie 
 noticed the excited group of women in the 
 hall of learning. " Is there among you 
 women one that understands how to charm 
 away this pain in my eye ?" 
 
 There was one woman who wanted to 
 withdraw timidly, but her companions 
 pushed her forward. 
 
 " Let me alone," she cried, despairingly. **I 
 do not understand the charm ; I cannot apply 
 the sympathetic remedy." 
 
 *'My daughter," said the Rabbi, ''come 
 nearer, and try at least what your warm 
 saliva will do,""^* and, after she had hesitat- 
 ingly done his bidding, he said to her, in a 
 gentle tone of voice, *' Go home, and say to 
 your husband, ' Not once, as you commanded 
 me, but seven times have I spat in Rabbi 
 Meir's face.' " 
 
 Let no one suppose that the story we 
 
 *The belief o f antiquity in sympathetic remedies need 
 not be treated with a disdainful smile. Our age, too, can 
 boast of its share of them. See Osiander, Volksatznei- 
 inittelf Hannover, 1865. 
 
Rabbi Me'irs Pupil, 183 
 
 have just related is a fiction; on the con- 
 trary, it is fully corroborated by three 
 authorities, whose accounts agree in the 
 main. It enables us to catch a glimpse of 
 the life of the women of the second century, 
 and also teaches us something of the man- 
 ners of that age. 
 
 There was at first considerable dissatis- 
 faction among Rabbi Meir's pupils with the 
 decision to which we have just referred, on 
 the ground that the master had thereby 
 diminished the popular respect for the 
 authority of the Law. But the Rabbi tried 
 to pacify them with the following explana- 
 tion. "No sacrifice," he said, "can be too 
 great, when the question at issue is the 
 reconciliation of husband and wife; even 
 the holy name of God is blotted out with 
 water* at the trial of the woman suspected 
 of adultery. Do you think the honor of 
 Rabbi Meir stands higher than that of 
 God?" 
 
 * Numbers, V, 23. 
 
XIL 
 RABBI ISHMAEL'S MOTHER. 
 
 THE scene of our story is laid in Kephar 
 Asis, a town in southeastern Pales- 
 tine, very near the Idumean frontier.* This 
 region, as we learn from a specific decree to 
 that effect, is not at all fertile.f It was 
 probably without any attraction whatever; 
 and its proximity to the Dead Sea gave it a 
 somewhat dull, melancholy appearance. 
 Nothing but an era of severe oppression 
 could have induced the hero of our story to 
 exchange his beautiful Galilean home for 
 this rock of basalt. In the north there were 
 signs on all sides of a fierce, unequal con- 
 
 *Kilajim, 6, 4. 
 
 t On account of the inferior quality of the Idumean 
 barley, married women in absentia in that region were 
 awarded a double ration ; Ketuboth, 5, 8 ; Gemara upon 
 this passage, 64b. 
 
 (184) 
 
Rabbi IshmaeV s Mother. 185 
 
 flict, the last effort against miglity Rome; 
 the wildest excitement prevailed every- 
 where. Here in the south, between these 
 fantastic mountain ridges, nature herself 
 seems to have placed an effectual barrier 
 against all attempted hostilities; it would 
 have taken a leader of the enemy a long 
 time to thread his way to this place. 
 
 Ishmael needed such a well-fortified nook 
 as this to carry on his extensive activity in 
 teaching. He possessed all the accomplish- 
 ments of a leader and a legislator ; but he 
 was no warrior, no chivalrous knight. 
 This distinction he allowed without envy 
 to his great and older colleague, Akiba. 
 Ishmael, Elisha's son, was a man of peace, 
 of kindly disposition, of quiet, patient sub- 
 missiveness to God's will. 
 
 It was the beginning of the reign of Ha- 
 drian, about the year 120 — a stormy period 
 for Palestine. Ishmael had passed a joyless 
 youth ; when he was still almost a child, he 
 had been dragged to Rome as a hostage. 
 Here Rabbi Joseph ben-Chanania found 
 him, secured him his liberty, and took him 
 
 
1 86 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 back to the Promised Land.* He was of 
 priestly descent, grandson of a high-priest 
 of the same name, who, according to a 
 plausible tradition, suffered martyrdom 
 during the catastrophe of the year /cf 
 Several historians have confounded this 
 martyred ancestor with his grandson — a 
 piece of carelessness hardly pardonable.^ 
 Of thirteen prominent characters of this 
 name, mentioned in the literary history of 
 the Talmud,§ the career of Elisha's son — 
 the subject of this sketch — was, above all 
 others, the most peaceful, if not the hap- 
 piest. He died, at a good old age, in his 
 well protected home, and in the shadow of 
 
 * Gittin 58a. 
 
 t Aboth derebbi Natan, 38. 
 
 X See Graetz, Geschichte derjuden, IV, 71, and Weiss, 
 dor vedorschav. On the other hand, see Frankel, Darke 
 hamischnay 106 ; Jacob BriiU, Mebo hmnischna^ 103^; 
 Hamburger, Real-EncyclopcBdie^ II, 526 ; Braunschwei- 
 ger. Die Lehrer der Mischnah, i6if ; also Jost, Geschichte 
 der Israeliten^ III, 211, who seems to have hit upon the 
 proper distinction. 
 
 \ According to Juchasin and Seder hadorot. 
 
Rabbi IshmaeVs Mother. 187 
 
 the great academy — Tana debe Ishmael — 
 whicli lie founded and which was the means 
 of preserving his name to posterity. This 
 wise man's declining years, thus nobly 
 spent, were preceded by a career equally as 
 distinguished and as productive of good 
 results. 
 
 His father Elisha, who, though himself 
 without any particular claims to distinction, 
 stood between two celebrities in the line 
 of descent, lived in Galilee, where Ishmael 
 also first saw the light of day. The latter, 
 as already mentioned, removed later to 
 Kephar Asis, and it seems he never left this 
 quiet academy town but once, when in com- 
 mon with the leading Tanaim he helped to 
 remove the Sanhedrin from Jabne to Uscha.^ 
 This journey was rendered absolutely neces- 
 sary by the surging wave of political excite- 
 ment. But our Rabbi did not tarry long 
 amid the tumultuous scenes of western 
 ^ Palestine. After the legal enactment of the 
 resolutions of Uscha, he returned to his 
 
 * Briill, /. r., 104, after Baba batra 28b. 
 
1 88 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 shelter in the southern part of the Holy 
 Land. 
 
 It is not the purpose of these pages to 
 enter further into the details of this great 
 Tana^s very long, very active and eventful 
 career as a teacher and judge; for our 
 .space is limited, and we are under the ne- 
 cessity of introducing to the reader not only 
 a hero, but also a really remarkable heroine. 
 Do not picture to yourself, however, the 
 youthful form of some charming creature, but 
 rather the sedate figure of a worthy matron ; 
 think of a mother loving unto adoration. 
 
 Day after day this woman observed the 
 noble qualities of mind that manifested 
 themselves in her son's development; she 
 saw in him the willing hand of brotherly 
 love, the sun of the temple of learning, the 
 light of Israel. Her quiet observation 
 moved her at last to a demonstrative act of 
 love. Who can vie with a mother in genu- 
 ine tenderness ? When the sage came home 
 from the academy, all in perspiration, 
 caused by the intense heat of the sun's rays 
 beating against the rocky clefts of En Gaddi, 
 
Rabbi IshmaeTs Mother, 189 
 
 the dear old woman drew near him in a 
 subservient attitude. She gently removed 
 the sandals from his tired feet ; and, before 
 he knew it, his toes were bathed in a re- 
 freshing stream that fell from a silver basin. 
 Well anointed and invigorated, he sat down 
 to his domestic meal. 
 
 Both as a man and a son, Ishmael ben- 
 Elisha shrank from accepting this homage 
 wt^ich his mother paid him; he fought 
 against it, and even, two or three times, 
 prevented it ; but when he saw tears in her 
 pleading eyes, he acceded to her wish and 
 again submitted to her humble ministry. 
 So this unselfish quarrel took place daily 
 between them, until, on one occasion, Rabbi 
 Ishmael noticed distinctly how his mother, 
 in hurrying away, brought her lips nigh to 
 the cup, in order to sip therefrom, as though 
 some superhuman being had consecrated 
 the liquid by contact with it. Then in a fit 
 of virtuous anger, he cried out : ''No, mother, 
 I cannot permit this to go on any longer!" 
 
 The next day there was a full attendance 
 at the meeting hall of Ishmael's academy. 
 
I'go Some Jewish Women. 
 
 People were moving to and fro, pleading 
 their cases and receiving their verdicts. 
 All at once there ensued an expectant 
 silence, and, with hesitating steps, the veiled 
 figure of a woman approached the judges; 
 the voice appeared familiar, yet no one 
 would trust his ears. 
 
 " Give him a sound scolding,*' shouted the 
 matron, pointing at the accused; *' reprove 
 his error — Rabbi Ishmael, the great, the 
 wise. Yes, it is true, my son honors not his 
 mother." With these words she lifted the 
 veil, and with frowning countenance stood 
 in the midst of his disciples. 
 
 '* Honors not his mother!" was the re- 
 sponse of a many-voiced echo, and the 
 members of the academy cast down their 
 eyes in shame. 
 
 '* How do you mean, woman?" exclaimed 
 the vice-president '* We do not under- 
 stand you." 
 
 "It is as I stated," continued Elisha's 
 widow. *' I know what he is to the people, 
 and I would fain honor him as my guest. 
 My gratitude to God and my maternal love 
 
Rabbi IshmaeVs Mother. 191 
 
 impel me to act thus, and I insist upon it 
 as my proper right. But he obstinately and 
 almost cruelly tries to prevent me/* She 
 then related the peculiar matter of dispute 
 between the two. 
 
 " Let her have her way,'* said the acting 
 Rabbi to the Tana. ''As she asks so per- 
 sistently, obedience to her command is the 
 true fulfilment of filial duty,**^ So ended 
 this remarkable trial. 
 
 Rabbi Ishmael's family life was not quite 
 so happy in other respects as it was in its 
 filial relation. As a father he was sorely 
 tried, and survived most of his children.! 
 The grateful feelings of the female sex, 
 however, made up as far as possible for 
 these vicissitudes of fortune. His gentle- 
 ness exercised a special fascination over 
 the souls of noble women, and, perhaps, his 
 mother s tender affection for him owes its 
 explanation in part to this fact. The sage 
 of Kephar Asis never lost an opportunity 
 
 * Jerushalmi, Pea I, i ; Tossafot upon Kiddushin 31b. 
 t Moed katon 285. 
 
ig2 Some Jeivish Wofneit. 
 
 to extend a helping hand to needy women. 
 He acted as advocate for them in the courts, 
 he provided those about to marry with 
 trousseaux, he encouraged matrimony, and 
 had inspiring words of praise for IsraeVs 
 daughters constantly on his lips.* So, in 
 the austere Talmudic world, this noble 
 teacher stands forth as the real, yea, the 
 practical and better Frauenlob. The famous 
 Minnesinger was, as is known, carried to 
 the grave by the fair daughters of Mayence.f 
 On the other hand, the women of Israel 
 chanted a most affecting dirge upon the 
 death of the son of Elisha, and, when he 
 was consigned to his grave, there rang 
 forth these lofty words of Scripture : " O, 
 daughters of Israel, weep for him, as once 
 ye wept for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, 
 with beautiful tfinkets/'{ 
 
 "^ Briill, /. c.y 113, after Nedarim 66a. 
 
 1 1 may say here, in passing, that several years ago I 
 found his tombstone, in the cloister of the cathedral at 
 Mayence, in a much neglected condition. 
 
 X Nedarim, 9, 10, with reference to 2 Samuel I, 24 ; 
 compare also Tossefta, Nedarim, 5. 
 
XIII. 
 RABBI JUDAH'S MAID-SERVANT. 
 
 THE" celebrated editor of the Mishnah, 
 Rabbi Judah the Prince, who lived 
 in a truly royal style at Sepphoris in Galilee, 
 was a most liberal and hospitable man. Not 
 only did scholars and disciples consort at 
 his house without the least restraint or re- 
 serve, but persons in all walks of life, men 
 of the highest social standing, even Romans 
 of rank, were seen there, coming and going 
 at pleasure. An establishment of this kind, 
 especially when all are welcome to sit down 
 without ceremony at the host's table, needs 
 a prudent manager of no little experience ; 
 and the performance of these duties it 
 was which fell to the lot of the woman, — 
 known to us only under the modest title of 
 Rabbi Judah*s maid-servant — whose life it 
 is the purpose of this sketch to narrate 
 briefly. In the quiet academy town where 
 the Nasi lived, this manager of the patri- 
 
 M (193) 
 
1 54 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 archal house was looked upon as a very odd 
 character — a sort of living heirloom which, 
 as was customary with noble families, passed 
 by descent from father to son ; but to those 
 of us who take delight in tracing lost 
 manners and customs, this servant will 
 appear somewhat in the light of a prodigy. 
 That Rabbi Judah's housekeeper was an 
 extraordinary woman is conclusively proved 
 by the brief, terse, pointed passages which 
 make mention of her. That she was no 
 myth, but actually existed, is clearly estab- 
 lished, not only by the fact that we have 
 various concurrent notices of her, but by the 
 character of these notices as well. It is 
 certain, too, that this maid-servant, who 
 in all likelihood had had entire charge 
 of the patriarchal house during the life- 
 time of Judah's father, Simon III, was an 
 Israelite, or, if not an Israelite by birth, she 
 must have been converted to Judaism in 
 early youth. Any other supposition is 
 hardly possible ; for, astonishing enough in 
 case of a Jewish woman, it is absolutely 
 inconceivable that a pagan could have pos- 
 
Rabbi JudaPis Maid-Servant, 195 
 
 sessed this servant's knowledge of rabbini- 
 cal expressions and usages. In ^that case, 
 too, so remarkable a circumstance would 
 certainly have found a place among the 
 records which have been left us. Moreover, ^ 
 still another consideration fully justifies me 
 in concluding that she must have been a 
 Jewess. We are informed — and the Rabbis 
 approved of the act— that she once passed 
 on some one the sentence of lesser excom- 
 munication, known as the Niddui, for the 
 space of three years."^ The particulars of 
 this incident are given elsewhere in a con- 
 current passage, to which I shall have 
 occasion to refer later on. 
 
 As to her origin and the other circum- 
 stances of her life, they are matters of mere 
 conjecture. I infer from her knowledge of 
 the language of the schools and her acquaint- 
 ance with the writings pertaining to the 
 Scriptures, that she was advanced in years 
 while Judah held office — older, in fact, than 
 her master, whom she nevertheless survived. 
 
 * Moed katon 17a, 
 
196 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 She appears to have been born about 140, 
 and lived to be at least ninety-two years 
 old;*^ but so little were her faculties im- 
 paired by age that the task of inspecting the 
 viands for the Nasi*s table was, as a rule, 
 entrusted to this nonagenarian. Whether 
 she had ever been handsome, whether in 
 the brief spring-time of life she had been 
 endowed with that bloom and stateliness 
 which even menial labors cannot affect, may 
 well be doubted. Persons of her mental 
 acuteness usually have very strongly-marked 
 features, which reflect the struggles of their 
 souls and the changes that take place in 
 their inner life, and which, on that account, 
 detract materially from the mere physical 
 beauty of a woman's countenance. I look 
 into her eyes through the veil of centuries 
 and fancy I can see a lofty spiritual beauty 
 in her face, blended with an unmistakable 
 trace of roguishness and, here and there, an 
 ascetic, almost menacing gravity. 
 
 Through many years of service in the 
 
 * Sabbath 152a. 
 
Rabbi JudaKs Maid-Servant, 197 
 
 patriarchal house, Judah's servant became 
 thoroughly familiar with the airas and 
 habits of the patriarchs. After her arduous 
 household duties were over, she might be 
 seen leaning over a gallery in the lecture- 
 room, listening to the debates, or now and 
 then she may have naused dreamily over the 
 pithy passages of a discourse contained in 
 an old parchment. Fortunately, evil habits 
 and rude manners are not the only outward 
 influences which help to mould human 
 nature ; it is consoling to know that culture 
 enjoys this privilege in a far greater degree. 
 In the Galilean academy, pervaded as it was 
 by an atmosphere of foreign fervor, scarcely 
 any discrimination was made between the 
 sexes ; spiritual light radiated in all direc- 
 tions, and there was a ray for every suscep- 
 tible soul. Considered in connection with 
 these facts, the ready replies which Judah's 
 clever housekeeper has left to posterity 
 acquire much greater importance than would 
 ordinarily attach to them. Living in a large 
 house, where crowds of people congregated, 
 her sharp tongue was the only weapon on 
 
198 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 which she could rely to make herself re- 
 spected ; and, subordinate though her posi- 
 tion was, it required no little audacity on 
 her part to assert her authority against the 
 naive rudeness of the East, as she had 
 always to be prepared to meet such imperti- 
 nence and mockery with effective retorts. 
 
 In almost one breath this sensible woman 
 once explained the meaning of four separate 
 rabbinical expressions in the presence of the 
 learned. The ingenious, roundabout way 
 in which this was done, and her half playful 
 manner of concealing the act, are matters 
 not without interest for one who would 
 know something of the character of those 
 times; and hence I shall here quote an 
 account of the affair as found in the authori- 
 ties. 
 
 '' The question was asked : ' What is the 
 meaning of serugin (fU")D) T Then they heard 
 how the maid-servant said to the students 
 of the Law, ' Why do you come separately 
 into the hall, like chopped-up groups {seru- 
 gin)}* — ' What does chaluglugot (nuiSjibn) 
 mean?' was asked next. And the maid-ser- 
 
 # # 
 
Rabbi JudaUs Maid-Servant, 199 
 
 vant upbraided an awkward fellow in the 
 following words, ' You disorderly lout, don't 
 scatter your greens {chahiglugot) about in 
 this horrible way!* — 'How is the passage of 
 the Scriptures, Proverbs, IV, 8, to be trans- 
 lated?' was the third question. And again 
 they heard the housekeeper's voice. ' Haven't 
 you finished curling {silsel) your hair yet?'"^ 
 she said, lecturing probably some foppish 
 house-servant. Again, those learned in the 
 Law were not quite clear as to the meaning 
 of Isaiah, XIV, 23, by reason of the expres- 
 sion metate which occurs in that important 
 verse. With a view of shedding light on 
 the subject, the maid-servant gave the fol- 
 lowing order to one of the female domestics, 
 'Take your broom (tate) and sweep the 
 house thoroughly.' "f 
 
 This servant of the Jewish prince was, as 
 
 *Tlie common rendering, *' Prize it (wisdom) highly," 
 is derived from the literal meaning, to braid^ to treat 
 circumstantially. 
 
 t Rosh hashana 26b ; Megilla i8a ; Nasir 3a ; and, 
 with a slight variation, Jerushalmi, Shebiit, 9, i ; ibid.y 
 Megilla, 2, 2. 
 
200 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 we see, very exacting in household affairs, 
 and felt herself fully equal to the task im- 
 posed on her. Her position was a very 
 responsible one ; for it must be remembered 
 that to her care were entrusted the treas- 
 ures of the patriarchal family, which were 
 said to be far more valuable than those of 
 the Persian King Shabur.* She even had 
 charge of the tables reserved by the patri- 
 arch for the numerous pupils who received 
 free board at his house; and, as circumstan- 
 ces or her whims dictated, she would either 
 immediately dismiss the students after the 
 meals were over or invite them to remain a 
 while longer. In such company she adopted 
 the technical language known only to the 
 initiated, and employed exclusively by the 
 Rabbis, who scarcely ever expressed the 
 principal idea literally, but nearly always 
 resorted to symbols and figures of speech. 
 One day, when she wanted the pupils to go, 
 she said, *'The siphon (mixing vessel) is 
 already striking against the empty jug ; 
 
 * Hamburger, Real-Encyclopcedie, II, 448. 
 
Rabbi Judalis Maid-Servant. 201 
 
 hence the eagles (the students) must fly 
 back to their nests/* On the other hand, 
 when she desired them to remain seated 
 awhile, she would exclaim, "A second cask 
 is going to be tapped, and see, now the 
 siphon is floating at ease, like a boat on the 
 sea!"* Truly, Homer's much-vaunted ser- 
 vants never attained to this degree of edu- 
 cation. 
 
 But this servant's display of knowledge, 
 acquired through such artificial means, does 
 not afford me nearly so much pleasure as 
 when I think of her indignant at some im- 
 propriety of which she had been a witness, 
 her wrinkled cheeks fairly burning with 
 wrath. One day an elderly man adminis- 
 tered a flogging to his adult son in the pub- 
 lic highway, before her very eyes. Beside 
 herself with indignation, she immediately 
 denounced what is known as the second ex- 
 communication (Schamta) against the rude 
 fellow. As she not only had in charge the 
 treasures of the patriarchal family, but also 
 
 * ^rubin 53b. 
 
202 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 exercised the authority and power of punish- 
 ment vested in the Nasi, she had only to 
 utter the word. '* The sentence passed upon 
 him,'* she said with nice perception, *'the 
 churl richly deserved according to the pro- 
 vision of Leviticus, XIX, 14. He has in very 
 truth thrown a stumbling block in the way 
 of the blind; for the punishment inflicted 
 by the old man on his son might have 
 readily encouraged the ill-treated youth to 
 raise his hand in retaliation/'* 
 
 We take leave of this serving matron 
 amid tragic circumstances, strangely colored 
 by the notions of those times. The Nasi's 
 last hour had come, and he suffered terrible 
 agonies while his soul struggled to free 
 itself from its prison of clay. Knowing that 
 it would be for the dying man's good, the 
 stout-hearted housekeeper — for a wife had 
 long since ceased to preside over that house- 
 hold—hastened up to the roof and, although 
 
 * Moed katon 17a. The two grades of punishment, 
 '*Niddin" and **Schamta," are mentioned indiscrim- 
 inately. 
 
Rabbi JudaKs Maid-Servant, 203 
 
 she had before implored God to restore her 
 master to health, she now offered tip the 
 following prayer : "Earth is wrestling with 
 Heaven for this precious soul/ Take it, O 
 take it, ye heavenly powers !" We may 
 note here, in passing, — a fact which seems 
 to have escaped most scholars — that Simon 
 bar Kappara^s poetic announcement of the 
 sad news of Judah's death was simply pla- 
 giarized from this intelligent servant^s pas- 
 sionate outburst of feeling. But to con- 
 tinue. While she was up-stairs, a crowd of 
 disciples, assembled beneath the trees in an 
 enclosed court of the patriarchal house, were 
 clamorously imploring Heaven to spare the 
 prince's life. According to a prevailing 
 belief of the times, so long as the sick man 
 heard these impassioned prayers — and as he 
 lay in the upper chamber he could scarcely 
 help hearing them — it was impossible for 
 him to draw his last breath. This belief is 
 no conclusive proof of faith in miracles ; the 
 prolongation of life through intense momen- 
 tary excitement is readily explained on 
 psychological, and perhaps also on physi- 
 
204 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 ological grounds. But, however this may 
 be, on the roof stood the maid-servant, — not 
 unlike the nomas and weird sisters born of 
 the gloomy imagination of the North — pale 
 as a ghost, trying in vain to make her voice 
 heard below. Then, seizing a jug all of a 
 sudden, she threw it in the midst of the 
 earnest crowd of suppliants. A dreadful 
 pause ensued and, in the inimitable language 
 of the Talmud, "n^cj^sj nj** (the soul of Rabbi 
 Judah the Patriarch reposed*). 
 
 The age in which our heroine flourished 
 appears to have been especially noteworthy 
 for capable, keen-witted women in menial 
 garb. The maid who had charge of the 
 household of Rabban Gamliel the Elder may 
 be cited as another instance ; she devoted a 
 great deal of time to the study of religious 
 subjects, and was well versed in the Law.f 
 But no one, whether mistress or maid, 
 deserves to be mentioned with greater praise 
 than Rabbi Judah's maid-servant. 
 
 * Ketuboth 104a. 
 t Nidda 6b. 
 
XIV. 
 THE MARRIED COUPLE OF SIDON. 
 
 AN APOLOGUE. 
 
 ^ I ^HE Hagada delights in expatiating upon 
 ■*- conjugal happiness in the pleasing 
 form of allegories and ingenious fairy tales. 
 Indeed, very few subjects have so great an 
 attraction for the muse of the Jewish patri- 
 archal period as the tender relation existing 
 between the happily married. While the 
 lyric songs of all other peoples — in fact, 
 throughout almost the entire range of liter- 
 ature — sound the praises of love only in its 
 eJBflorescence, only in its first transports of joy, 
 often flippantly dismissing it with Anacreon- 
 tic jests, Judaism, as a rule, not only makes 
 conjugal affection the special object of atten- 
 tion, but also treats it in an earnest, even in 
 a pathetic manner. There is nothing more 
 important in life — this is everywhere insisted 
 upon in the realm of legend — than the 
 sacred family tie ; no sacrifice, to judge from 
 
 (205) 
 
2o6 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 the allegorists, is too great to strengthen 
 and promote the peace and harmony of pious 
 couples; even the inexorable authority of 
 the Law will somewhat relax its severity 
 when the matter of bringing husband and 
 wife into closer union is at stake. 
 
 In Sidon, the great seaport town, there 
 lived, as Rabbi Idi used to relate, an excel- 
 lent married couple, loving each other with 
 one heart. They found the greatest happi- 
 ness of life in mutual faith and tenderness. 
 Moreover, fortune had otherwise favored 
 them ; they were rich, and occupied an hon- 
 ored position in the community. What 
 more could these good people want to com- 
 plete their felicity? Alas, there is nothing 
 perfect on earth ! Even in this paradise of 
 domestic bliss there was a great void. 
 Although married ten years, the worthy 
 couple had never yet heard the sweet ring of 
 a child's voice in their magnificent home. 
 This caused them, who otherwise owed so 
 much to the bounty of fate, the deepest sor- 
 row; it was for him, perhaps, even a greater 
 calamity than for her. For the Law ren- 
 
The Married Couple of Sidon, 207 
 
 dered its decision with inexorable severity in 
 those times, and, however lovingly he clung 
 to his fair companion, he knew that a higher 
 power would soon tear him from her side. 
 **Not longer than ten years,*' says the Tal- 
 mud, '' dare a man continue in childless mar- 
 riage."* '' Continue !" No, the ancient book 
 does not express itself so considerately. The 
 authorities of the second century rather un- 
 gallantly designate such a relation J as 
 ** mere lingering.**! 
 
 * Jebamoth, 6, 6 ; Gemara on this passage ; Jebamoth 
 64ab. 
 
 I no;; nntyi it is called in the Mishnah, /. c, 
 
 X The law, undoubtedly, soon became obsolete, 
 although Maimonides, Hilchot ischut^ 15, 7, Eben 
 haeser^ 154, 10, and others stiU adhered to it. But 
 the commentary to Bben haeser, /. ^., early protests 
 against compulsory divorce. Modern authorities rarely 
 refer to the ordinance at all, and even then their 
 judgments are very lenient. According to Mielziner, 
 The Jewish Law of Marriage and Divorce^ p. 125, the 
 abrogation is contained in Eben haeser ; but I can only 
 find it in the much more recent commentary. Of course, 
 the ordinance, so far at least as it relates to obligatory 
 
2o8 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 Must he thrust her from him, who was 
 dearer to him than life ? O bitter torment ! 
 And yet, what alternative had he ? He was 
 free, it is true, to marry another woman ; 
 but the better classes had declared them- 
 selves against this form of legal bigamy ; it 
 was not considered the proper thing in the 
 society in which he moved.* He postponed 
 his decision from day to day, and all the 
 while was greatly depressed in spirits ; want 
 of determination, as we know, is a source of 
 self-torment. Nor did he lack fanatical 
 friends, whose advice caused him great 
 anxiety. 
 
 divorce, is in contradiction with nearly aU modern stat- 
 utes. To judge from the words which the Midrash 
 ascribes to Rabbi Simon ben-Jochai, I should conclude, 
 that, even in ancient days, the law was seldom enforced, 
 it being greatly preferred to let the parties use their own 
 option. 
 
 * I have on previous occasions adduced proof that, 
 even at that time, polygamy had been reduced to a mini- 
 mum by public opinion, and among those learned in the 
 Law it was as good as abolished. All the Talmudic 
 teachers probably lived in monogamic union. 
 
The Mnrried Couple of Sidon. 20g 
 
 In Galilee* there Uived in those days 
 Akiba's renowned pupil, Rabbi Simon ben- 
 Jochai, revered by the people as a sort of 
 saint. An ascetic, who had renounced the 
 world and had dwelt in caves for many 
 years, he was rigorous in his treatment of 
 himself, but mild and merciful toward his 
 fellow-men. While this great teacher was, 
 on one occasion, sojourning in Sidon,f the 
 distressed couple summoned up courage 
 enough to betake themselves to the Rabbi 
 and beg his advice. ** Rabbi," said the man 
 of Sidon, almost choked with tears, ** loose 
 our marriage bond, if you think fit." 
 
 "Beware of haste, my friend," said the 
 sage, with quick perception of the situation. 
 " When you celebrated your union, it was at 
 
 ^ Graetz, Geschichte der Juderiy IV, 212, KspeciaUy 
 in the cave by the village Kephar Charuba, known for 
 its St. John's bread, where he found protection against 
 the persecution of Hadrian : Sabbath 33b. 
 
 t That the author of the Apologue regarded Sidon as 
 the best adapted place for the couple to have met the 
 Rabbi is also Hamburger's opinion : Real-EncyclopcBdie^ 
 n, 1132, 
 
2IO Some Jewish Women. 
 
 a feast; so may also your separation be 
 effected at the festive meal/'^ 
 
 The suggestion was promptly followed, 
 and in a very few days the festive table was 
 set in the elegant mansion, — a rare banquet, 
 in which the choicest and the best was 
 offered in profusion for the delectation of 
 the senses. Yet those who occupied the 
 places of honor in the decorated hall, amid 
 gold and silver dishes, were greatly agitated 
 and felt, every moment, as if their heart- 
 strings must burst. They forced them- 
 selves, however, to put on a cheerful counte- 
 nance before their guests ; and, when every- 
 thing was proceeding most smoothly, the 
 host, with raised cup, said to the fair woman 
 he was so soon to leave : " True, this is the 
 last meal we shall share together ; yet you 
 shall not depart from this spot of our happi- 
 ness without a token of my love. Look 
 
 *Schir haschirim Rabba, voce: **Nagila venismeclia 
 bach.^' This is, it is to be noted, the only source for our 
 Hagada, and is positively unique in point of style. We 
 have attempted to reconstruct it, without altering it in 
 substance. 
 
The Married Couple of Sidon, 211 
 
 around you, dearest, among the treasures of 
 this house, and the most precious jewel for 
 which your heart yearns — take it, and return 
 in peace to your father's hearth.'* 
 
 When he ceased speaking, she turned her 
 eyes upon him with a look of deep meaning, 
 but she did not answer ; she only asked him 
 again and again to drink, herself mixing 
 and spicing the wine, and drinking his 
 health with irresistible grace. 
 
 The guests had taken their leave with 
 thanks ; the lights burned low in the festive 
 hall. The master of the house, suddenly 
 overcome by a feeling of heavy drowsiness, 
 had sunk down on a soft ottoman. By his 
 side sat she, who was about to part from 
 him ; she watched his breathing, and waited 
 until the wine had done its work. Then, 
 beckoning to her male and female servants, 
 she said to them : ** Lift him up with the 
 cushions upon which he sleeps, and carry 
 him to my father's house. Be careful of 
 your burden." 
 
 It was past the hour of midnight when 
 the sobered sleeper opened his eyes. A dim 
 
212 Sovte Jewish Women. 
 
 light streamed from a silver lamp, and by- 
 its faint rays he discovered that he was 
 amid strange surroundings. '' Where am 
 I ?*' he asked, in astonishment. 
 
 " In the house of my parents,** responded 
 his wife. 
 
 " But how did I chance here ?'* he inquired, 
 in greater amazement. 
 
 ** How did you chance here ?" repeated the 
 shrewd woman. *' Why, in strict obedience 
 to your own command. Did you not say to 
 me last evening, ' Take with you the most 
 precious thing for which your heart yearns!' 
 Well, in my eyes, dear husband, of all the 
 things I know on earth you are the most 
 precious." 
 
 A fervid kiss was his only reply; and 
 then, in inexpressible ecstasy, the reunited 
 pair were clasped in each other's arms. 
 They had found each other again, and now 
 fully realized how strong was the love that 
 bound them together. 
 
 The next day the couple of Sidon ap- 
 peared again before Rabbi Simon ben- 
 Jochai, He had expected them, and divined 
 
The Married Couple of Sidon, 213 
 
 their happy reunion almost at a glance. He 
 approved their resolve to remain united, 
 and dismissed them with a few words of 
 prayer. 
 
 Very little remains to be added to this 
 simple narrative. A few happy seasons 
 rolled quickly by, and at the close of a year 
 the noble Sidonian held a lovely child in 
 her arms. Whether through the prayer of 
 the pious sage, or whether through a mira- 
 cle of a just Providence, she had realized 
 the two most fondly cherished hopes of 
 womanhood : her happiness was com- 
 plete. 
 
 ''And, wherefore,'* Rabbi Idi closes his 
 account, " wherefore this commonplace 
 story ? Learn therefrom, O Israel, an im- 
 portant lesson ! This woman received a 
 high reward because she designated her 
 husband as her greatest good on earth. 
 Strive to imitate her, O Jewish heart; 
 always seek God and bide His aid. And 
 remember that if you regard Him as your 
 highest good in the world, and, in the words 
 of the Song of Solomon, will ' be glad and 
 
214 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 rejoice in Him,'^ you will be equally re- 
 warded.'* 
 
 This beautiful apologue early claimed the 
 attention of those versed in legendary lore. 
 Its similarity to the narrative of the faith- 
 ful wives of Weinsberg is very obvious. 
 The Emperor Conrad III, so the chroniclers 
 inform us, f provoked at the little Suabian 
 town's obstinate resistance to his besieging 
 army, determined to put all the men to the 
 sword, and to permit only the women to 
 leave the town, carrying with them their 
 most precious possessions. Thereupon the 
 wives of Weinsberg hit upon the clever 
 idea of carrying their husbands out of the 
 doomed town on their backs, thus saving 
 the whole population. 
 
 ■^ Schir haschirim, i, 4. 
 
 t A contemporaneous account vouches for the authen- 
 ticity of the story : Chronicon reg. S. Pantal. ad 1140. 
 The city was taken on December 21, 1140. Something 
 very similar is said to have happened at the siege of 
 Crema, 1159. 
 
XV. 
 A GROUP OF XANTHIPPES. 
 
 THE soil of Palestine and the similarly 
 tempered soil of Babylon were re- 
 markable for their .diversified fertility. 
 Nor was this varied luxuriance limited to 
 the natural products of the earth ; the 
 human species also, especially woman, 
 there presented itself under such diverse 
 forms of mental and moral development 
 as are rarely found elsewhere. But the cre- 
 ative forces at work in a given place and 
 time cannot be seen in their proper light, so 
 long as our attention is directed solely to 
 the noble and highly developed characters 
 of the particular epoch ; those which are 
 eccentric and abnormal must also, if only 
 for the sake of completeness, be taken into 
 account. We have seen the Talmudic wo- 
 man in the role of a model wife and mother, 
 we have seen her as an eloquent teacher 
 and a champion of her faith, as a sufferer, 
 
 (215) 
 
/ 
 
 2i6 Some J e wis It Women. 
 
 as a sybarite, as a princess, and as a lowly 
 servant ; and even in the case of those who 
 moved in the higher walks of life we were 
 struck with certain traits that fully pre- 
 pared us for a display of the stormiest pas- 
 sions of which a woman*s soul is capable. 
 The annals of the past show that females 
 of the Xanthippe type were not confined to 
 Athens and the household of Socrates, as 
 ^ there was no lack of quarrelsome, refractory 
 scolds in the homes of the Tanaim and 
 Amoraim, Not a little has been said, half 
 in jest and half in earnest, in vindication of 
 the class represented by Xanthippe, and the 
 wife of the Grecian sage herself, quite apart 
 from the philosophic grounds on which 
 Socrates justified his readiness to yield to 
 her, has more than once been defended both 
 by ancient and modern writers. But per- 
 haps such few perverse women of the Tal- 
 mudic period as are known to history may, 
 with even greater justice, claim indulgence 
 at our hands ; for, in speaking of them, the 
 unfavorable conditions under which they 
 lived — the troubled times, the enervating 
 
A Group of Xanthippes. 217 
 
 influences of the Eastern climate, the de- 
 graded position of the sex, the constant 
 strife between the newly-awakened intel- 
 lectual desires of the age and the tyranny 
 and baser impulses of men — must never be 
 overlooked. Drawn into this conflict, wo- 
 man, through her intensely emotional tem- 
 perament and the life of inactivity to which 
 she had been condemned, was ill fortified 
 against all rude shocks, and it ought not in 
 the least to surprise us to find the most sus- 
 ceptible and gifted women of those days 
 the quickest to lose their dignity and tem- 
 per. 
 
 In high as well as low comedy, from Aris- 
 tophanes to Cervantes, from Shakespeare to 
 Moliere, from Gozzi to Scribe, undue prom- 
 inence has been given to the character of 
 the shrew, and this circumstance, perhaps, 
 has helped very materially to make a type of 
 her. Authors prefer to emphasize the hu- 
 morous and grotesque, rather than the tragic 
 aspects of faraily dissensions, and the role of 
 Xanthippe is not a thankless one, for the 
 laugh is all on her side. This preference 
 
21 8 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 springs primarily from the demands of 
 poetic justice ; the weak who succeed in 
 defending themselves appear, at least, to de- 
 serve their victory, even if they go far be- 
 yond the limits of self-defence. And to this 
 must be added another psychological obser- 
 vation in which there is much truth. Abu- 
 sive and quarrelsome women are not neces- 
 sarily criminals ; on the contrary, in spite of 
 their impetuous temper, their raging and 
 fuming, they are generally pure, faithful 
 and conscientious in the performance of 
 their domestic duties. It was not only in 
 the dungeon where the Athenian sage drank 
 the cup of poison that this observation 
 was made ; it was confirmed later, on the 
 banks of the Euphrates and Tigris. But 
 far be it from me to defend the terma- 
 gant. Though it would be wrong to place 
 her on a level with a Locusta or a Lucrezia 
 Borgia, yet, whether living in Babylon or 
 elsewhere, we must not be too lenient in 
 censuring her for her lack of true womanli- 
 ness and the many annoyances to be laid at 
 her door. 
 
A Group of Xanthippes. 219 
 
 When Rab, the illustrious teacher of 
 Sura, took leave of his uncle and preceptor, 
 Rabbi Chija, — for these scholars used to 
 confide their sorrows to each other in lan- 
 guage so affecting as to bring them vividly 
 before us even after the lapse of sixteen 
 centuries — ^he said to him : ** Heaven defend 
 thee from what Koheleth (Eccles., VII, 26) 
 holds as more bitter than death — an ill- 
 tempered wife/'* 
 
 This incident occurred probably about the 
 year 219, when Rab was preparing to set 
 out on his important mission to Babylon. 
 He had the best of reasons for making the 
 remark ; for his wife, out of sheer perverse- 
 ness, was in the habit of acting contrary to 
 his most innocent requests. If, for exam- 
 ple, he ordered lentils for dinner, she would 
 cook chick-peas ; if he wanted chick-peas, 
 he would be sure to get lentils ; and over 
 such trifling matrimonial squabbles Rab 
 could work himself into a very unphilo- 
 sophical passion. Taking these troubles of 
 
 * Jebamoth 63a. 
 
220 Some Jewisli Women, 
 
 his father s greatly to heart, Rab's young 
 son hit upon a simple device for smoothing 
 over the difficulty ; when delivering his 
 father's directions, he would practise upon 
 his mother the deception of altering their 
 meaning. For instance, if the teacher 
 asked for lentils, the lad would change it to 
 peas. Thus, in a roundabout way, the old 
 man obtained what he wished, and on such 
 occasions he would joyfully remark, ''After 
 all, your mother is not so bad. Her better 
 qualities, it seems, are beginning to show 
 themselves." — " Would to Heaven it were 
 so,** replied the youth, rela-ting the trick 
 which he played on his mother. '' Never do 
 that again !** said the father, in a severe tone 
 of reproof. " It certainly looks as if I were 
 training you to lie, and strongly Jeremiah 
 (IX, 4) warns us against teaching our 
 tongues to speak falsehood.""^ 
 
 And Rabbi Chija, too, had to put up with 
 a great deal of annoyance on account of 
 *'her of the house*' (innon), as the wife, 
 
 * Jebamoth 63a. 
 
A Group of Xanthippes. 221 
 
 with idiomatic precision, is called in the 
 Talmud. The Rabbi never returned from a 
 walk without bringing her something ; but, 
 never so much as thanking him for his 
 presents, she would hide them under cloths 
 and household utensils and keep them 
 entirely for herself. When Rabbi Chija 
 feelingly complained of this to his great 
 colleague, Rab made no attempt whatever 
 to excuse the lady's conduct; on the con- 
 trary, he simply exclaimed with Babylonian 
 bluntness : " Why should you grieve over 
 such trifles? Is it not enough that our 
 wives bring up our children and make 
 moral men of us?'** 
 
 The chronicles of the household secrets 
 of Sura, Pumbedita, Sepphoris, Tiberias, 
 etc., of course contain many episodes be- 
 sides those just related. They are, however, 
 of a far more innocent character, and often 
 the thread of the story is lost amid the 
 varied contents of the Talmud. The reader 
 can hardly have forgotten what has been 
 
 * Jebamoth 63a. 
 
222 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 said of Jalta. She, too, it will be recollected, 
 was something of a shrew. Lady Choma, 
 who belongs to the same class, I mean to 
 treat of presently, as I wish to deal separ- 
 ately with important characters. 
 
XVI. 
 JALTA. 
 
 THE woman of whom I have now to speak 
 — Jalta, the pampered daughter of 
 the Prince of the Captivity, — though in some 
 respects unlike the female characters of the 
 Talmudic age hitherto portrayed, has also 
 many points of resemblance to them. In 
 this Babylonian-Jewish sultana we miss 
 entirely the meekness and gentleness of a 
 Rachel, or even of a Beruria. Not, indeed, 
 that she is lacking in nobility of soul and 
 womanly dignity, the excellent education 
 which she gave her daughters proves the 
 contrary ;* but her standard of virtue is one 
 which has in a great measure been formed 
 by foreign influences and belongs, besides, 
 to an essentially different age. Without 
 having the great intellectual powers and 
 learning of a Beruria, or the epigrammatic 
 
 * Gittin 45a. 
 
 (223) 
 
224 Some Jezvish Women, 
 
 wit of an Ima Shalom, she was an educated 
 woman with some degree of mental acute- 
 ness; and while there is an unmistakable 
 touch of Oriental sensuality always discerni- 
 ble in her mental perceptions, no one can 
 deny that she had the ability to grasp 
 things in their wide and general relations. 
 This mingling of contradictory traits of 
 character and its effect upon her inner 
 nature are most clearly shown in a well- 
 known saying of hers. I refer to the remark 
 in which she has expressed her surprise, 
 that no privation is in reality imposed upon 
 an Israelite by the Jewish Law, because 
 there is something of a very similar nature 
 permitted for almost everything that is 
 prohibited. For instance, while the blood 
 of animals is forbidden, their livers may be 
 eaten instead ; the fat of game supplies the 
 place of the fat of animals in general ; for 
 swine*s flesh a species of fish, the sturgeon, 
 may be substituted; for the Samaritan 
 woman who must not be taken in marriage, 
 there is the female captive of war, and so 
 on. The only prohibition for which she 
 
J alt a, 225 
 
 could think of no equivalent concession was 
 the mixing of meat and milk ; but her hus- 
 band, Rabbi Nachman, knew how to solve 
 even this difficulty.* 
 
 Compared with the more prominent wo- 
 men of her time, she may be said to represent 
 the capricious type. In her good and bad 
 qualities alike, she is the coddled child of 
 an age which has retrograded somewhat in 
 moral culture and human sympathy. This 
 beautiful epicure, with her equally strong 
 appetite for intellectual pleasures, one can 
 scarcely picture otherwise than seated in 
 her chair of state, in which, at her husband's 
 command, she would go out even on the 
 Sabbath,f carried about by slaves to whom 
 she is not likely to have been a too gentle 
 mistress. The great Babylonian plateau 
 was the place where her life was spent, 
 Sura being probably her home. Babylon 
 afforded every possible opportunity for the 
 full enjoyment of the material pleasures of 
 
 * Chulin 119b. 
 t Beza 25b. 
 
226 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 life ; but it lacked those elevating influences 
 and spiritualizing forces which, were associ- 
 ated with Palestine and its ruins. For our 
 knowledge of Babylon, this second home of 
 Judaism, we are wholly dependent on the 
 accounts left us by the Talmudists. They 
 claim to have found the Babylonian Jews in 
 a sadly neglected condition, and take to 
 themselves the sole credit of having made 
 of them a very pious and highly intellectual 
 people. No doubt the truth, as in all exag- 
 gerations, lies between the two extremes ; 
 but the fact nevertheless remains that, 
 judged from a Jewish point of view, the 
 Babylonian type of women was, on the 
 whole, not attractive. 
 
 We can hardly go far wrong in assigning 
 the year 240 as the date of Jalta*s birth ; for 
 on this assumption she would have been in 
 the bloom of her beauty, with all the hopes 
 of youth before her, when — probably about 
 260— she married the head of the academy 
 at Nehardea, Rabbi Nachman ben-Jacob. 
 This proud, self-conscious man, born about 
 235, was himself just then entering on his 
 
J a It a, 227 
 
 career, and eagerly accepted the newly- 
 created office of supreme judge which his 
 father-in-law's influence obtained for him. 
 It must not be forgotten that Jalta's father 
 was Abba Mari, whom Graetz,* after a criti- 
 cal examination of the subject, regards as 
 the sixth of the Princes of the Captivity. 
 This name Jalta, which occurs nowhere else 
 in the Talmud, is explained as an abbreviation 
 of A jalta (Kr\S"'x), the hind. To have passed 
 one's youth in the house of the exilarchs, to 
 have had a Resh-Gelutha for one's father, 
 are conditions the full significance of which 
 we of the present day can appreciate only 
 with great difficulty. A woman who en- 
 joyed such advantages was attended by 
 swarms of submissive servants and pliant 
 female slaves, who fanned cool air to their 
 mistress's cheeks and with downcast look 
 obeyed her every beck and call. Here court 
 was held and sentences speedily carried out 
 in a way which could not fail to awe subor- 
 dinates. Officers of the house, sycophants. 
 
 * Geschichte der Juden^ Vol. IV, p. 559. 
 
228 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 and clients crowded tlie halls and entries, 
 and their Oriental obsequiousness was of 
 the most repulsive cast. Where there was 
 so much leisure, some part of it was, of 
 course, devoted to study and reading, and 
 from this source Jalta acquired her wit and 
 shrewdness; but many more hours were 
 spent sitting around sumptuous tables, eat- 
 ing from gold and silver vessels, and on gala 
 days regular levees were held, at which the 
 foremost men of the nation were present. 
 Surrounded by such influences, is it any 
 wonder that Jalta should have come uncon- 
 sciously to assume the haughty airs of a 
 princess? Certainly not, and her husband 
 wedded one who was not only a true descend- 
 ant of David, but who had also inherited 
 the ancestral pride of the dynasty to which 
 she belonged. The exilarchafe was invested 
 with far too much pomp and splendor by 
 the people of those times, and the exilarchs 
 themselves were so intoxicated with their 
 success, so elated over their good fortune, 
 that they dwindled into insignificance, 
 leaving behind them not one worthy deed 
 
Jalta, 229 
 
 to record the fact of their existence. Nor 
 are they the only favorites of fortune whom 
 history has consigned to oblivion. 
 
 When the happy thought occurred to 
 Rabbi Nachman to offer Jalta his hand, 
 she was still mourning the loss of her first 
 husband. We are not informed of this 
 man's name, but, whoever he was, it appears 
 that his wedded happiness was of short 
 duration; for, to judge from all the sur- 
 rounding circumstances, Jalta must have 
 been in her prime at the time of her second 
 marriage. Before she had been many 
 months a widow, in fact while she still 
 carried a mere infant in her arms. Rabbi 
 Nachman's wooing put an end to the life 
 of seclusion she had been leading. She 
 entrusted her babe to the care of a nurse, 
 and, quickly comforted, followed her hus- 
 band to his home.^ At the time of which 
 I am speaking Nehardea had already been 
 destroyed by the victorious Odenatus ; but 
 in all likelihood Nachman, who succeeded 
 
 * Ketuboth 60b. 
 
230 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 Samuel, had established a new school at 
 Schekenzib, the quiet city on the Tigris, 
 where the pupils driven from Nehardea had 
 assembled again. The provincialism which 
 characterized life in this rising academy 
 town seems to have had no softening influ- 
 ence whatever on Jalta's temperament. In 
 her new home she was as overbearing as 
 ever, and insisted, above all, upon the 
 utmost deference being paid to her by 
 everybody. She was particularly severe in 
 this respect against the learned, whom she 
 had too often seen humbled in this way 
 under her father's roof. 
 
 One day, at dinner, a scene took place in 
 Jalta's own house which set in motion the 
 malicious tongues of Schekenzib, a city 
 notorious for its love of mockery.* Rabbi 
 Ulla, who was present as a guest, omitted, 
 on the strength of some surly Halachic 
 comment, to hand her the wine cup after 
 grace. In a great rage at this conduct on 
 the part of the Rabbi, she jumped up, rushed 
 
 * Pesachim 112b. 
 
J alt a. 231 
 
 into the cellar, and smashed four hundred 
 jugs of wine to pieces. Her guest tried to 
 conciliate her ; but, treating him with con- 
 tempt, — my pen shrinks from recording evi- 
 dence which gives us so hideous a picture 
 of these times — she made this vulgar reply : 
 ** Those who wander about talk idle non- 
 sense, and the clothes of a beggar are full 
 of vermin/** Such punishment falls upon 
 those who marry princesses and fail to lock 
 their wine-cellars. 
 
 But, as other incidents in her life attest, 
 Jalta could be very amiable. While she 
 was still living with her father, a pious 
 sage, Rabbi Amram, having been grossly 
 abused by the supercilious servants, took it 
 so to heart that he became seriously ill. 
 With her own hands the princess prepared 
 for him a medical bath, which was the 
 means of restoring the Rabbi to perfect 
 health.f Speaking generally, Jalta seems 
 to have assumed an attitude of haughtiness 
 
 * Berachoth 51b. 
 t Gittin 67b. 
 
232 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 principally toward her inferiors. Toward 
 her husband she always conducted herself 
 in a manner becoming a wife, and, although 
 the custom of the age encouraged women 
 of wit to put subtle Halachic queries 
 to their husbands, Rabbi Nachman was 
 never thus annoyed. Had she married a 
 better man, — one less selfish than Nach- 
 man, from all accounts, must have been — 
 perhaps her richly endowed nature would 
 have flowered into noblest womanhood. 
 
XVII. 
 ABAJI^S FOSTER-MOTHER. 
 
 THE president of the academy of Pum- 
 bedita, Abaji, who belonged to the 
 third generation of the Babylonian Amoraim 
 was a man of brilliant parts ; but with all 
 his learning, his versatility, his logic -and 
 acumen, and in spite of his gentle disposi- 
 tion and noble character, his career never- 
 theless exhibits all the shortcomings of the 
 age in which he lived. The conditions of 
 the third and fourth centuries did not favor 
 the growth of new ideas, yet they were all 
 the better adapted to labored displays of 
 wit and the exercise of the synthetic facul- 
 ties ; which explains how this able Amora, 
 whose span of life extended from the 
 year 280 to 338, became the real school- 
 man of the fourth century. The few data 
 which furnish us with the facts of his per- 
 sonal history contain no information as to 
 his origin. As in the case of so many other 
 
 C233) 
 
234 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 men of marked intellecual power, poverty 
 was his first teacher. He never knew a 
 parent's love ; his mother died in giving 
 him life, while his father had preceded her 
 to the grave.* 
 
 What would have become of the talented 
 child, had it not been for the very estimable 
 woman who, qualified in every way to 
 assume the duties of a moral guide, filled 
 the place made vacant by Abaji's parents ? 
 History, as sometimes happens, has passed 
 over the name of this worthy foster-mother 
 in silence, nor is the faintest light shed upon 
 the relation in which she stood to Abaji. 
 Whether she took charge of the infant 
 orphan because she was a near relative, or 
 whether the act was prompted by motives 
 of love and mercy, are questions which we 
 shall never be able to answer. Through the 
 gratitude of her foster-son, however, she has 
 won a most honorable appellation; in his 
 recollections she is always spoken of simply 
 as " the mother '* or '' mother dear'* (Em ox). 
 
 * Kuddushin 31b. 
 
AbajVs Foster-Mother. 235 
 
 "The Em" — we find the words dozens of 
 times in the Talmud — "told me thus and 
 thus." The name of "the Em" has been 
 used to fill up a very noteworthy page in 
 the history of true womanhood, and hence 
 it may well be retained here. 
 
 The fact that Abaji, in the period of his 
 greatest activity, speaks of his foster-mother 
 as of one absent, — most likely referring to 
 one who had already departed this life 
 — makes it probable that she was born 
 sometime about the year 250 ; and, as 
 it is only with age that one acquires her 
 store of experience, it is safe to assign 
 the year 310 as about the date of her 
 death. 
 
 What do we know of the Em ? On the 
 the whole, very little ; yet fully enough to 
 justify the conclusion that, in spite of hav- 
 ing been an eccentric person, whose judg- 
 ment was warped by the superstitions of 
 her age, she was both eminently practical 
 and exceedingly clever — in short, an origi- 
 nal type of woman. It was not only for 
 the numerous benefits which she conferred 
 
236 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 on the learned Abaji that he gratefully 
 remembered his foster-mother ; but also for 
 the large fund of popular lore which she 
 bequeathed to him. Of this some is of 
 value, some wholly innocent, while most of 
 it is colored by the prejudices and necro- 
 mantic tendency of those times. From all 
 appearances the Em must have enjoyed an 
 enviable reputation as a physician. But 
 she was something more ; she was familiar 
 with almost every kind of medicinal herb ; 
 her stock of household remedies was inex- 
 haustible — in fact, she controlled the popu- 
 lar medicine of her time in all its branches ; 
 and she was, besides, well versed in the 
 theurgy and oneiromancy of those days. 
 Nor were these the only subjects of which 
 she had any knowledge. She had very 
 sound views on matters of education, her 
 occasional quotations of the Halacha were 
 quite correct, and she understood human 
 nature, displaying good judgment in all the 
 affairs of life. " The Em said so," is an 
 expression of which the keen-witted presi- 
 dent of Pumbedita often makes use; for he 
 
Abajis Foster 'Mother. 237 
 
 always entertained the highest respect for 
 authority. 
 
 The foster-mother's recipes form an im- 
 portant contribution to the popular materia 
 medica of the Talmud, and at the same 
 time bear witness to the faith which the 
 people reposed not only in talismanic influ- 
 ences, but also in magic and supernatural 
 agents. The Em professed to be able to 
 cure all imaginable bodily ills, having on 
 hand the queerest compounds for fainting 
 spells, hemorrhages, fever, melancholia, 
 dyspepsia, and especially for children's 
 diseases. Of course, if she had carried 
 these secrets to the grave with her, human- 
 ity would be none the worse off to-day ; 
 nevertheless, as serving to throw some light 
 on the character of the times, her peculiar 
 remedies are not without interest. It will 
 not be necessary, however, to cite many of 
 them. Some of them are extremely odd, 
 not to say very repulsive ; and the modern 
 reader will be fully satisfied with but a few 
 specimens. 
 
 For pains in the chest and stomach, for 
 
238 Some Jewish Women, ;] 
 
 instance, she prescribes roasted grains of 
 corn, which is also her cure for low spirits.* 
 Against dyspepsia, perhaps heart diseases 
 also, she recommends meat from the right 
 flank of a ram, together with the ordure of 
 a heifer gathered in the month of Nissan ; 
 or, in case this cannot be obtained, chips 
 from a willow-tree may be substituted. The 
 substance taken must then be ignited, and 
 the meat, having been fried at the fire, is 
 to be eaten and washed down with pure 
 wine.f 
 
 The following formula, though apparently 
 much less harmful than the one just given, 
 belongs to the same order of remedies. 
 Referring to what we should to-day prob- 
 ably call the ague, the Em says : '' If any- 
 body is troubled with a chill and diurnal 
 fever, take a new sus-coin, go to the salt- 
 spring, take a small quantity of salt, roll it 
 about the piece of money, and then tie the 
 whole firmly around the patient's neck by 
 
 * Brubin 29b. 
 t /did. 
 
Abajts Foster-Mother, 239 
 
 a braid of hair."'^ These examples will 
 suffice to give the reader a general idea of 
 the talismanic remedies resorted to by 
 the people of the third century: and it 
 * only remains to add in this connection 
 that our physician was not without her 
 panaceas and nostrums, as we learn from 
 her foster-son. ''The Em/' says Abaji, with 
 an air of importance, " has recommended to 
 me as a plaster for all possible complaints a 
 mixture of sixminas of fat a ad one mina of 
 wax/'f 
 
 We must leave it to the medical faculty 
 to determine whether the Em's various 
 dietetic hints and prescriptions disclose 
 any knowledge of the secrets of nature. 
 What, for instance, would the modem 
 practitioner think of the following dic- 
 tum ? ^* Dates before meals," says the 
 Em, ''act on the body as blows of the 
 club on the noble palm-tree; but after a 
 meal they are good for the constitution, 
 
 ^ Sabbath 66b. 
 t Ihid,y 133b. 
 
240 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 they are to digestion what a bar is to a 
 gate."^ It sometimes seems to me that in 
 those days, when professional physicians 
 and the Latin cuisine of modern times were 
 unknown, these good old folks paid alto- 
 gether too much attention to household 
 remedies and preventive measures ; but this 
 error of overdoctoring one's self is fully 
 counterbalanced by the error of other ages 
 in being overdosed by medical men, so that 
 in the long run things are equalized. 
 
 But to return from this digression. For 
 ear-ache the Em regarded extracts of kidney 
 as a sovereign remedy. ''The kidney," she 
 says, *' seems to have been created only to 
 cure diseases of the ear.^'f She knew the 
 value of ablutions, and recommends water 
 — but only when warm — for children.^ On 
 matters of education, too, she has some 
 happy suggestions to offer. For instance, 
 she gives it as her opinion that "a boy 
 
 ^Ketuboth lob. 
 t Aboda sara 28b. 
 X Joma 78b. 
 
AbajVs Foster-Mother, 241 
 
 ought to be made to study the Bible when 
 he reaches his sixth year, and at ten he 
 ought to begin to learn the Mishnah/'* And 
 again, the peculiar rule of the ritual, which 
 requires girls to observe the fast-days at 
 twelve years of age, while boys are granted 
 an additional year, on the ground that girls 
 develop more rapidly, and also because boys 
 are more heavily taxed by having to study 
 the Torah, owes its origin to her.f 
 
 And in other respects, too, the Em dis- 
 played no little practical wisdom. **Six 
 measures heaped,*' she once declared, " are 
 more than eight measures scattered. ":[: Con- 
 cerning the talk of gossips she tells us : 
 " Town scandal lasts at the farthest one and 
 a half days.*'§ To judge from this observa- 
 tion the scandalmongers of Pumbedita must 
 have handled their victims with exceptional 
 tenderness. 
 
 * Ketuboth 50a. 
 
 t Ibid.^ Rashi^s comment. 
 
 X Moed katou 12a. 
 
 \ Ibid,, i8b. 
 
:dt 
 
 242 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 From the manner in which, the learned 
 Abaji communicates these various instances 
 of his foster-mother's wisdom to a circle of 
 wise Amoraim, from the fact that he always 
 quotes her with appreciation and assurance, 
 it is apparent that she was highly esteemed 
 in her day. The good Em is, of course, not 
 the only female family phj^sician and prudent 
 housekeeper known to tradition; but, as 
 none is spoken of in terms of such praise, 
 our collection of prominent women of the 
 Talmudic age would not be complete with- 
 out her. 
 
XVIIL 
 
 THE TWO CHOMAS. 
 
 ^ I ^HE two ciiaracters, of whom we shall 
 -■- give a brief sketch in the following 
 pages, lived at Sura, in Babylon, the seat of 
 the celebrated academy. Though neigh- 
 bors, they behaved toward each other in 
 anything but a neighborly manner. They 
 were both called Choma^ signifying ''wall'' 
 — a name at that time of frequent occur- 
 rence in those countries, something like the 
 German Walpurga. Although it is very im- 
 probable that these women were at all 
 related to each other, they were very well 
 acquainted — a fact which proved all the 
 worse for them, or at least for the one who 
 was destined to become the victim of the 
 stronger. But it was all the better for 
 Sura's tale-bearers, who regarded the ani- 
 mosity between them as most welcome 
 matter for gossip. Of these two women, 
 one was imposing rather than beautiful. 
 
 (243) 
 
244 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 She had an imperious bearing and irritable 
 disposition. This was Choma the shrew, 
 or the strong-minded. Her father was Rab 
 Chasda, the successful director of the Sura- 
 nian academy, one of those unusually lucky 
 men, whose prosperity tends to soften their 
 disposition, and makes them very indulgent 
 toward their family. The other was Choma 
 the beautiful, a direct descendant of the 
 Palestinian Patriarchs, — Judah the Prince 
 having been her grandfather. 
 
 It was anything but agreeable to the 
 strong-minded Choma that people made 
 such an ado of the other Choma's charms ; 
 in fact, envy was plainly visible in her 
 somewhat coarse features. The beautiful 
 Choma, on the other hand, was highly grati- 
 fied at the praises which could not have 
 failed to reach her ears. *' She drank wine 
 and laughed," we are told, — a luxury to 
 which, it would seem, her patriarchal des- 
 cent entitled her. 
 
 Thus passed the girlhood of the two 
 Chomas — a very brief period in the Orient. 
 They both married, each choosing a hus- 
 
The Two Chomas, 245 
 
 band to her own liking ; the desire to marry 
 being the most reasonable of all woman's 
 ambitions. One day, about the year 320, as 
 Rami and Raba, her father's most distin- 
 guished pupils, were seated at his hospitable 
 board, the reverend Chasda, turning to his 
 daughter, the strong-minded Choma, asked : 
 " Which of the two wouldst thou have for 
 thy husband, child?"— *' I will take both,"* 
 was the reply. Surely, a bold jest to fall 
 from a maiden's lips ; but the naivetd of the 
 East furnishes an excuse for many such in- 
 delicate expressions. Besides, it must not 
 be forgotten that this happened in the 
 fourth century, when but little of the sim- 
 plicity of olden days was any longer to be 
 found on the banks of the Euphrates and 
 the Tigris. Nevertheless, we ought not to 
 challenge fate or make light of the decrees 
 of heaven, for many a wanton mocker has 
 been taken at his word. But, to continue 
 our story, Choma gave her hand to the 
 scholar Rami. Their happiness was, how- 
 
 * Baba batra 12b. 
 
246 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 ever, of short duration. Kayserling assumes* 
 that they were divorced; but the passage to 
 which he refersf does not bear him out. 
 After having spent ten years in widowhood, 
 she married again and became the far hap- 
 pier wife of Raba, the celebrated teacher of 
 Machusa. 
 
 Let us now see what became of Choma 
 the beautiful. She, also, married a man of 
 standing, Rachba of Pumbedita, though he 
 never attained any eminence as a teacher ; 
 and she, also, met with the misfortune of 
 losing him. But we shall have more to say 
 of this later. It is sufficient to remark here 
 that the girlish dreams of the two rivals had 
 come to an end. They both turned their 
 backs on Sura — the most maligned of all 
 academy towns. From the scanty informa- 
 tion at our command we can learn very little 
 about them during their residence in the 
 city on the Tigris. 
 
 Even a shrew's disposition can be softened 
 
 * Die judischen Frauetiy p. 128. 
 t Jebamoth 34b. 
 
The Two Chomas. 247 
 
 by domestic happiness ; though, to be sure, 
 wl^enever occasion offers, she will show her- 
 self in her true light, as we shall presently 
 see. The tenderness with which this virago 
 clung to the leader of the Metibta school 
 finds its explanation in the conditions of the 
 times. But she was not only strongly 
 attached to her husband, she even sought to 
 protect him against the dangers of magic 
 and the evil powers of demons with which 
 he was beset in his influential position ; and, 
 in her zeal, she resorted to all manner of 
 counter-charms which, according to the cur- 
 rent notions, might prove effective. Whilst 
 her husband sat in judgment, she would 
 often let her hand — she had had an opening 
 in the wall made for the purpose — rest as it 
 were in protection upon his head."^ Does 
 not this act conceal a deep truth ? Is there 
 any better safeguard against the evils of 
 life than the arm of a loving woman ? 
 
 But, on the other hand, thinking herself 
 privileged to go to this length, Choma would 
 
 * Berachoth 62a. 
 
248 Sojne Jewish Women. 
 
 again and again meddle in affairs wholly 
 unsuited to women. Because she had an 
 imposing figure and a commanding presence, 
 she imagined herself endowed with intel- 
 lectual powers equally as imposing. One 
 day a woman — who, to judge from what took 
 place, it is fair to conclude must have 
 belonged to the beautiful Ch6ma*s circle of 
 acquaintances — was standing in the court 
 room. The oath was about to be adminis- 
 tered to her in some suit at law. From what 
 follows, it seems more than probable that 
 the party to be sworn was an intimate ac- 
 quaintance of Choma the beautiful. The 
 strong-minded Choma, hearing of the pro- 
 ceeding, suddenly burst into the room and 
 cried to her husband, who was acting as 
 judge : '' Will you have that woman sworn ? 
 Do not believe a word of hers! She is 
 utterly unworthy of belief, I have proof of 
 it." Thereupon Raba swore her opponent ; 
 and the poor woman, having lost her suit, 
 left the court abashed, with tears in her eyes. 
 
 ■X- 
 
 * Ketuboth 85a. 
 
The Two Chomas, 249 
 
 But let us return to the other Choma, of 
 whom we must not altogether lose sight, — 
 Choma the beautiful. She soon laid aside 
 the widow's veil, marrying a second, and 
 even a third time. After the decease of her 
 first husband, she became the wife of Rabba 
 bar bar Chama*s son, Rabbi Isaac, a young 
 scholar, whose early death prevented his 
 attaining celebrity. She then gave her hand 
 in marriage to Abaji, the distinguished 
 director of the academy of Pumbedita, 
 whose acquaintance we have already made 
 as the " Em's '* foster-son.* This union 
 appears to have lasted some years longer 
 than either of the previous ones ; but in the 
 year 338 Judah the Prince's lovely grand- 
 daughter was again left alone in the world. 
 A widow who can find consolation in a sec- 
 ond marriage occupies anything but an envi- 
 able position in the East ; and one who has 
 the hardihood to outlive three husbands the 
 Talmud does not scruple to call by the harsh 
 term of " husband-murderer " (Katlanit). 
 
 * Jebamoth 64b. 
 
250 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 Choma the beautiful was under the neces- 
 sity of appearing in court before her rival's 
 husband, Raba, to obtain her widow's por- 
 tion in the customary manner. She secured 
 it without any trouble ; but, not content 
 with the sum granted her, she also de- 
 manded an allowance out of the public 
 moneys for wine, which, she declared, had 
 always flowed freely at Abaji's table. And 
 so saying, she exposed her pretty arm, 
 which gleamed alabaster-like — so says our 
 authority — through the court room. 
 
 It is, by the way, a pet weakness of the 
 Talmud to lay stress "on beautiful arms, 
 gleaming like alabaster." The metaphor 
 is found frequently in the pages of the 
 great work. Perhaps, such Armseligkeit 
 was characteristic of the taste of that 
 age. 
 
 But to resume. '* See," cried the excited 
 widow, using her arm as a measure, 
 *'Abaji's wine goblets were so high!" Not 
 only did such a speech ill become a 
 woman's lips, but the assertion was of 
 doubtful veracity, as the judge very frankly 
 
The Two Ckomas. 251 
 
 told her.* At the same time, her blunt- 
 ness ought not altogether to surprise us. 
 Continual ill-treatment of any class of 
 persons is sure to end in their degradation, 
 and to this rule widows, who were certainly 
 not handled too gently in those days, form 
 no exception. The pious judge left the 
 court in disgust, and returned home in a 
 greatly disturbed state of mind. Questioned 
 by his wife as to the cause of his excite- 
 ment, he gave her an exact account of the 
 whole affair. Pale with rage and j ealousy she 
 forthwith rushed out of the house, straight 
 after her hated enemy, whom she overtook 
 not far distant from the court room. Then 
 suddenly the stillness of the academy town 
 was broken by a shrill voice and the sound 
 of blows. " You have already buried 
 three husbands,*' screamed the ill-tempered 
 Choma, as her wooden sandal fell heavily 
 on her rivaVs beautiful shoulders, " and 
 now you are trying to lead my husband 
 astray." Nor did she leave off pursuing 
 
 * Ketuboth 65a. 
 
252 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 her, until her fair victim had reached the 
 outskirts of Machusa. How Choma the 
 beautiful managed to get back to her home 
 in Pumbedita, or what subsequently became 
 of her, history nowhere records. Nor is 
 anything known of the latter days of Choma 
 the strong-minded. Perhaps some of my 
 readers may regard so vulgar an exhibition 
 of temper as unworthy of narration; but, 
 as I said before, we are dealing with a 
 virago in the present sketch. This episode, 
 like others of the kind, gives us a bit of 
 the civilization of two Babylonian towns, 
 and faintly reflects the spirit of the fourth 
 century. 
 
 V 
 
% N -» 
 
 XIX. 
 
 WEASEL AND WELL AS WIT- 
 NESSES. 
 
 A MAIDEN, not yet out of her teens, 
 walked, or rather ran, over a green 
 field. Judging from her holiday clothes, and 
 the fresh green bough encircling her pretty 
 head, she must have just come from some 
 rural festival; — perhaps she had hurried 
 away in ill humor from the gay gathering. 
 You could almost see a slight touch of anger 
 quivering about her finely chiselled mouth. 
 It was quite early in the afternoon when, 
 alone and unnoticed, she fled from the 
 circle of dancers ; but in Palestine it does 
 not take the sun long to travel on its 
 orbit to the west, and after a brief twi- 
 light the landscape is wrapped in total 
 darkness. 
 
 Owing to the fatigue of rapid walking 
 over a hilly country in the heat of the day, 
 our fair traveller was almost overcome with 
 
 (253) 
 
 ' >'i''{\ " 
 
254 So7ne Jewish Women. 
 
 thirst. There was no human habitation 
 near, where she might, perhaps, obtain a 
 refreshing draught ; and she was still quite 
 a distance from the town, where her parents 
 lived. She had hoped to reach her destina- 
 tion in a short time, but fatigue and thirst 
 had retarded her fleeting steps. Her knees 
 began to fail her, she could hardly proceed 
 further. 
 
 Then she noticed, by the dying rays of the 
 sinking sun, one of those wells, which it is 
 the benevolent custom of the East to have 
 dug out for the refreshment of wayfarers. 
 There was a wide, funnel-shaped opening at 
 the top of the well. The girl went down 
 three or four steps to the edge of the shaft, 
 grasped the bucket which she found there, 
 and swung it by a rope into the water below. 
 After the lapse of a few minutes, the vessel 
 reappeared with the refreshing liquid. She 
 sipped it, she drank, and the cool draughts 
 drove the fever from her parched lips. But 
 just as she was about to walk up again, she 
 made a misstep on the slippery edge of the 
 well, and, her garments flying in the air, 
 
Weasel and Well as Witnesses. 255 
 
 fell into its yawning depth. The silvery 
 stream murmured and eddied below. But 
 for the gloom she could have seen her 
 image as in a looking-glass. She breathed 
 the damp air but a moment, then her senses 
 left her; she could neither see nor hear 
 anything more. 
 
 When she regained consciousness, she 
 discovered that she was held fast by her 
 dress. The helpless girl had been caught, 
 in her fall, by a gnarled tree-root, projecting 
 from a wall of earth. Ought she to praise 
 God for such a rescue ? She was still sus- 
 pended motionless in the gloomy shaft of 
 the well ; a watery grave awaited her below, 
 and there was no path, no footway to the 
 top. Then, with all the strength that 
 remained to her, she cried out again and 
 again, ''Help! Help! Help for God's sake. 
 I am drowning!" 
 
 All of a sudden, the elastic step of a man 
 was heard on the greensward above. The 
 wayfarer comes nearer, he stands still, he 
 listens. '* Are you a child of man,** he asks, 
 shouting into the well, "or one of Ashme- 
 
256 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 dai's* daughters, a wicked demon created 
 to ensnare the sons of earth ? Your voice 
 sounds, hollow and ghostlike from below." 
 
 '* I am the daughter of respectable parents. 
 Oh, if you are capable of pity, save one who 
 is doomed to be buried alive !" 
 
 '* To judge from your voice, you must be 
 young and sensible, and, if you please me 
 and I find you comely, will you go with me, 
 will you be mine?" 
 
 *' I will ; I will belong to my preserver," 
 cried the trembling girl, '' only do not let 
 me languish here any longer." 
 
 He threw the rope to her. One hearty 
 pull, then another, and, as the unfortunate 
 prisoner was brought to the top, she 
 breathed the night air joyfully, now that 
 she was sure of her rescue. By the light of 
 the rising moon and the glimmer of the 
 stars, each looked the other in the face — 
 
 ^ Ashmedai, the weU-known prince of demons of Tal- 
 mudic legend, probably of Persian origin ; Gittin 68 ab; 
 Numeri Rabba, 11; Hamburger, Real-EncyclopcBdie^ II, 
 74, et seq. 
 
Weasel and Well as Witnesses. 257 
 
 one, a lovely girl, just blooming into maid- 
 enhood ; the other, a finely formed, vigorous 
 young man. They seemed as if created for 
 each other. 
 
 " You please me, little one, and I will keep 
 my promise; you must keep yours, too!" 
 With these words he threw his arms round 
 her slender form. She did not speak. Her 
 blushes, veiled by the darkness of the night, 
 were her only answer. 
 
 Thus they walked along, side by side ; he 
 pressed his suit more and more urgently ; 
 caressing words and vows of love came with 
 increasing fervor from his lips. But. of a 
 sudden she tore herself from him, indig- 
 nantly. " And who are you T she asked, 
 almost threateningly. " If you are born of 
 noble parents, respect my forlorn condition. 
 Come to my father's house to-morrow morn- 
 ing, and woo me as it is meet to woo a 
 daughter of Israel. My father and mother, 
 I pledge you, will not refuse you my hand." 
 
 ** I am not only of respectable parents," he 
 replied, somewhat hurt, **but I belong also 
 to Israel's tribe of priests," 
 
258 Some Jewish Women, 
 
 ** And were you one of the humblest of 
 the land, I would bind myself for life to my 
 preserver/' 
 
 *^ Say that once more, beloved,*' he said, 
 and added, wantonly, *' name the witnesses 
 of this declaration which is to bring me so 
 much joy," 
 
 At this instant, a timid weasel, frightened 
 out of its hole, passed by the lovers. 
 
 " The witnesses," said the fair one, ** are 
 everywhere. The sky is our witness ; so is 
 the weasel who has heard us ; and the well, 
 out of which you rescued me, shall serve as 
 a third witness of our troth." 
 
 ** So be it," exclaimed the enamored priest, 
 and a fervid kiss sealed the strange be- 
 trothal. 
 
 '' Yonder is the house of my parents," she 
 said, after a while. " Farewell, dear ; be sure 
 to remember your promise." 
 
 '* Farewell, my beloved," he said, '* you 
 may depend upon me." And then they 
 separated, she going one way, and he 
 another. 
 
 The young bride waited for her lover a 
 
Weasel and Well as Witnesses, 259 
 
 long time with enduring constancy. Many 
 more rural festivals had been celebrated; 
 the vintagers, too, had held their gay dance 
 in the vineyards ; autumn was already here ; 
 yet the young priest for whom she longed 
 had not returned. " Oh, he will come yet \' 
 she thought, "to-morrow perhaps, or certainly 
 next week." And she stifled her sobs, and in 
 her maiden pride did not betray even by a 
 look the sorrow that weighed on her heart. 
 There came, too, many worthy youths, 
 who wooed and supplicated and prayed for 
 the hand of this pretty love-lorn maiden. 
 All these offers she coldly rejected. As she 
 found, however, that more than one suitor 
 would positively not be dismissed, and that 
 their visits and offers continued to be more 
 urgently repeated, she hit upon the idea of 
 pretending to be insane. She ruined and 
 tore her clothes, pulled the tom-oflf pieces 
 into shreds, and would even occasionally 
 seize a visitor by the sleeve and tear off 
 pieces of his clothing. To crown all, she 
 feigned to be afflicted with epilepsy. Her 
 scheme succeeded. It was spread through- 
 
26o Some Jewish Women, 
 
 out the whole region that she was insane. 
 "Poor girl!" said the people, "her lover's 
 faithlessness has unsettled her reason." 
 Henceforth she ceased to be molested any 
 longer, and was known by her neighbors 
 as the ever-waiting bride. 
 
 But what had become of the recreant 
 bridegroom in the meantime? What, in- 
 deed ! This question has been asked many 
 times, and in a great variety of forms, in 
 Palestine and other lands. When the young 
 man returned home, he remembered his 
 pleasant adventure for several days with 
 sincere joy, and firmly resolved to redeem 
 his plighted word in a short time. Circum- 
 stances, however, unfortunately- prevented 
 him from carrying out his intention within 
 the first few days after his arrival ; he went 
 about his usual occupations, and the longer 
 he deferred the matter, the more indifferent 
 he became. Priests generally have large 
 families, and in the home of most of his 
 
 r 
 
 acquaintances handsome, dark-eyed girls, of 
 marriageable age, could be found, who 
 might easily bewitch a young man. 
 
Weasel and Well as Witnesses, 261 
 
 Before he knew it, he was smitten with a 
 fascinating maiden belonging to the priestly 
 tribe, without having dismissed his old love 
 from his mind. The marriage was consum- 
 mated, and, to crown their happiness, a 
 beautiful boy was born unto them within a 
 year. But alas ! how fleeting is human hap- 
 piness, how easily is a pareirt's hope shat- 
 tered! Three months had hardly elapsed, 
 when a malignant weasel one day crept up 
 to the side of the sleeping babe, whom the 
 nurse had left for a moment. It buried its 
 sharp teeth in the child's tender body, and 
 sucked the warm blood from his heart. A 
 few seconds later the parents stood over 
 their lifeless darling, wringing their hands 
 in agony. 
 
 Another year rolled by, and the young 
 couple were still mourning the loss of their 
 little son. But soon fortune smiled upon 
 them again, and the enraptured mother 
 held a second boy in her arms. His parents 
 were greatly concerned about him and took 
 every precaution to guard him. But in 
 making his first attempts to walk, he would 
 
262 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 go out into the open air, and found his way 
 to a neighboring well. While bending over 
 its brink, he tottered and fell in. This time 
 there was no gnarled branch at hand to 
 break the fall, and so he sank to the 
 bottom. 
 
 This distressing misfortune was still 
 harder for the wretched parents to bear 
 than the first. Deep as was the wife's 
 anguish, however, a violent feeling of wrath 
 took possession of her : wrath against fate, 
 against something mysteriously hostile, she 
 knew not what to call it, that was inmeshing 
 her life. In this mood she seized her hus- 
 band by the arm, and drew him to a remote 
 corner of the house ; it was long since she 
 had shed any tears, but a cold perspiration 
 was on her brow. 
 
 "There is something wrong here,'* she 
 shouted to him, in shrill tones of fear. 
 "Confess now, some dark secret is surely at 
 the bottom of this. If my children had died 
 natural deaths, from some disease, I should, 
 like many another afflicted mother, have to 
 resign myself to the will of God. But these 
 
Weasel and Well as Witnesses. 263 
 
 are, indeed, strange causes of death ! Con- 
 fess now, you certainly know the explana- 
 tion." 
 
 His first impulse was to evade the ques- 
 tion and flee from this scene. But with his 
 wife's inexpressible suffering staring him in 
 the face, he dared not conceal the truth any 
 longer. He hesitated, he stammered; he 
 sought for words to express himself. " Yes, 
 God is just," he said, at last, trembling from 
 head to foot. " There is, in truth, a secret 
 at the bottom of this." And he told her 
 the whole story of his faithlessness, with- 
 out the least concealment. He informed 
 her of what had taken place at the well; 
 he told her of the three witnesses of the 
 betrothal: the starry sky, the stealthily 
 creeping weasel, and the yawning well. 
 
 "Now I see it all," said the poor woman, 
 after a long, painful pause. **And it is 
 equally clear to me that we must no longer 
 live together. I have no further right to 
 call myself your wife. Go to the poor, dis- 
 consolate girl whom you have forsaken. It 
 is God's will that she should be yours. Go 
 
/ 
 
 264 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 to her, and redress the wrong you have done 
 her. Your pleading, your entreaties are all 
 in vain ; we must part." And so saying, 
 she turned away, leaving him to his brood- 
 ings. 
 
 The letter of divorce was written, the wife 
 returned to her father's house, and the peni- 
 tent priest was now preparing to atone for 
 what he had done. He set out without 
 delay for the town where his betrayed bride 
 dwelt. On his arrival he made the neces- 
 sary inquiries. The people of the place 
 looked at him with a shrug of the shoul- 
 ders, and said: *'You mean the insane girl, 
 the epileptic, who has all these years been 
 waiting patiently for her bridegroom." But 
 he paid no attention to this ; he went at 
 once to the house, made an open confession 
 to the girl's father, and also related mi- 
 nutely what had befallen him since the 
 meeting at the well. 
 
 "I alone," he concluded his account, *^am 
 to blame for the mental disorder with 
 which your noble daughter is afflicted. But 
 God has turned my heart, and I have come 
 
Weasel a?id Well as Witnesses, 265 
 
 to repair all. Give her to me, and in what- 
 ever condition I find her I will honor and 
 cherish her through life." 
 
 When the old -man saw that the priest 
 was sincere in his determination, he led 
 him without further hesitation to his daugh- 
 ter's apartment. '*May you succeed, my 
 son," he said, "in bringing my afilicted child 
 back to reason, but I almost doubt your 
 success." 
 
 The love-lorn maiden had become so 
 accustomed to feigning insanity, that she 
 always exhibited its symptoms immediately 
 upon the entrance of any stranger, without 
 even looking up to see who it might be. 
 Deeply moved by her strange conduct, the 
 returned lover watched her for a while, 
 until he saw the girl about to fall to the 
 floor with a wild shriek. Then he caught 
 her up in his arms, apparently in an uncon- 
 scious condition, and gently laid her upon 
 a couch. 
 
 "How is it with the weasel?" he whis- 
 pered in her ear, "and how with the well, 
 and the starry sky ? I, your betrothed, am 
 
266 Some Jewish Women. 
 
 here ; I have come to redeem my promise — 
 made in the presence of three witnesses.*' 
 
 She looked up and saw, kneeling beside 
 her couch, him for whom she had waited 
 so long, for whom she had suffered so 
 much. She rubbed her eyes, she laughed 
 and wept in the same breath, and instantly 
 the deep misery that had so long oppressed 
 her soul and clouded her mind lifted itself 
 like a heavy fog. 
 
 '' Yes, I have waited long," she said, 
 radiant with joy ; *' yes, my beloved, I have 
 kept the troth we plighted at the well." 
 
 How beautiful she looked at this moment! 
 How the happiness of meeting her beloved 
 again made her pale cheeks glow ! Surely, 
 there is no better physician, no more potent 
 rejuvenator, than love and happiness ! 
 
 At last the bride and bridegroom were 
 happily united, and Rabbi Chanina,* who 
 transmits the story, takes occasion to ex- 
 claim : *' There is true magic power in 
 
 * So the Aruch has it ; but iu the older version (Tanit 
 8a) the name of Rab Am mi appears. 
 
Weasel and Well as Witnesses, 267 
 
 faith. This our noble maiden discovered in 
 her steadfast loyalty toward the two wit- 
 nesses of her betrothal, the weasel and the 
 well ; and this all people experience in even 
 greater degree, whose hope and trust are in 
 the Holy One. For towards the faithful in 
 the land, says the psalmist,* God's eyes are 
 always directed." 
 
 From all indications it appears that this 
 story belongs to the Talmudic age, and the 
 scene is undoubtedly laid in Palestine.! 
 
 * Psalm CI, 6. 
 
 t This story is aUuded to in an earlier record (Tanit 
 8a)., The Gaouic age, without doubt, possessed a tradi- 
 tion in which this rather obscure allusion to the incidents 
 above narrated is explained ; and the oldest Talmudic 
 commentators, to whom this tradition was certainly 
 known, have each added touches to the little romance. 
 Kven Rashi, in his commentary, has elucidated the 
 original fragment by a short explanation ; while Rabbi 
 Nathan relates the story in great detail in the Aruch, 
 voce rn /in. Compare also Levy, Neuhebraisches und 
 chaldaisches Worterbuch, II, 53. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 IN the vari-colored group of thirteen por- 
 traits, we have now before us the dif- 
 ferent types of Jewish women of Talmudic 
 times, covering a period of six centuries. 
 Some of our heroines — as, for instance, 
 Rabbi Akiba's wife, Beruria, Rabbi Meir s 
 pupil. Rabbi Ishmael's mother — stand forth 
 as noble patterns of womanhood, such as 
 are seldom found among the inspired crea- 
 tions of poetry and then hardly surpassed 
 in sublimity. Others are the product of 
 their age, embodying, so to speak, its dis- 
 tinctive characteristics — what is good in it, 
 and its imperfections and prejudices as 
 well ; while there are still others who, strug- 
 gling to maintain themselves in a revolu- 
 tionary age, amid many trials and great 
 misfortunes, exhibit all the evil influences 
 of their surroundings. To these fortune 
 
 showed but little favor; and, as a conse- 
 
 (268) 
 
Conclusion, 269 
 
 quence, they are sadly devoid of all that is 
 noble in woman. 
 
 Naturally, then, the portraits in our gal-, 
 lery are not all pictures of saintly or ideal 
 beings. We have endeavored to present, 
 with generous appreciation, the better rep- 
 resentatives of womanhood of past times ; 
 but we have never concealed, and seldom 
 excused, the exhibitions of extreme rude- 
 ness and coarseness for which the unfavor- 
 able conditions of those epochs must be held 
 responsible. In our opinion, the peevish, 
 censorious historiographer of the stamp of 
 Antonio — we have reference to the Antonio 
 in Goethe's Tasso — often mistakes his call- 
 ing ; and does not accomplish much either 
 in the way of giving us a faithful picture of 
 the past or of quickening enthusiasm for 
 the study of history. 
 
 Censure the shortcomings of the Talmudic 
 world as severely as you will, it is, after all, 
 emphatically a world faithful to itself, 
 true in outward appearances, logical in its 
 judgments. This is pre-eminently true of 
 the delineations of female character to be 
 
■^:: 
 
 270 Conclusion, 
 
 found in the Talmud. Indeed, the abund- 
 ance of passages of this kind, in the naive 
 forms of expression in which they have, for 
 the most part, been transmitted to us, bear 
 unimpeachable and honorable testimony to 
 the native sense of truth of the rabbinical 
 narrators. 
 
 In the continuation of our task, treating 
 of the women of the Middle Ages, we shall 
 — of this we are already conscious — not be 
 so fortunate by far ; for the sources of our 
 information are but meagre. We are struck 
 by the manner in which domestic life is 
 thrust in the background by public life; 
 woman does not sufficiently engage the 
 historian^s attention ; often her career lies 
 hidden beneath a mass of legends. But we 
 will not anticipate. From now on, perhaps 
 for a considerable length of time, our literary 
 aims and purposes shall take us away froni 
 the Talmudic world ; meanwhile, in submit- 
 ting these biographical sketches in their 
 present form, we crave the reader's indul- 
 gence. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abaji, Rabbi, 233-36, 242, 249 
 
 Foster-mother of, . 234-41 
 
 Abba Mari, Prince, 227 
 
 Abennerig, 85 
 
 Abia, 92 
 
 Absalom, brother of Judah Aristobulus, 35 
 
 Acra, Queen Helena*s Palace in, 95 
 
 Actium, battle of, 63 
 
 Adiabne, conversions to Judaism in, 86 
 
 Adiabenian dynasty's renown in Jerusalem, .... 98 
 Agrippa II, King of Judea. 
 
 and Berenice, 108 
 
 oration in favor of peace by, 112 
 
 Akiba ben-Joseph, Rabbi, 153, 185 
 
 and Rachel, 154-59 
 
 daughter of, 160 
 
 Albinus, 125 
 
 Alexander, son of Aristobulus, 55 
 
 Alexandra, daughter of Hyrcanus, . . . • 55, 65, 77, 81 
 Alexandra, Salome. (See Salome Alexandra.) 
 
 Amram, Rabbi, 231 
 
 Ananelus, 65 
 
 Ananias, 85, 89 
 
 Ananus, 126, 132 
 
 Antigonus, brother of Judah Aristobulus, .... 32, 61 
 Antioch as the scene of the Maccabees* fate, ... 15 
 
 (271) 
 
2/2 Index. 
 
 Autiochus Kpiphanes, King of Syria, 15 
 
 Antony, Mark, . . 60. 
 
 Aristobulus, brother of Mariamne, .... 57, 67 
 
 appointed high priest, 65 
 
 Aristobulus, Judah, son of Hyrcanus, 29-34 
 
 and Salome Alexandra, 30 
 
 Artabanus, Parthian king, 90 
 
 Assyrians, flight of, 7 
 
 Babyi^onian civilization in the fourth century, . . 252 
 type of women, . . 226 
 
 Bardanes, . . . • . 90 
 
 Berenice, daughter of Agrippa I,, 106-17 
 
 and Agrippa II, 108 
 
 and Titus, 1 14-16 
 
 appeal in behalf of the Jews, iii 
 
 banished from Rome, 119 
 
 marriage to Marcus and Herod, . .... 107 
 
 Beruria, 162-73, ^77 
 
 and Rabbi Meir, 168-71, 173 
 
 Bethome, battle of, 41, 46 
 
 Boethus, ... • .... 122 
 
 Byron's poem on Mariamne, 81 
 
 Ci^ciNA, 116 
 
 Castus Gallius, 104 
 
 Chalcis granted to Herod, 107 
 
 Chamta = Chamat, Rabbi Meir's lectures at, ... 176 
 
 Chanina ben-Teradion, 163 
 
 son of, . 163 
 
 story of Weasel and Well by, 266 
 
Index, 273 
 
 Chasda, 244 
 
 Chija, Rabbi, and his wife, 221 
 
 Cboma the Beautiful, • . . 249-51 
 
 and Rachba, . 246 
 
 Choma the Strong-minded, 245 
 
 and Raba, . . . . 246-48 
 
 Chomas, the two, . 243-51 
 
 Christian Church, reception of Book of Judith by, . 13 
 Christianity, early adherents of, ... . . . 165 
 
 Christians, Jewish, intercourse with, . . . 144, 167 
 
 Cleopatra, . .... 62, 63 
 
 Cross, alleged death of Antigonus on, 62 
 
 death of Pharisees on, 41 
 
 Cuspius Fadus, 95 
 
 Cypros, mother of Herod, 71 
 
 Dkmetrius, 112 
 
 Dio Cassius, 91 
 
 Doris, wife of Herod, 58 
 
 Drusilla, • 109, 113 
 
 !Ei,iKZKR ben-Hyrcanus, ...... 140, 145-47, 149, 157 
 
 Km, the. (See Abaji's Foster-mother.) 
 
 Fewx and Drusilla, 113 
 
 Friday evening discourse, Antiquity of, . . . 176 
 Florus Gestus, no 
 
 Gami^iKI* the Elder* s maid-servant, 204 
 
 Gamliel II, brother of Ima Shalom, ' . 140, 142, 145 
 
 146, 159 
 Gimso, academy at, 157 
 
 R 
 
^74 Index, 
 
 Graetz, 6 1, 67, 84, 227 
 
 Grapte, 96 
 
 Grotius, Hugo, on the story of Judith, 9 
 
 Hannah = Miriam = Martha, daughter of Boethus, i8 
 
 Helena, Queen of Adiabne, . . 84-T04 
 
 conversion to Judaism of, . 87 
 
 life in Palestine, 95, 96 
 
 pilgrimage to Jerusalem, . 94 
 
 Kerod, King of Judea, 57-76, 107 
 
 and Mariamne, 58, 61 
 
 claims to gratitude of the Jews of, 64 
 
 polygamy introduced by, 72 
 
 Herodians, misdejsds of, 109 
 
 High priesthood, sale of, 126 
 
 Holofernes, . . 5, 7 
 
 ''Husband-miu-derer," 249 
 
 Hyrcanus, John, 29, 57, 94 
 
 IDI, Rabbi, story by, 206 
 
 Idumeans, Victory of, over Judeans, ... 58, 132 
 Ima Shalom, daughter of Simon ben-Gamliel, . 139-51 
 Intellectual union between husband and wife in 
 
 Talmudic times, 148 
 
 Isaac, Rabbi, son of Rabba bar bar Chama, .... 29 
 
 Ishmael, Rabbi, aid to women given by 191 
 
 and his mother, 188-91 
 
 Izates, King of Adiabne, . . 84-94 
 
 conversion to Judaism of, 85 
 
 enthusiasm for Judaism of, 89 
 
 tomb of, . , . . . , 104 
 
Index. 275 
 
 JAEI., II 
 
 Jalta, 223-32 
 
 and Rabbi Nachman, 225, 229, 232 
 
 Jason (Joshua) of Cyrene, account of Maccabees by, 16 
 
 Jerusalem, longing to repossess, . 156 
 
 Queen Helena's pilgrimage to, 94 
 
 Jewish Christians, 144, 167 
 
 Jews, recourse of, to *' Secher letob, " 181 
 
 Jochanan ben-Saccai, . . . 140 
 
 Joseph, treasurer of Herod, . . 75 
 
 Joseph, uncle of Herod, 691 7o> 7^ 
 
 Joseph ben-Chanina, . . 185 
 
 Josephus, 16, 32-35, 39, 45, 50, 54, 59. 67 
 
 74, 78, 84, 90, 100, 108, 113 
 
 Joshua ben-Damneus, 126 
 
 Joshua (Jesus) ben-Gamala, . . . - 37j 124, 126 
 
 and Martha, 127-31 
 
 appeal to Zealots by 132 
 
 reform in schools by 129 
 
 Joshua ben-Kapusai, 161 
 
 Judah Aristobulus, . , 29-34 
 
 Judah ben-Tabai, 52 
 
 Judah, Rabbi, the Prince, 193, 202, 203 
 
 Judaism, maid-servant of, . , .* 194-204 
 
 and conjugal love, .... ... ... 205 
 
 conversions to, 49, 86, 87, 92 
 
 influence of, in Adiabne, 87 
 
 Judeans vanquished, . 5^, ii5> 132 
 
 Judith, Book of, 9, 10 
 
 source of, 11, 12 
 
276 Index 
 
 Judith, widow of Menasseh, 7~i2 
 
 as a subject of painters, 14 
 
 slaying of Holofernes by, 7 
 
 Juvenal on Berenice and Agrippa II, . .... 108 
 
 Kab, a. measure, . . . 127 
 
 Kalba Shebua, . 152, 159 
 
 Kamit and her sons, . 130 
 
 Kayserling, . 123, 144, 246 
 
 Kenedeus, ... 104 
 
 Kephar Asis, Rabbi Ishmael at, . . . . . 184, 187 
 
 Kinnamus, Parthian king, .... . . 90 
 
 LiEZAR, the Exile. (See Eliezer ben-Hyrcanus. ) 
 Lydda, academy at, . . . . . . -157 
 
 Maccabkan Age as unfavorable to the develop- 
 ment of female genius, . . . . . 27 
 Maccabees, Book of, . . . . 16, 17, 19 
 
 source of, 17 
 
 Malichus, .... 57 
 
 Marcus, son of Alexander I^ysimachus, . 107, 112 
 
 Mariamne, . . 57-81, 109 
 
 and Herod, . 58, 61 
 
 death of, 78 
 
 Marriage, Talmudic laws concerning, , . 37, 207, 249 
 Martha (= Miriam = Hannah) daughter of Boethus, 18 
 
 37, 122-37 
 
 and Joshua ben-Gemala, 125,128 
 
 stories as to death of, . . .136 
 
 Martha (= Miriam) daughter of Nicodemus ben- 
 
 Gorion, ... 1^4 
 
Index, 277 
 
 Martyrs, the seven, 15 
 
 Heroism of mother of, 20 
 
 Mathias ben-Theophilus, 131 
 
 Mattathias and his five sons, 21 
 
 Medical prescriptions of Abaji's foster-mother in 
 
 the Talmud, . . . . 237-41 
 
 Meir, Rabbi, 164, 167, 171, 181, 183 
 
 and Beruria, ... 168-73 
 
 as a preacher and teacher, 174-77 
 
 pupil of, ... 178-82 
 
 ** Miriam and her Sons'* (a poem), 22 
 
 Metellus Scipio, . • • • - 55 
 
 Middle Ages, Women in the, 270 
 
 Monobazus I, King of Adiabne, 84, 87 
 
 Monobazus II, 85, 88, 101-103 
 
 conversion to Judaism of, 92 
 
 Nachman ben-Jacob, Rabbi, 225, 226, 229, 232 
 
 Nahum, 157 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylonia, 5 
 
 Nisibis, 90 
 
 Numenios, 71 
 
 Obkdas, . . . • • 41 
 
 Octavia, 62 
 
 Octavius, -63 
 
 Ophel, Grapte's building in, . . . 96 
 
 Parthian empire, 90 
 
 Parthians, 60 
 
 Paul, 1x3 
 
 Pausanias, 104, 
 
s 
 
 4 
 
 278 Index, 
 
 Perea and Syria, conversion to Judaism of pagan 
 
 cities of, . . 149 
 
 Pharisees, 4i-43> 4^, 49, 54 
 
 nailing of eight hundred on the cross, . , 41 
 
 Plutarch, • . : : . . 56 
 
 Polemo, of Cilicia, and Berenice, 108 
 
 Polygamy, revived by Herod, . ... 72 
 
 discouraged, 208 
 
 Pompey, .... .... 56 
 
 Priesthood, high, sale of, 126 
 
 Ptolemy Soter, 41 
 
 Pumbedita Academy, 233 
 
 Rab and his wife, .... 220 
 
 Raba, 245, 248, 251 
 
 Rachba, 246 
 
 Rachel, daughter of Kalba Shebua, 153-61 
 
 and Akiba, 154-59 
 
 Rami, 245 
 
 Rome, 62, 91 
 
 Sadducees, 43, 44, 48 
 
 Salome Alexandra, Queen, = Salominon = Salo- 
 
 mita, . . . 28-54 
 
 and Alexander Jannai, 35 
 
 and Judah Aristobulus, 30 
 
 attitude toward Pharisees of, . . . . • . . 42-44 
 
 sole ruler of Judea, 51 
 
 Salome, sister of Herod, • • , . 86 
 
 Sanhedrin, 43,48, 133, 177 
 
 Samacha, 86 
 
Index. 279 
 
 Schekenzib, school at, 230 
 
 Schoenfeld, Baruch, poem of, on Miriam, 21 
 
 Schools, reforms in, 129 
 
 Sennacherib, 11 
 
 Sea, a measure, 133 
 
 Shrews among Jewish women, 216-22 
 
 Sidon, the married couple of, 206-14 
 
 Simon bar Kappara*s announcement of Judah's 
 
 death, ... 203^ 
 
 Simon ben-Asai, 160 
 
 Simon ben-Boethus, 123 
 
 Simon ben-Gamliel, 139 
 
 Simon ben-Gioras, 116 
 
 Simon ben-Jochai, 209, 212, 213 
 
 Simon ben-Shetach, 28, 45-48, 51 
 
 schools in Jerusalem founded by, 129 
 
 Sohemus the Iturean, . , 75 
 
 Syria and Perea, conversion to Judaism, of pagan 
 
 cities of, 49 
 
 Tacitus, 91, 114 
 
 Talmud : 
 
 beautiful arms referred to in, 250 
 
 ignorance referred to in, 154 
 
 medical prescriptions of Abaji's foster-mother 
 in, 237-41 
 
 Talmudic Law : 
 
 of childless marriage, . | 207 
 
 on marriage of a high priest, 37 
 
 on marriage of widows, 249 
 
28o Index, 
 
 Talniudic Times : 
 
 intellectual relation of husband and wife in, 148 
 
 manner of speech in, 198 
 
 women in, 142, 269 
 
 Tana-debe Ishmael, . . .187 
 
 Tarphon, Rabbi, 160 
 
 Theodorus, 41 
 
 Tiberius, Alexander, 98, 99 
 
 apostasy of, loi 
 
 Titus, 105, 108, 114 
 
 Trypho, 28 
 
 Ui^iyA, Rabbi, 230 
 
 Vai,e;rius, Quintus, 56 
 
 Vespasian, . . . 114, 115 
 
 Vitellius, 115 
 
 Vologases, 92 
 
 We;ase;i< and Well, story of, 253-67 
 
 Weinsberg, story of faithful wives of, 24 
 
 Womanhood, patterns of, . 268, 269 
 
 Women, attendance of, at Rabbi Meir's lectures, . . 176 
 Babylonian type of, . . . ...... 226 
 
 in ancient Palestine, 215 
 
 in Talmudic times, 142, 269 
 
 in the Middle Ages, ... . 270 
 
 Rabbi Kliezer's opposition to strong-minded, 150 
 
 Rabbi Ishmael 's aid to, 192 
 
 treatment of, in ancient times, 179 
 
 ^Xanthippe, as a type of, 216-18 
 
 Xanthippe, as a type, 216-22 
 
WORKS 
 
 OP 
 
 HENRY ^IRNDORK 
 
 KASSANDRA. A Tragedy. Vienna. J. Keck. 1856. 
 (Out of Print.) 
 
 DER LBHRBERUF IN ISRAEL. A Sermon. Frankfort- 
 on-the-Main. Adelman. 1859. (Out of Print.) 
 
 GEDICHTE. Leipsic. Amold'sche Buchhandlung. i860. 
 
 A KEY TO THE EXERCISES OF HERXHEIMER'S 
 NEW METHOD OF LEARNING THE HEBREW 
 LANGUAGE. London. F. Thimm. 1866, 
 
 tJBER jiJDISCH-RELIGIOSE BILDUNG IM SEMINARE 
 DER GEGENWART. Miinster. Krick. 1875. 
 
 MEHR LICHT. A Sermon. Leipsic. Friese. 1876. 
 
 THE THANKSGIVING OF THE PATRIOT. A Sermon. 
 Cincinnati. The Bloch Co. 1877. 
 
 ISAAC MARKUS JOST UND SEINE FREUNDE. Leipsic 
 and New York. B. Westermann & Co. 1886. 
 Second Edition. 
 
PUBLICATIONS 
 
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 JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA. 
 
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 translation of Graetz's " History of the Jews/' was organ- 
 ized in Philadelphia in June, 1888, with a view to publish- 
 ing books on the religion, literature, and history of the 
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OUTLINES OF JEWISH HISTORY. 
 
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 By lady MAGNUS. 
 
 Revised by M. FKIEDLANDER, Ph. D. 
 
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 The book is written in a plain, simple style, and is well adapted fcr 
 Sunday-school libraries.— Jetyis/i Spectator. 
 
 It is one of the very few books in the English language which can be 
 placed in the hands of a Jewish boy with the assurance of arousing and 
 maintaining his interest. — Hebrew Journal. 
 
 Intended for the young, but may well be read by their elders.— 2)e<roi< 
 Fixe Press. 
 
 Bright and attractive reading.— P/ii^ade^p/iia Press. 
 
 THINK AND THANK will please boys, and it will be found popular 
 in Sunday-school libraries.- iVciy York Herald. 
 
 The story is a beautiful one, and gives a clear insight into the circum- 
 stance s, the training and the motives that gave impulse and energy to 
 the life-work of the great philanthropist.— iijanso* Citij Times. 
 
 We should be glad to know that this little book has a large circulation 
 among Gentiles as well as among the " chosen people." It has no trace 
 of religious bigotry about it, and its perusal cannot but serve to make 
 Christian and Jew better known to each other.— Philadelphia Telegraph. 
 
 Bound in Cloth. Price, postpaid, 75q 
 
RABBI AND PRIEST. 
 
 A STORY. 
 
 BY MILTON GOLDSMITH. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 The author has attempted to depict faithfully the customs and i)rac- 
 tices of the Russian people and government in connection with the 
 Jewish population of that country. The book is a strong and well writ- 
 ten story. We read and suffer with the sufferers.— PwWic Opinion 
 (Washington). 
 
 Although addressed to Jews, with an appeal to them to seek free- 
 dom and peace in America, it ought to be read by humane people of all 
 races and religions. Mr. Goldsmith is a master of English, and his 
 pure style is one of the real pleasures of the story.— Philadelphia BvUe- 
 lin. 
 
 The book has the merit of being well written, is highly entertaining, 
 and it cannot fkil to prove of interest to all who may want to acquaint 
 themselves in the matter of the condition of affairs that has recently 
 been attracting universal attention. — San Francisco Call. 
 
 Rabbi and Priest has genuine worth, and is entitled to a rank 
 among the foremost of its c\2js&.— Minneapolis Tribune. 
 
 The writer tells his story from the Jewish standpoint, and tells it 
 well. — St. Louis Repvblic. 
 
 The descriptions of life in Russia are vivid and add greatly to the 
 charm of the book.— 5u^a4» Courier, 
 
 A very thrilling story. — Charleston {S. C.) News, 
 
 Very like the horrid tales that come from unhappy Russia.— iScit; 
 Orleans Picayune. 
 
 The situations are dramatic ; the dialogue is spirited.— Jeiyisft Kes- 
 
 A history of passing events in an interesting form. — Jevnsh Tidings. 
 
 Rabbi and Priest will appeal to the sympathy of every reader in its 
 touching simplicity and truthfulness.— J(?w;is/i Spectator. 
 
 Bound in Cloth. Price, Post-paid, $1, 
 
HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 From the Earliest Period to the Death of Simon the Maccabee 
 
 BY PROFESSOR H. GRAETZ. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 The style is distinctly popular, and it unquestionably represents the 
 prominent features of the period with accuracy and STpiTit.—PhUaddphia 
 Ledger, 
 
 Aside from his value as a historian, he makes his pages charming by 
 all the little side-lights and illustrations which only come at the beck 
 of genius.— CTiica^ro Inter-Ocean. 
 
 The writer, who is considered by far the greatest of Jewish historians, 
 is the pioneer in his field of work— history without theology or polem- 
 ics . . . His monumental work promises to be the standard by which 
 all other Jewish histories are to be measured by Jews for many years to 
 come. — Baltimore American. 
 
 This is a work that has commanded the highest encomiums of the 
 press, Jewish and Gentile . . . It is written in a plain, clear, narrative 
 style.— iVew Orleans Picayune. 
 
 There is much of living interest in the work, which displays a fair 
 and iiApartial spirit. — Minneapolis Tribune. 
 
 The work is not only a history, but is a fascinating one that cannot 
 fail to entertain as well as instruct the reader.— ^7i Francisco Call. 
 
 It is a well written, ably translated and interesting version of the 
 history of a wonderful people. — Brooklyn Eagle. 
 
 It is well that this reliable and complete history of the ''peculiar 
 people" should now be translated into English and presented in 
 available form to the public by the Jewish Society. — Burlington Hawkeye. 
 
 Professor Graetz's History is universally accepted as a conscientious 
 and reliable contribution to religious literature. — Philadelphia Tele-- 
 graph. 
 
 Bound in Cloth. Price, postpaid, $3 per volume. 
 
The Pefsecution of tlie Jews in Russia. 
 
 WITH A MAP, SHOWING THE PALE OF JEWISH SEHLEMENV 
 
 kisOy an Appendix, giving an Abridged Summary of I^aws, 
 
 Special and Restrictive, relating to the Jews in 
 
 Russia, brought down to the year 1890. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 The pamphlet is full of facts, and will inform people very flilly in 
 regard to the basis of the complaints made by Jews against Russia. 
 We hope it will be very widely circulated.— Pw^Zfc Opinion (Wash- 
 ; ngton). 
 
 The laws and regulations governing Jews in Russia, subjecting them to 
 severe oppression, grievous restrictions and systematic persecution, are 
 stated in condensed form with precise references, bespeaking exactness 
 Ln complication and in presenting the case of these unfortunate people. 
 — Galveston News. 
 
 This pamphlet supplies information that is much in demand, and 
 which ought to be generally known in enlightened countries. — Cincin- 
 nati Commercial Gazette. 
 
 Considering the present agitation upon the subject it is a rery timely 
 publication.— ^(ew Orleans Picayune. 
 
 It is undoubtedly the most compact an 1 thorough presentation of the 
 Russo-Jewish question. — American Israelile. 
 
 Better adapted to the purpose,of affording an adequate knowledge of 
 the issues involved in, and the consequences of, the present great 
 crisis in the affairs of the Jews of Russia, than reams ot rhetoric— 
 Hebrew JouTTud 
 
 Paper. Price, postpaid, 26o. 
 
SPECIAL SERIES No. 2. 
 
 Voegele'^ fflawiage^^'Othei' Tale? 
 
 By LOUIS SCHNABEL. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 A series of nine well-written short stories, based upon love 
 and religion, which make quite interesting reading. — Burlington 
 Hawkeye, 
 
 A pamphlet containing several sketches full of high moral 
 principle, and of quite interesting developments of simple human 
 emergencies. — Public Opinion (Washington, D. C). 
 
 Interesting alike to Hebrew and Gentile. — Minneapolis Tribune, 
 
 In addition to being interesting, is written with a purpose, 
 and carries with it a wholesome lesson. — Sa7L Francisco Call, 
 
 This a collection of brief stories of Jewish life, some of which 
 are of great interest, while all are well written. — Charleston (S,C.) 
 News and Courier. 
 
 This little volume as a whole is curious and interesting, aside 
 from its claims to artistic merit. — American Bookseller (New 
 York). 
 
 Short tales of Jewish life under the oppressive laws of Eastern 
 Europe, full of minute detail. — Book News (Philadelphia). 
 
 Written in delightful style, somewhat in the manner of 
 Kompert and Bernstein. ... To many the booklet will be 
 a welcome visitor and be greatly relished. — Menorah Monthly, 
 
 These stories are permeated with the Jewish spirit which is 
 characteristic of all Mr. Schnabel's works. — American Hebrew. 
 
 Paper. Price, postpaid, 25c. 
 
CHlIiDREIl OF THE GHETTO 
 
 BEING 
 
 flQTURES OF A FECULMR PEOPLE. 
 
 BY I. ZANGTVTLIi. 
 
 The art of a Hogarth or a Cruikahank could not have made types of 
 character stand out with greater force or in bolder relief than has the 
 pen of this author. — Philadelphia Record. 
 
 It is one of the best pictures of Jewish life and thought that we have 
 seen since the publication of "Daniel Deronda." — London PaU Mall 
 Gazette, 
 
 This book is not a mere mechanical photographic reproduction of the 
 people it describes, but a glowing, vivid portrayal of them, with all the 
 pulsating sympathy of one who understands them, their thoughts and 
 feelings, with all the picturesque fidelity of the artist who appreciates 
 the spiritual significance of that which he seeks to delineate.— ^e&reu> 
 Jowmal. 
 
 Its sketches of character have the highest value. . . . Not often 
 do we note a book so fresh, true and in everyway helpful.—Philadelphia 
 Evening Telegraph. 
 
 A strong and remarkable book. It is not easy to find a parallel to it. 
 We do not know of any other novel which deals so fully and so authori- 
 tatively with Judaea in modem London.— 5fpeafccr, London. 
 
 Among the notable productions of the time. . . . All that is here 
 portrayed is unquestionable truth. — Jewish Exponent. 
 
 Many of the pictures will be recognized at once by those who have 
 visited London or are at all familiar with the life of that city.— Detroit 
 Free Press. 
 
 It Is a succession of sharply-penned realistic portrayals.— <Ba/ttmor« 
 Amerioan. 
 
 TWO VOLUMES. 
 Bound in Cloth. Price, postpaid, $2.50. 
 
COMMENT ON THE 
 
 Jewish PoblicatioD Society of America. 
 
 An association comprising the leading Israelites of this country, 
 who have before them the single object of encouraging a study of 
 Hebrew literature. It is said that of the very large amount of avail- 
 able material for this laudable work only the smallest part is within 
 easy reach of American English-speaking Jews. The society aims 
 then to place as many such books in the hands of its subscribers, and 
 before t'le public, as it possibly can with the funds at its disposal. — 
 BaUiniore American. 
 
 The Jewish Publication Society of America, located in Phila- 
 delphia, is doing an important and remarkable w^ork in compiling 
 the history of the Jewish race and miaking it accessible to the ±Cng- 
 lish-reading public. — Springfield (Mass.) RepvMican. 
 
 The Jewish Publication Society of America from time to time has 
 issued a series of works relating to and illustrating the condition of 
 the Jewish people in the various quarters of the world, and the abuses 
 and wrongs to which they are subjected. The books thus far have 
 been of an invariably high order and worthy of careful attention. — 
 Minneapolis Th^ibune. 
 
 We have no books adapted to the tastes of the young which are 
 calculated to act as stepping-stones to the more serious study of 
 Jewish history. When it is considered how much the solidarity of 
 the community might be promoted by such a cultivation of the 
 historic spirit, the beginning now made by the Jewish Publication 
 Society of America should be cordially welcomed. — Jewish World 
 (London) 
 
 IN press: 
 
 HISTORV OF> THE JBiA£S 
 
 BY PROF. H. QRAETZ. 
 iZ^OI- II. 
 
(5 The special series, of which "The Persecution 
 
 41 of the Jews in Russia" is the initial number, is 
 
 ' supplementary to the books issued by the Society, 
 
 and will be supplied to all members of the Society without 
 
 extra cost. 
 It will be published from time to time, and will be 
 
 devoted to papers, original and selected, on topics of timely 
 
 interest. 
 
 The issues will be uniform in style and shape, so that 
 they can be preserved and bound in volumes. 
 
 ALL PUBLICATIONS FOB SALE BY THE TRADE AND AT THE 
 
 SOCIETY'S OFFICE, 
 
 SPECIAL TERMS TO SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES. 
 
 Jewish Publication Society of America, 
 
 Office, 714 Market Street. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 

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