Beitzah 29

There is a Talmudic idea that, if you are unsure of the law (or what the law should be) then you should go out and see what the people are doing. Societal norms can help determine the law. And today’s gem is that, after the men debating a halakhah about the ability to use a sieve on the festival – that they could have learned the law just by watching what the women ALREADY do.

Rava bar Rav Huna the Short (an aside: I am not sure why Rava bar Rav Huna is suddenly “the short” but I am definitely curious, is it because his teaching in this instance is superfluous?) taught at the entrance to Neharde’a: One may sift flour a second time on a Festival. Rav Naḥman said to the students standing before him: Go out and say to Abba, i.e., to Rava bar Rav Huna, as Rava is a shortened form of Rav Abba: Your good has been removed and cast upon thorns, meaning that your teachings are not needed – superfluous. Go out and see how many sieves circulate in Neharde’a, meaning: all the women already know that this is permitted.

The Gemara relates that Rav Yosef’s wife was once sifting flour in an unusual manner on the reverse side of a sieve. He said to her: Look, I want good-quality bread, hinting that she need not invert the sieve but may sift the flour in her regular fashion. The Gemara likewise relates that Rav Ashi’s wife was once sifting flour onto a table, rather than into a bowl in the usual manner. Rav Ashi said: This one of ours, my wife, is the daughter of Rami bar Ḥama, and Rami bar Ḥama is a master of good deeds who is meticulous in his performance of mitzvot. Had my wife not observed this practice in her father’s house, she would not have acted in this manner. Therefore, one can learn the halakha in practice from her actions.

We see that the women, while not getting to spend their days in the study hall – know the law, live the law, practice the law – and can be sources for others to learn the law.

I love this, and I also love that, even over 1600 years later, if you really want to know a place, know the rules of the land, that one of the best places to be is in a local woman’s kitchen. Even at dinner parties, the kitchen is where all the real talk happens. It’s where we pass on traditions, recipes, and stories.