Rabbi’s Maidservant on Striking an Adult Son
What is [the story mentioned by R. Samuel bar Naḥmani involving] the maidservant in the house of Rabbi? [It was related] that the maidservant in Rabbi’s house saw a certain man who was striking his adult son. She said, “Let that man be excommunicated, due to [the fact that] he has transgressed [the injunction]: You shall not place a stumbling block before the blind (Leviticus 19:14), as it is taught [in a baraita that the verse states]: You shall not place a stumbling block before the blind, [and] the verse speaks [here] of one who strikes his adult son.”1
Notes
Words in brackets appear in the original translation.
[If a father strikes his adult son, the son may strike back, which is a capital offense (Exodus 21:15).—Ed.]
Credits
From Koren Talmud Bavli, Noé Edition, trans. Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz (Jerusalem: Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019). Accessed via the William Davidson digital edition, sefaria.org. Adapted with permission of Koren Publishers Ltd.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.
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The Palestinian Talmud on Rabbi’s Maidservant
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Beruriah’s wit, insight, and authority, preserved in texts like b. Eruvin and b. Pesaḥim, challenged rabbinic norms and expanded the bounds of Torah study.