A heretic once challenged the sages with what he thought was a devastating logical trap. "Your God is a thief," the man declared. "The Torah says that God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and while he slept, God took one of his ribs and fashioned it into Eve (Genesis 2:21-22). He stole from Adam while he was unconscious!"
Before the sage could respond, his daughter stepped forward. "Let me answer this," she said. She turned to the heretic and told him: "Last night, thieves broke into our house. They stole a silver goblet — but they left behind a golden one in its place."
"What kind of thief leaves behind something more valuable than what he takes?" the heretic asked, confused.
"Exactly," the daughter replied. "God took a single rib from Adam — a small piece of bone — and gave him back a wife, a companion, a partner for life. If that is theft, then it is the kind of theft where the victim is enriched beyond measure by the crime."
The heretic had no answer. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 39a) preserves this exchange as one of several instances where the sages — or their remarkably sharp children — dismantled challenges to the Torah with simple, elegant logic. The story teaches that God's ways, which may appear unfair at first glance, always contain a deeper generosity visible to those who look beyond the surface.