Berakhot 51
“From itinerant peddlers, Ulla traveled regularly from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia and back, come meaningless words, and from rags come lice.”
Hello Yalta! Strong, daring, perhaps strident Yalta enters the pages of the Talmud today and my engagement with the Talmud will never be the same. Yalta is married to Rabbi Nahman. Ulla is a visitor to the Rabbi’s house and recited the grace after meals. He hands a cup of wine to the Rabbi after he recites the blessing and is given a request by the august Nahman: “please send the cup of blessing to my wife, Yalta.” Rabbi Nahman is a big deal and Ulla may have been trying to impress him with what comes next. Ulla responds that there is no need because “the fruit of a woman’s body is blessed only from the fruit of a man’s body.” Essentially, he says a woman’s worth is through her husband and if her husband has partaken of a glass of wine it’s the same thing as having his wife drink the wine.
Not only has Ulla disrespected Yalta, he has dissed all women by suggesting they have no value except through their husbands. Yalta is angry and perhaps it is an anger that has built up from years of this type of condescension from men like Ulla.
Yalta takes action. She breaks 400 bottles of wine (although one Chabad commentary says she only destroyed the labels on the bottles.) In a more modern era, she might have marched on Washington with Bella Abzug and burned her bra. According to some commentary, the destroying bottles of wine has ritualistic meaning. The same Chabad commentary says that the number 400 represents ayin ra, a bad eye or miserliness. (see reference: https://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/default_cdo/jewish/The-Jewish-Woman.htm) This can be interpreted to mean narrow-mindedness on the part of Ulla.
We finally have a strong woman who is not suffering in silence and most remarkably, given the period, a husband who seems to support her. The Koren Talmud commentary says that “Yalta’s name ultimately became a virtual appellation for a rich and spoiled woman.” But I don’t think she is that. She is a strong woman who took action by the destruction of the wine.
Ulla came back to her somewhat contrite with another glass. He may have been shamed by Rabbi Nahman in doing so. He offers Yalta the glass of wine saying: “all the wine in this barrel is wine of this blessing.” This is a statement that carries a bit of sting, since the wine in the barrel has been destroyed. Yalta most likely sees through this veiled apology and retorts: “From itinerant peddlers, Ulla traveled regularly from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia and back, come meaningless words, and from rags come lice.” And wow. How many times have we wanted to say something like that to small-minded people? What chutzpah Yalta displays.It is worth considering the open-mindedness of Rabbi Nahman in this story. He questions Ulla’s perspective: “From where is it derived that the fruit of a woman’s body is only blessed from the fruit of a man’s body? As it is stated: And he will bless the fruit of your body; He will bless the fruit of her body was not stated. Rather, He will bless the fruit of your body.”
I am intrigued by the marriage of Yalta and Rabbi Nahman, because based on the text it appears to be a “marriage of true minds.” Bound with the feminist message of Yalta’s willingness to stand up for herself is the support she received from her husband who does not appear intimidated by his strong learned wife. What comes to mind is the marriage of Leonard and Virginia Woolf, which was a partnership between two learned and accomplished people. Leonard created a safe environment for Virginia so that she could create her brilliant novels and supported her throughout her devastating illness. He would have been right there telling Ulla off along with his wife.