JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

figure of Beruryah – talmudic scholar, daughter of R. *Hananiah
b. Teradyon and wife of R. *Meir – is in fact a conflation
of a number of distinct figures, mentioned either by name or
without name in earlier sources. The fascinating and problematic
figure of Beruryah, therefore, must be seen as a synthetic
literary product of the Talmud’s method of “creative historiography,”
as was shown by David Goodblatt in his classic
study, “The Beruriah Traditions.” The notion that Beruryah
was largely a product of the talmudic “collective consciousness”
only increases the significance of her figure for an understanding
of the talmudic mind and its problematic attitude
toward scholarly and assertive female figures (Tal Ilan, 3–8).
We will therefore summarize the basic elements of the Bavli’s
Beruryah aggadot in outline:
The Talmud tells of her great knowledge (Pes. 62b). It describes
her as restraining her husband Meir in a moment of
moral weakness. When certain evil persons antagonized her
husband and he prayed for their death, she rebuked him, interpreting
Psalms 104:35 as expressive of God’s desire for the
destruction of sin, and not of sinners, and exhorting him to
pray, rather, that they repent of their evil ways (Ber. 10a). The
aggadah also tells of her mocking wit. Once, when R. Yose the
Galilean, meeting her along the way, asked, “By which road
should we travel in order to reach Lydda?” she replied: “Galilean
fool! Did not the rabbis say, ‘Talk not overmuch with
women?’ You should have asked: ‘How to Lydda?’” (Er. 53b).
Another instance of her sharpness is her reply to a sectarian
concerning the interpretation of a verse from the Prophets
(Ber. 10a). Beruryah also guided students in their study.
When she found a student studying in an undertone, she rebuked
him, saying: “Is it not stated (II Sam. 23:5) ‘Ordered in all
things, and sure’? – If the Torah be ordered in the two hundred
and forty-eight organs of your body, it will be sure, and if not,
it will not be sure” (Er. 53b–54a). Finally, Rashi, in explaining
the obscure phrase “the story of Beruryah,” mentioned in Av.
Zar. 18b, quotes a legend to the effect that as a result of her exaggerated
self-confidence – feeling that she was above “feminine
weakness” – she ultimately was led astray, with tragic consequences.
Beruryah was also the heroine of a number of belletristic
works and plays in Hebrew and in other languages.
Bibliography: Hyman, Toledot, 294–5; Graetz, Gesch, 4
(19084), 172–3; D. Goldblatt, in: JJS, 26:1–2 (1975), 68–85; T. Ilan, in:
AJS Review, 22:1 (1997), 1–17.
[Stephen G. Wald (2nd ed.)]
BESALÚ (Latin Bisuldunum, Bisuldum; Heb. ,ולאסיב ,ורלאויב
ולסב), town in Catalonia, N.E. Spain. Its Jewish community
was one of the oldest in Catalonia, a tombstone dating from
1090 having been found there. In 1258 James I gave permission
to the Jews of Gerona and Besalú, then forming a single
collecta (“tax administrative unit”), to appoint five representatives
to act in financial and administrative matters. In 1258 the
two communities together paid a tax of 15,000 sólidos. In the
13th century there were 18 Jewish families (about 130 persons)
in Besalú, and in the 14th century between 38 and 49 fami-
besançon
lies (170–220 Jews). The Zabara and Corvida families were
among the leading members of the community of Besalú in
the 13th through 15th centuries. Several of their number were
baptized in 1391. Other important families were the Monells,
the Payrusa, the Astrucs, the Caracausas, the Bonanasms,
the Bellcaires, and the Benvenists. As in the rest of Catalonia
some rich Jews were moneylenders, very often in addition to
their occupations or financial enterprises. Considering the
size of the community, there were many Jewish physicians
in Besalú – in the 14th century there were no fewer than 15.
Among the best known there were the Castlars, Abraham and
David, who were father and son, Bendit Deuslogar, Belshom
Maymon, Moshe Abraham de Portal, Samuel Cabrit, Salamon
Caravida, and Ishaq Adret. In 1271 the Jews of Besalú were
empowered by the Infante Pedro to execute legal contracts in
the same way as Christians and Moors. During a heresy hunt
in Besalú in 1292 the Dominicans tried to interfere in Jewish
affairs, but were prevented by the king. An outbreak against
the Jews at Gerona during Easter 1331 had repercussions there.
During the anti-Jewish outbreaks that swept Spain in 1391 the
Jews were protected by the local authorities. Thus between 1392
and 1415, a period of general decline of the Jewish population
in Catalonia, 36 Jewish families, around 160 Jews, lived there.
Nevertheless the number of Jews who converted to Christianity
increased significantly in the 15th century. A small Jewish
community continued to exist in Besalú in the 15th century,
until the expulsion from Spain. It had its own synagogue,
cemetery, and mikveh. The mikveh was discovered in 1964 in
the old Jewish quarter.
Bibliography: Baer, Studien, 42ff.; Neuman, Spain, index;
Cantera, in: Sefarad, 9 (1949), 481–2; Millás Vallicrosa, ibid., 25 (1965),
67–69; Cantera-Millás, Inscripciones, 264. Add. Bibliography:
M. Grau Montserrat, in: Revista de Girona 82 (1978), 49–54; idem, in:
Anuario de Filología, 5 (1979), 125–83; 7 (1981), 285–307; idem, in: Annals
[Olot] (1978), 49–120; (1979), 91–115; (1980–1), 111–24; X. Barral
I. Altet, in: M. Mentrú (ed.), L’art juif au moyen âge (1988), 127–28; E.
Lourie, in: Michael, 11 (1989), 62–78.
[Haim Beinart / Yom Tov Assis (2nd ed.)]
BESANÇON, capital of the department of Doubs, eastern
France; from the 13th century a free city, annexed to France in
1674. The first reference to Jews in Besançon is found in 1245.
The Jewish street was in the present Rue de Richebourg, and
the cemetery in front of the present Porte de Charmont. Jewish
bankers of Besançon are mentioned in the chronicles of
the Anglo-French war of 1296–1301. In 1321, and between 1393
and 1404, Jews expelled from *Franche-Comté and *Burgundy
reached the city. The Jews left Besançon in the 15th century, and
in 1465 the cemetery was sold by the municipality. Jews were
denied free access to Besançon from the end of the 17th to the
end of the 18th century, a few permits of temporary residence
for a limited period being granted to a small number of merchants.
A permit of longer duration was issued to an engraver
of semiprecious stones.
After the French Revolution the community in Besançon
was reestablished. It numbered 20 families in 1807, and
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