welcome beruriah!

One of my favorite women in the Talmud (okay, so the list isn't that long, right? but humor me) is Beruriah, the wife of Rabbi Meir. She is considered to be a Torah scholar in her own right, and I love how, especially in the incident near the beginning of Daf 10, she is so able to put Meir in his place. She's not afraid to tell him that she is right and he is wrong!

The story goes like this: A group of hoodlums are annoying R. Meir. He prays that they might die. But his wife asks him how he can do this!? But instead she tells him that he should be praying for the end of their wickedness, that they should repent, not the end of their lives...and he does, and they do! (You go, girl!)

But the cool thing is that Beruriah herself cites Torah verses as her proof to Meir, rather than just scolding him. She is totally able to stand up for herself in a good Talmudic argument...a girl after my own heart. In 7 1/2 years of doing this (God willing we can stick it out!) I look forward to more encounters with Beruriah!!!

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At the end of this daf, which explores more details on prayer specifically, we come into the next Mishnah, and thus the next line of discussion...what position is best for reciting the Shema? This is an interesting question, because just as I talked about a few days ago in an earlier blog entry -- there are debates about sitting/standing as one recites Shema in most Reform congregations today...do we go by Beit Shamai, who says to say the morning Shema while standing and the evening Shema while lying down....or by Beit Hillel, who says that one recites the Shema according to his or her "preferred manner"? (Hint: We always follow Beit Hillel!) So stay tuned for more on the Shema.....