Tales of Temptation: Sages' Encounters with Roman Noblewomen (Kiddushin 39b-40a)
Stories with R' Ḥanina bar Pappi; R' Tzadok; Rav Kahana
R' Ḥanina bar Pappi
R' Ḥanina bar Pappi was propositioned1 for sex by a married noblewoman,2 but avoided sex by using an incantation that covered his body with boils and scabs. When she healed him with magic, he fled to a demon-haunted bathhouse.3
Despite its dangers, he was protected by two angelic soldiers.4 The sages explained that a miracle occurred because he resisted the temptation.
[...]
רבי חנינא בר פפי תבעתיה ההיא מטרוניתא.
אמר מלתא, ומלי נפשיה שיחנא וכיבא,
עבדה היא מילתא, ואיתסי.
ערק, טשא בההוא בי בני, דכי הוו עיילין בתרין, אפילו ביממא הוו מיתזקי.
למחר אמרו ליה רבנן: מאן נטרך?
אמר להו: שני נושאי קיסר שמרוני כל הלילה.
[...]
R' Ḥanina bar Pappi was enticed by a certain noblewoman [matronita] to engage in sexual intercourse with her.
He said a formula of an incantation and was covered with boils and scabs so as to render himself unattractive to her.
She performed an act of magic and he was healed.
He fled and hid in a bathhouse that was so dangerous, due to the demons that frequented the place, that when two people entered together even during the day they would be harmed.
The next day the Sages said to him: Who protected you in that dangerous place?
R' Ḥanina bar Pappi said to them: There were angels who appeared like two soldiers [nosei keisar] who guarded me all night.
[...]
R' Tzadok
R' Tzadok was propositioned by a married Roman noblewoman, and claimed he was too weak to have sex. When she offered him non-kosher food5 to regain strength, he equated the sin with eating non-kosher food and climbed into a lit oven, demonstrating his willingness to endure extreme measures to avoid sin.
The noblewoman, realizing the seriousness of his conviction, ceased her advances.
רבי צדוק תבעתיה ההיא מטרוניתא,
אמר לה: חלש לי ליבאי, ולא מצינא, איכא מידי למיכל?
אמרה ליה: איכא דבר טמא.
אמר לה: מאי נפקא מינה? דעביד הא – אכול הא.
שגרת תנורא, קא מנחא ליה.
סליק ויתיב בגויה.
אמרה ליה: מאי האי?
אמר לה: דעביד הא – נפיל בהא.
אמרה ליה: אי ידעי כולי האי – לא צערתיך.
R' Tzadok was enticed by a certain noblewoman to engage in sexual intercourse with her.
He said to her: My heart is weak and I am incapable at present; is there something to eat that can strengthen me?
She said to him: There is something non-kosher.
He said to her: What difference is there? One who performs such an act eats such food as well.
She lit the oven and placed the non-kosher food in it to roast.
He climbed and sat in the oven. She said to him: What is the meaning of this?
He said to her: One who performs this act falls into this, i.e., the fires of Gehenna.
She said to him: If I had known that the matter was so serious for you, I would not have caused you such anguish.
Rav Kahana
Rav Kahana was selling palm leaf baskets (דיקולי) when a noblewoman tempted him. He asked for time to prepare, then jumped from a roof.6
Elijah saved him mid-fall, admonishing him for causing trouble but recognizing that poverty had led him into a situation of temptation. Elijah then provided him with a basket of dinarii to alleviate his poverty and remove the need to work in such circumstances.
רב כהנא הוה קמזבין דיקולי,
תבעתיה ההיא מטרוניתא.
אמר לה: איזיל איקשיט נפשאי,
סליק, וקנפיל מאיגרא לארעא.
אתא אליהו, קבליה.
אמר ליה: אטרחתן ארבע מאה פרסי!
אמר ליה: מי גרם לי, לאו עניותא?!
יהב ליה שיפא דדינרי.
The Gemara further relates: Rav Kahana would sell baskets woven from palm leaves to women.
He was enticed by a certain noblewoman to engage in intercourse with her.
He said to her: Let me go and adorn myself beforehand.
He ascended to the roof and fell from the roof toward the ground.
Elijah the prophet came and caught him.
Elijah the prophet said to Rav Kahana: You have troubled me to travel four hundred parasangs [parsei] to save you!
Rav Kahana said to him: What caused me to be in this situation of temptation?! Was it not poverty, as I am forced to engage in a trade that leads me to come into contact with women?!
Elijah gave him a basket [shifa] full of dinars, to spare him from having to work as a salesman.
תבעתיה - literally: “demanded, claimed”.
מטרוניתא - from the Latin word “matrona”: “married woman, wife or matron, especially of an honorable man”.
בי בני - from Greek balinaeus.
נושאי קיסר - literally: “carriers of [the] caesar”.
דבר טמא - literally: “an impure thing”.