A Talmudic Story Mocking a Corrupt Christian Philosopher (Shabbat 116a-b)
The passage
Pt1
Imma Shalom (lived circa 100 CE), R' Eliezer's wife and Rabban Gamliel’s sister, devised a plan along with her brother Rabban Gamliel to mock a local Christian philosopher (פילוספא) who claimed he did not accept bribes.
אימא שלום, דביתהו דרבי אליעזר, אחתיה דרבן גמליאל הואי.
הוה ההוא פילוספא בשבבותיה, דהוה שקיל שמא, דלא מקבל שוחדא.
בעו לאחוכי ביה.
The Gemara relates: Imma Shalom, the wife of R' Eliezer, was Rabban Gamliel’s sister.
There was a Christian philosopher [philosopha] in their neighborhood who disseminated about himself the reputation that he does not accept bribes.
They wanted to mock him and reveal his true nature.
Pt2
Imma Shalom gave the philosopher a golden lamp as a bribe and then approached him with her brother to settle a mock dispute over their father’s inheritance.
Initially, the philosopher ruled that a daughter could inherit just as a son, citing the New Testament1 which contradicted the Torah's laws.
עיילא ליה שרגא דדהבא, ואזול לקמיה.
אמרה ליה: בעינא דניפלגו לי בנכסי דבי נשי.
אמר להו: פלוגו.
אמר ליה, כתיב לן: במקום ברא, ברתא לא תירות.
אמר ליה: מן יומא דגליתון מארעכון, איתנטילת אורייתא דמשה, ואיתיהיבת עוון גליון,
וכתיב ביה: "ברא וברתא כחדא ירתון".
She privately gave him a golden lamp, and she and her brother came before him, approaching him as if they were seeking judgment.
She said to the philosopher: I want to share in the inheritance of my father’s estate.
He said to them: Divide it.
Rabban Gamliel said to him: It is written in our Torah: In a situation where there is a son, the daughter does not inherit.
The philosopher said to him: Since the day you were exiled from your land, the Torah of Moses was taken away and the avon gilyon [=Evangelion, i.e. the New Testament] was given in its place.
It is written in the avon gilyon: A son and a daughter shall inherit alike.
Pt3
However, after Rabban Gamliel bribed him with a Libyan donkey (חמרא לובא), the philosopher reversed his decision, referencing the text to align with the Torah's teaching that daughters do not inherit if there is a son.
Imma Shalom subtly mocked him by referencing the lamp she had given, and Rabban Gamliel humorously concluded that the "donkey" had figuratively kicked the "lamp," revealing the philosopher’s corruptibility.
למחר, הדר עייל ליה איהו חמרא לובא.
אמר להו: שפילית לסיפיה דעוון גליון,
וכתיב ביה: "אנא לא למיפחת מן אורייתא דמשה אתיתי, [ולא] לאוספי על אורייתא דמשה אתיתי",
וכתיב ביה: במקום ברא — ברתא לא תירות.
אמרה ליה: נהור נהוריך כשרגא.
אמר ליה רבן גמליאל: אתא חמרא ובטש לשרגא.
The next day Rabban Gamliel brought the philosopher a Libyan donkey.
Afterward, Rabban Gamliel and his sister came before the philosopher for a judgment. He said to them: I proceeded to the end of the avon gilayon,
and it is written: “I, [Jesus], did not come to subtract from the Torah of Moses, and I did not come to add to the Torah of Moses”.
And it is written there: In a situation where there is a son, the daughter does not inherit.
She said to him: May your light shine like a lamp, alluding to the lamp she had given him.
Rabban Gamliel said to him: The donkey came and kicked the lamp, thereby revealing the entire episode.
עוון גליון - "avon gilyon" = a mocking perversion of Evangelion, meaning the Christian Gospel.