The Young Man of Tiberias Trapped by Two Laughing Women

Midrash Aggadah Eruvin 21b

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 20, 2025

The rabbis of the Talmud once ruled that a woman should not walk between two men, and a man should not pass between two women. The reasons were tangled up with concerns about purity and concentration and the paths of daily life, but the ruling was strict enough that to violate it deliberately was treated, in the rhetoric of the sages, as a grave offense.

The author of the old anthology tells a story that once happened in Tiberias. A pious young Jew had to walk a narrow road from the lake up to the town. Two young women, spotting him, decided to have their fun. They positioned themselves on either side of the path and dared him to pass between them. Laughing. Waiting.

The young man stopped. He could not go forward, because to step between them was to cross a line the sages had drawn. He could not easily go back, because the road behind him led nowhere he needed to go. So he stood in the sun, sweating, while the women stood their ground.

The Talmud says in tractate Eruvin (21b) that "whoever transgresses the words of the scribes deserves death." The young man in Tiberias took that saying with full seriousness. The compiler telling the story is less convinced. He thinks the ruling should be softened, and he offers the scene as evidence. A rule meant to guard holiness can also become a cage a stranger can lock you into with a smile.

Themes

Rabbis Women of the Bible Ethics Wisdom

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