“Gathering Barley from the Arabs' Animals' Dung": The Dramatic Fall from Grace of Nakdimon ben Guryon’s Daughter (Ketubot 66b-67a)
The Sages granted her a significant allowance for perfumes; Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai encounters her; R’ Elazar bar Tzadok encounters her
The narrative involves two major incidents related to the daughter of Nakdimon ben Guryon,1 a woman from a wealthy family who ultimately faced severe poverty.
The Passage
The Sages granted her a significant allowance for perfumes
The Sages granted the daughter of Nakdimon ben Guryon , a significant allowance (400 gold coins) for perfumes, due to her high social status.
She responded appreciatively, wishing that others would treat their daughters with similar generosity.
אמר רב יהודה אמר רב:
מעשה בבתו של נקדימון בן גוריון,
שפסקו לה חכמים ארבע מאות זהובים, לקופה של בשמים לבו ביום.
אמרה להם: כך תפסקו לבנותיכם,
וענו אחריה: אמן.
Rav Yehuda said that Rav said:
There was an incident involving the daughter of Nakdimon ben Guryon.
When the Sages designated for her four hundred gold coins for her account of perfumes, from her late husband’s estate,
for use on that same day,
she blessed them and said to them: This is how you should also pledge for your own daughters,
and they answered after her: Amen.
Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai encounters her
The story describes the dramatic fall from grace of Nakdimon ben Guryon's daughter, after the Destruction of the Temple that occurred in 70 CE. Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai, while departing Jerusalem, encounters her scavenging for barley from the dung of Arabs’ animals (גללי בהמתן של ערביים), a scene of profound destitution.
Despite her high status in the past, evident from a million gold dinars listed as her dowry in her marriage contract, all her wealth had vanished.
She discusses with Rabban Yoḥanan the impermanence of wealth.
תנו רבנן:
מעשה ברבן יוחנן בן זכאי,
שהיה רוכב על החמור,
והיה יוצא מירושלים,
והיו תלמידיו מהלכין אחריו.
ראה ריבה אחת, שהיתה מלקטת שעורים, מבין גללי בהמתן של ערביים.
כיון שראתה אותו,
נתעטפה בשערה,
ועמדה לפניו.
אמרה לו: רבי, פרנסני.
אמר לה: בתי, מי את?
אמרה לו: בת נקדימון בן גוריון אני.
אמר לה: בתי, ממון של בית אביך, היכן הלך?
אמרה לו: רבי, לא כדין מתלין מתלא בירושלים: ״מלח ממון — חסר״? ואמרי לה: ״חסד״.
ושל בית חמיך היכן הוא?
אמרה לו: בא זה, ואיבד את זה.
אמרה לו: רבי, זכור אתה כשחתמת על כתובתי?
אמר להן לתלמידיו: זכור אני כשחתמתי על כתובתה של זו,
והייתי קורא בה: אלף אלפים דינרי זהב מבית אביה,
חוץ משל חמיה.
בכה רבן יוחנן בן זכאי
[...]
Apropos the daughter of Nakdimon ben Guryon, the Gemara relates what later became of her: The Sages taught:
There was an incident involving Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai.
When he was riding on a donkey
and leaving Jerusalem,
and his students were walking after him to learn from him,
he saw a certain young woman who was gathering barley from among the dung of the animals of Arabs. She was so poor that she subsisted on the undigested barley within the dung.
When she saw him,
she wrapped herself in her hair, as she had nothing else with which to cover herself,2
and stood before him.
She said to him: My teacher, sustain me.
He did not recognize her, so he said to her: My daughter, who are you?
She said to him: I am the daughter of Nakdimon ben Guryon.
He said to her: My daughter, the money of your father’s household, where did it go? How did you become so poor?
She said to him: My teacher, is it not that they say such a proverb in Jerusalem: Salt for money is lacking [ḥaser]? There is nothing with which to preserve it and prevent it from being lost.
And some say the proverb asserts that kindness [ḥesed] is salt for money, i.e., using money for acts of kindness preserves it.
He continued to ask her: And the money of your father-in-law’s house, which was used properly, for benevolent acts, where is it?
She said to him: This one came and destroyed that one; all the money was combined, and it was all lost together.
She said to him: My teacher, do you remember when you signed on my marriage contract?
He said to his students: I remember that when I signed on the marriage contract of this woman,
and I read in it, it listed a thousand thousands, i.e., one million gold dinars as a dowry from her father’s house,
aside from that which was promised her from her father-in-law.
Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai cried
[...]
R’ Elazar bar Tzadok encounters her
In a baraita, R’ Elazar bar Tzadok solemnly swears seeing the daughter of Nakdimon ben Guryon in a state of severe poverty, gathering barley kernels from between horse hooves in Akko.
תניא:
אמר רבי אלעזר ברבי צדוק:
אראה בנחמה,
אם לא ראיתיה, שהיתה מלקטת שעורים מבין טלפי סוסים בעכו.
[...]
It is taught in a baraita (Tosefta 5:8) with regard to the daughter of Nakdimon ben Guryon:
Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Tzadok, said in the form of an oath:
I pray that I will not see the consolation of the Jewish people
if I did not see her gathering barley kernels from between the hooves of horses in Akko.
[...]
Wikipedia: “a wealthy Jewish man who lived in Jerusalem in the 1st century CE [...] believed by most scholars to be the Nicodemus mentioned in the Gospel of John”.
Alternatively: she covered her hair. On this obligation for Jewish women, see Wikipedia, “Head covering for Jewish women”.