New Britain herald., 1919-07-26

struction of tile sanctuary llse4,
 around him the world grows dafH9
 He who forsaKes the love or hls
 youth, Gods altar weeps for hlH,
 Hold your wives in high respect, anu
 vou will be rich" "1he women %
 enough for us when they train our f
 little ones and save their husbanss
 from sin"
 The perfect self-denial and the sac
 riticcs by Rachel for her husband z
 Rabbi Akiba are admirable and there
 fore his high opinion of women. Rabbt
 Eliezer, on the contrary, can very well
 be excused for his saying, He who
 teaches his daughter the law IS ike as
 if he teaches her to sin when we Wlll
 consider his sad experiences that he
 had with his wife, the bluestocking
 Imma Shalom.
 Of this same Imma the Talmud re-
 Iates that on one occasion she heard
 an herctic saving to her brother Gam
 aliel, "YOur God is thief, or he
 would not have stolen a rib from
 sleeping Adam Leave him to me,
 said Imma Shalom, l will answer him.p
 Turning to the heretic she requested
 him to summon a constable because
 she was robbed last night, she claim
 ed of silver vessels and that the thief
 left golden ones in their place. T
 wish that thief would visit me every
 day!" The heretic answered. Now
 you see,' Imma retorted, God has
 taken from Adam a worthless rib and
 gave him in exchange beautiful Wo-
 man to wait on him"
 Another was Beruriah, the wife of
 Rabbi Mcir, and the daughter of the
 great martyr R. Chananiah ben Tera- dian.
 The Talmud tells us that wren Rab- bi Meir irritated at prosecuting in-
 suits which he had received from some sinful men in his neighborhood he uttered an impreCation against them in the words of David: Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more!" You are wrong, my husband, such was not King David's meaning" was the, soothing reply. He prayed that sin might be consumed from off the earth, for then the wicked would be no more. He sought the destruction of sin, moi ! of the sinners
 Her self-possession and admirable conduct at the sudden death of her
 two lovely sons cannot be overesti- | mated.
 Bcuriah's Subterfugc. It was the custom of Rabbi Meir to attend the school and synagogue for several hours consecutively, often dur ing the whole day-and, during one of these long absences from home, his sons, boys of great promise and beauty, both died. Conquering the an- guish of a mother in the strong affec- ton of a wife who knew the passion
 ate love borne by the father for his offspring, and dreading the effect of ! sudden brief, she met her husband at I,,i4J hOr 1,,,o | quil mien. He naturally inquired for
 his sons but she skillfully evaded the question; and at the conclusion of the meal, stated that she had an import | ant question to ask him, the answer | to which much troubled her. The 1 rabbi encouraged her to speak, and l she related that neighbor had lent 1 her soc jewels of an inestimable value and now required them to be returned. Ought she to give them 1 back Surprised, the rabbi replied, ! that surely his wife needed not even l to ask the question, the answer wa@ l self-evident." Without rejoinder, she l led him into the room where the l bodies lay, and removing the White 1 cloth which concealed them, revealed
 their loss. She permitted the first | burst of agonzed grief, and then, l soothingly recalling his own verdict. i touchingly repeated: "The Lord gave 1 and the Lord has taken away; blessed l be the name of the Lord!'
 1 Our daily blessing to God "thGt he 1 did not make me as Woman," on the 1 other hand is not to be mistaken as f,n l utterance of disrespect to the woman 1 and scorn for the other sex. It is rath- l CT an expression of sympathy for ths weak sex that was rendered by nature | Inf tC OH 10hNrGicn oth 1 and is exposed to specific woman's | suffering; and thanksgiving to tho | Creator for this physical superiority. :. Ii is true there are also hum orous~ 1 remarks about women in the Talmud l but these remarks have q moral lesson | in the background as for example: To. 1 the question why woman was not cre- | ateG from any other part of mans | bQdy, tho rabbiS humorouSly reply: Woman was not formed out of mans 1 head that she may not be too proud,
 and carry her head too high; not out 1 of his eye or ear, that she may not l become too inquisitive, too curious,
 desiring to sec and near everything; not out of his rI0uth, tha; sine may l not be toe talkatiVe, a. chattcrer, a l GOssiping woman: not out Of his heart, l that she may not be jealous; no: out | of his hand, that ske may not learn | to touch everything, and ont of his 1 foot, that she may not learn to go 1 everywhere. She was created out of | man's rib, which is hidden from viCw, | so that she might be modest, and be- 1 fore forming any one of her members the Creator prayed, Be virtuous and i modest! and in spite of all his en- deavor she possesses all those defects 1 taken together" The Jew of today still thinks as the