Rava and the Queen Mother

Ifra Hormiz, the mother of King Shapur, sent blood before Rava. Rav Ovadiah was sitting in front of him. [Rava] smelled it. He said to her, “This is blood of desire.”¹ She said to her son, “See how wise the Jews are!” He said to her: “Maybe [Rava] is like a blind person [who chanced] upon a window?” She then sent [Rava] sixty kinds of blood. He diagnosed them all. The last one was lice blood, and he did not know it. [Nevertheless,] the matter was aided [by heaven], and he sent her a lice-exterminating comb [as a gift]. She exclaimed, “O Jews, you dwell in the chambers of the heart!”