Kiddushin 80b-Part II
In a previous post I showed how a variant reading in the Talmudic text influences the way that the flow of the Talmudic argument is understood. I will now show how different interpretations of the text were the result of this variant reading. The text discussed is found on bKiddushin 80b.
2. דתניא כל שלשים יום יוצא בחיק ונקבר באשה אחת ושני אנשים אבל לא באיש אחד ושתי נשים אבא שאול אומר אף באיש אחד ושתי נשים
3. אפילו תימא אבא שאול בשעת אנינות תביר יצריה
4. ורבנן סברי לה כר’ יצחק
5. דאמר רבי יצחק: מה יתאונן אדם חי גבר על חטאיו (איכה ג:לט)- אפילו בשעת אנינותו של אדם יצרו מתגבר עליו
6. ואבא שאול כי כתיב ההוא - במתרעם על מדותיו כתיב, והכי קאמר: מה יתרעם על מדותיו? וכי גבר על חטאיו? דיו חיים שנתתי לו.
7. ורבנן?
8. כי ההוא מעשה דההיא איתתא, דהוה עובדא ואפיקתיה
1. Our Mishnah does not agree with Abba Saul.
2. For it was taught: Within the first thirty days [of a child's birth] it may be carried out [for burial] in one’s bosom, and buried by one woman and two men, but not by one man and two women. Abba Saul said: Even by one man and two
women!
3. You may even say [that it agrees with] Abba Saul: in the time
of grief one’s passions are subdued.
4. But the Rabbis hold with R. Isaac,
5. who said: “Wherefore doth a living man mourn, a man that is in
his sins?” (Lam. 3:39) Even in a man’s grief, his lusts prevail against him.
6. And Abba Saul?— That is written with reference to one who complains
of His [God's] measures, and this is its meaning: Why should he
complain of His dispensation; has he then prevailed over his sin? The life which I gave him is sufficient for him.
7. And the Rabbis?
8. Even as the story of a certain woman: It once happened that she took
him out. (Soncino trans.)
To sum up what I previously wrote, the difference between the versions is that in one tradition line 8 is a continuation of Abba Saul’s opinion, while in the other it is that of the Rabbis. According to the latter opinion, despite one being in a state of mourning, there is still the danger of one’s sexual urges getting the best of them. Continuing in this line of thinking, Rashi (s.v. ve-Rabbanan brings the following story to explain what the story is that is mentioned in line 8. A woman took out her living child, pretending that it was dead, in order to have sexual relations with the man who was helping her bury the child. This story is in line with the Rabbi’s understanding that even during a period of mourning, one should be on guard against their sexual desires. On the other hand, according to the version that line 8 is reflecting Abba Saul’s opionion, the story should reflect a person’s displeasure with their situation. Accordingly, Rashi brings another possible story. This story can be found on bMoed Katan 27b and relates how a woman mourned too much over the death of her child, with the resulting excess of mourning and displeasure with God’s actions resulting in the deaths of the rest of her children.
The Tosafot (s.v. ki ha-hi ma’aseh) bring a different story from that of Rashi which reflects the opinion that line 8 brings the opinion of the Rabbis, connecting mourning with sexually illicit behavior. While they bring the story in the name of Rabbeinu Chananel, as I will show below, this story is found in numerous Jewish and non-Jewish sources. The story describes how a woman was mourning over her dead husband at his grave. There was a guard who was present, and in other versions it is elaborated that he was watching over the corpse of a person who had been executed, making sure that his body was there for viewing in order to deter others. This guard goes on to seduce the woman, and upon their return to the grave site after having sexual relations he finds the body of the executed person gone. He is filled with fear of the king and the woman subsequently suggests that they dig up her husband and hang him in the executed corpse’s place. In one version it even describes how she rips out her husband’s hair in order to have him look more like the missing corpse.
As I said above, the story brought by Tosafot is found in many sources, both Jewish and non-Jewish, often with subtle, or not so subtle, differences between them. In Jewish sources it can be found in works such as The Book of Delight, ספר שעשועים, and The Ma’aseh Book. [1] The great scholar of Jewish and world folklore, Haim Schwarzbaum, has reviewed much of the research on this story, discussing the numerous versions found in both Jewish and non-Jewish sources. [2] He describes this tale as “what is perhaps the most misogynic (italics in original) tale” in Sefer Sha’ashu’im, pointing out to readers that this tale is known in non-Jewish sources as “the extremely widespread story of the notorious Matron of Ephesus (Vidua),” (p. 375) which is found in the Satyricon.
These different tales were brought by commentators in order to illuminate an ambiguous statement in the text, whose meaning is influenced by the variant readings found in different versions of the Talmud.
[1] The Book of Delight, trans. Moses Hadas, pp. 67-69; The Ma’aseh Book, ed. Moses Gaster, pp. 193-195.
[2] Haim Schwarzbaum, Jewish Folklore Between East and West: Collected Papers, ed. Eli Yassif, pp. 375-378.