Ugly Wives and Spiteful Husbands: Talmudic Farce in a Misogynistic Key (Nedarim 66a-b)

This sugya is a mix of legal reasoning, social commentary, and dark comedy, all structured around the concept of mistaken vows. The core halakhic principle is simple: if a vow is made on false assumptions (e.g. someone refuses to marry 'ugly so-and-so', but it turns out she’s not ugly), then the vow is invalid. The Talmud then spins out a cascade of vivid stories and sharp-edged humor to explore what counts as a ‘mistake’.

R' Yishmael (fl. 100 CE) takes center stage in a story that reads half like a beauty makeover episode and half like a midrash on poverty and dignity. He intervenes when a man vows not to benefit from his niece, beautifies her--according to one tradition: by replacing a false tooth with gold from his own pocket--and exposes the mistaken basis of the vow. He laments: 'The daughters of Israel are beautiful, but poverty disfigures them'.

The sugya then escalates absurdities: men make vows involving rabbis eating their wife’s bad cooking, being spat on, or inspecting clearly ugly wives for 'beautiful blemishes'.

R' Yehuda (fl. early 2nd century CE) tolerates embarrassment to keep the peace; R' Shimon refuses, to preserve his own dignity and discourage reckless vows.

A husband makes a vow barring his wife from benefiting from him unless she shows a 'beautiful blemish' to R' Yishmael ben Yosei (fl. late 2nd century CE). The Rabbi proceeds to examine her for redeeming features, but what follows is a comically brutal catalogue of her flaws—each body part worse than the last. Ultimately, R’ Yishmael declares that her name, Likhlukhit (לכלוכית - meaning ‘dirty one’), is beautifully fitting, thereby satisfying the bizarre terms of the vow and permitting her to her husband.

Finally, a Babylonian-Israeli Aramaic dialect joke plays out through a farcical series of miscommunications between husband and wife. The punchline lands when the woman smashes two lamps on the head of Bava ben Buta (late 1st century BCE), having taken her husband’s words literally. Bava blesses her.

Together, these stories turn mistaken vows into a lens on gender, class, rabbinic authority, and the ambiguity of language.

Outline

Intro

The Passage - Ugly Wives and Spiteful Husbands: Talmudic Farce in a Misogynistic Key (Nedarim 66a-b)

Mishnah

1. Mistaken Vows Based on False Assumptions: Ugly/beautiful, dark-skinned/light-skinned, short/tall

2. A story about R’ Yishmael

   1. R’ Yishmael, Saul, and Lamenting Jewish Women (II Samuel 1:24)

Talmud

1. An added detail: the niece had a disfiguring false tooth; R’ Yishmael replaced it with a gold one, funding it himself

2. A man vows his wife can’t benefit from him until R’ Yehuda and R’ Shimon taste her (bad) cooking

   1. R’ Yehuda eats it; reason: the importance of peace between spouses, ‘a fortiori’ from Sotah

   2. R’ Shimon refuses to eat it; “Let all the widow’s children die”

3. A man vows his wife must spit on R’ Shimon ben Gamliel.

4. A man vows his wife must show a “beautiful blemish” to R’ Yishmael ben Yosei

   1. A (comical) listing of the wife's ugliness - a List of 10 items

5. Dialectical differences in Aramaic between Babylonia and Eretz Yisrael: A (Comic) Tale of Marital Miscommunication - 4 Misunderstandings

   1. Four misunderstandings

   2. Bava ben Buta blesses her for fulfilling her husband’s will and prays that she merit two sons like him

The Passage

Nedarim.66a.12-66b.8

Mishnah

Mistaken Vows Based on False Assumptions: Ugly/beautiful, dark-skinned/light-skinned, short/tall

If a man vows¹ not to marry “ugly² so-and-so (פלונית)”, but she turns out to be beautiful, the vow is invalid—not because her appearance changed, but because the premise of the vow was false.

״קונם שאני נושא את פלונית

1. 1. כעורה״

   2. והרי היא נאה,

1. 1. ״שחורה״

   2. והרי היא לבנה,

2. 1. ״קצרה״

   2. והרי היא ארוכה —

מותר בה.

לא מפני שהיא

1. כעורה ונעשת נאה,

2. שחורה ונעשת לבנה,

3. קצרה ונעשת ארוכה —

אלא שהנדר טעות.

If a man said: konam for me is marrying so-and-so

1. 1. who is ugly

   2. and she is in fact beautiful,

1. 1. or if, in vowing not to marry her, he called her black,

   2. and she is in fact white,

2. 1. or if, in vowing not to marry her, he called her short,

   2. and she is in fact tall --

he is permitted to her.

Not because she

1. was ugly and became beautiful,

2. black and became white,

3. or short and became tall,

but rather, because the vow was mistaken from the outset.

A story about R’ Yishmael

A story about R’ Yishmael supports this:

A man vowed not to benefit from his niece. R’ Yishmael had her “beautified”,³ then asked if this was the woman he had in mind. The man said no, and R’ Yishmael annulled the vow.

ומעשה באחד

שנדר מבת אחותו הנייה,

והכניסוה לבית רבי ישמעאל

וייפוה.

אמר לו רבי ישמעאל:

בני!

מזו נדרת?!

אמר לו:

לאו,

והתירה רבי ישמעאל.

The Mishnah relates: And an incident occurred with regard to one

who vowed against deriving benefit from the daughter of his sister, as he did not wish to marry her.

And they brought her into the house of R' Yishmael

and he beautified her.

When she was later brought before the one who took the vow, R' Yishmael said to him:

My son!

did you vow that you would not derive benefit from this woman?!

He said to him:

No,

and R' Yishmael permitted her to him, as he demonstrated that the vow had been made in error.

R’ Yishmael, Saul, and Lamenting Jewish Women (II Samuel 1:24)

R’ Yishmael weeps upon seeing how poverty makes Jewish women (בנות ישראל) ugly.⁴

After his death, Jewish women publicly mourn him,⁵ stating: “Jewish women! Weep⁶ for R' Yishmael.

This lamentation is taken from David’s exhortation for women’s lament over Saul in II Samuel 1:24.⁷

באותה שעה בכה רבי ישמעאל ואמר:

בנות ישראל נאות הן,

אלא שהעניות מנוולתן.

וכשמת רבי ישמעאל

היו בנות ישראל נושאות קינה,

ואומרות:

״בנות ישראל!

על רבי ישמעאל בכינה״,

וכן הוא אומר בשאול:

״בנות ישראל!

על שאול בכינה״.

At that time R' Yishmael wept and said:

The daughters of Israel are beautiful,

but poverty makes them ugly.

And when R' Yishmael died,

the daughters of Israel raised a lamentation,

saying:

Daughters of Israel!

weep for R' Yishmael.

And it likewise states about Saul, who also concerned himself with the welfare of the daughters of Israel:

“Daughters of Israel!

weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet with other delights, who put ornaments of gold upon your apparel” (II Samuel 1:24).

Talmud

An added detail: the niece had a disfiguring false tooth; R’ Yishmael replaced it with a gold one, funding it himself

A baraita states that she was disfigured by a false (תותבת) tooth.

R' Yishmael paid out of pocket to replace it with a gold tooth (thus enhancing her appearance).

Upon his death, a eulogizer (ספדנא) cited the lament for Saul (II Samuel 1:24; same as in previous section), calling on Jewish women to weep for R' Yishmael, “who clothed you”.⁸

תנא:

שן תותבת היתה לה,

ועשה לה רבי ישמעאל שן של זהב משלו.

כי שכיב רבי ישמעאל,

פתח עליה ההוא ספדנא הכי:

״בנות ישראל!

על רבי ישמעאל בכינה המלבישכן וכו׳״.

It was taught:

She had a false tooth [shen totevet], which disfigured her,

and R' Yishmael made her a gold tooth from his own money, thereby beautifying her.

When R' Yishmael died,

a certain eulogizer began his eulogy about him like this:

Daughters of Israel!

weep for R' Yishmael, who clothed you.

A man vows his wife can’t benefit from him until R’ Yehuda and R’ Shimon taste her (bad) cooking

A man vows his wife can’t benefit from him until R’ Yehuda and R’ Shimon taste her (bad) cooking.

ההוא דאמר לה לדביתהו:

״קונם שאי את נהנית לי

עד שתטעימי תבשילך

1. לרבי יהודה

2. ולרבי שמעון״.

§ The Talmud relates: There was a certain person who said to his wife:

Benefiting from me is konam for you

until you have given your cooked food to taste to

1. R' Yehuda

2. and R' Shimon,

so they can see for themselves what a bad cook you are.

R’ Yehuda eats it; reason: the importance of peace between spouses, ‘a fortiori’ from Sotah

R’ Yehuda complies to eat the wife’s cooking, citing the importance of peace between spouses, making an ‘a fortiori’ from the biblical ordeal of the bitter water.⁹

רבי יהודה טעים,

אמר:

קל וחומר:

• ומה לעשות שלום בין איש לאשתו --

  • אמרה תורה: שמי שנכתב בקדושה, ימחה על המים המאררים בספק,

• ואני --

  • על אחת כמה וכמה.

She brought the food to them, and R' Yehuda tasted it, without concern for his honor.

He said:

This is an a fortiori inference:

• And what can be seen, that in order to make peace between a man and his wife --

  • the Torah said: My name, that is written in sanctity, shall be blotted out in the waters that curse, as the words written on a scroll, including the name of God, were blotted out during the ceremony of preparing the water that a sota would drink. And this is so even in a case of where it is uncertain if this will bring peace between them, as she may or not be guilty of adultery.

• I --

  • all the more so, should waive my honor in order to bring peace to this couple.

R’ Shimon refuses to eat it; “Let all the widow’s children die”

R’ Shimon refuses, sharply stating: “Let all the widow’s children die, and Shimon will not budge (יזוז) from his place.”¹⁰

The Talmud (in Aramaic, so it's clearly the Stam) adds another reason for refusal in such a case: Out of concern for normalizing such vows.

רבי שמעון לא טעים,

אמר:

ימותו כל בני אלמנה,

ואל יזוז שמעון ממקומו.

ועוד: כי היכי דלא לתרגלי למינדר.

Conversely, R' Shimon did not taste.

He said:

Let all the children of the widow die,

and Shimon will not budge from his place.

In other words, the husband can die and leave his wife a widow and his children orphans, and let them die too, rather than have people belittle the dignity of Torah scholars by taking such vows.

And furthermore, there is another reason for my refusal: So that they should not become used to taking vows.

A man vows his wife must spit on R’ Shimon ben Gamliel.

A man vows his wife must spit on R’ Shimon ben Gamliel.

She spits on his clothing and the vow is fulfilled.

The Talmud explains that this was sufficient humiliation to fulfill the vow.

ההוא דאמר לדביתהו:

״קונם שאי את נהנית לי

עד שתרוקי בו ברבן שמעון בן גמליאל״.

אתת ורקק אלבושיה.

אמר ליה רב אחא מדפתי לרבינא: והא האי לזילותא קא מיכוין!

אמר ליה: מירק על מני דרבן שמעון בן גמליאל זילותא רבתא היא.

The Talmud relates: There was a certain person who said to his wife:

Benefiting from me is konam for you

until you have spat on Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel.

She came to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and spat on his clothing.

Rav Aḥa of Difti said to Ravina: But this man intended the humiliation of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, which is not achieved by spitting on his clothing.

Ravina said to him: Spittle on the clothing of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel is a great humiliation for him, and she has thereby fulfilled the vow.

A man vows his wife must show a “beautiful blemish” to R’ Yishmael ben Yosei

A man vows (קונם) his wife must show a “beautiful blemish” (מום יפה) to R’ Yishmael ben Yosei.

ההוא דאמר לדביתהו:

״קונם שאי את נהנית לי

עד שתראי מום יפה שביך לרבי ישמעאל ברבי יוסי״.

The Talmud relates: There was a certain person who said to his wife:

Benefiting from me is konam for you

until you show some beautiful [yafeh] part of you to R' Yishmael, son of R' Yosei.

A (comical) listing of the wife's ugliness - a List of 10 items

After a (comical) listing of all her unattractive traits, they conclude that her name—Likhlukhit (from melukhlekhet, "dirty")—fits her appearance, which R’ Yishmael declares “beautiful” in its appropriateness, annulling the vow.¹¹

The 10 items listed:¹²

1. Head – Round (סגלגל)

2. Hair – Like flax stalks (אניצי)

3. Eyes – Narrow (טרוטות)

4. Ears – Large (כפולות - literally: “doubled", i.e. double in size)

5. Nose – Stubby (בלום)

6. Lips – Thick (עבות)

7. Neck – Short (שקוט - literally: “sunken”)

8. Stomach – Swollen¹³

9. Feet – Wide like a goose’s

10. Name – Likhlukhit, "dirty one" (לכלוכית)

1. 1. אמר להם: שמא ראשה נאה?

   2. אמרו לו: סגלגל.

2. 1. שמא שערה נאה?

   2. דומה לאניצי פשתן.

3. 1. שמא עיניה נאות?

   2. טרוטות הן.

4. 1. שמא אזניה נאות?

   2. כפולות הן.

5. 1. שמא חוטמה נאה?

   2. בלום הוא.

6. 1. שמא שפתותיה נאות?

   2. עבות הן.

7. 1. שמא צוארה נאה?

   2. שקוט הוא.

8. 1. שמא כריסה נאה?

   2. צבה הוא.

9. 1. שמא רגליה נאות?

   2. רחבות כשל אווזא.

10. 1. שמא שמה נאה?

    2. ״לכלוכית״ שמה.

אמר להן:

יפה קורין אותה לכלוכית,

שהיא מלוכלכת במומין,

ושרייה.

R' Yishmael attempted to find something beautiful about the woman:

1. 1. He said to his students: Perhaps her head is beautiful?

   2. They said to him: It is round [segalgal].

2. 1. Perhaps her hair is beautiful?

   2. They replied: Her hair resembles stalks of flax.

3. 1. Perhaps her eyes are beautiful?

   2. They are narrow [terutot].

4. 1. Perhaps her ears are beautiful?

   2. They are double in size.

5. 1. Perhaps her nose is beautiful?

   2. It is stubby.

6. 1. Perhaps her lips are beautiful?

   2. They are thick.

7. 1. Perhaps her neck is beautiful?

   2. It is low and short.

8. 1. Perhaps her stomach is beautiful?

   2. It is swollen.

9. 1. Perhaps her feet are beautiful?

   2. They are as wide as a goose’s.

10. 1. Perhaps her name is beautiful?

    2. Her name is Likhlukhit.

He said to them:

It is fitting [yafeh] that she is called by the name Likhlukhit,

as she is dirty [melukhlekhet] with blemishes,

and he permitted her to benefit from her husband, because she did have one beautiful feature, her fitting name.

Dialectical differences in Aramaic between Babylonia and Eretz Yisrael: A (Comic) Tale of Marital Miscommunication - 4 Misunderstandings

ההוא בר בבל דסליק לארעא דישראל,

נסיב איתתא.

The Talmud cites another incident:

There was a certain Babylonian who went up to Eretz Yisrael

and married a woman there.

Four misunderstandings

The Babylonian husband issues basic household instructions in Aramaic to his local wife.

She misunderstands them due to dialectical differences, as well as interprets his hyperbolic commands literally, leading to multiple comic miscommunications.¹⁴

The miscommunications:

1. He hyperbolically asks her to cook “two lentils” (טלפי - i.e., some lentils), she cooks exactly two (a ridiculously tiny portion), and he gets angry (רתח).

2. He then hyperbolically asks her to cook a ‘geriva’ (גריוא - i.e the measurement of a ‘se’a’; i.e. a large amount) and she prepares exactly that measurement (a ridiculously large portion).

3. When he tells her to fetch two ‘butzinei’ (Babylonian Aramaic: gourds), she brings lamps (Eretz Yisrael Aramaic: butzinei).

4. He says to “break them [=the lamps] on the bava,” intending a gate, she misunderstands and smashes them on the head of Bava ben Buta, who is sitting as a judge at the city gate (יתיב בבא בן בוטא אבבא - “Bava was sitting at the ‘bava’ ").

1. 1. אמר לה: בשילי לי תרי טלפי.

   2. בשילה ליה תרי טלפי.

   3. רתח עלה.

2. 1. למחר אמר לה: בשילי לי גריוא.

   2. בשילה ליה גריוא.

3. 1. אמר לה: זילי אייתי לי תרי בוציני.

   2. אזלת ואייתי ליה תרי שרגי.

4. 1. אמר לה: זילי תברי יתהון על רישא דבבא.

   2. הוה יתיב בבא בן בוטא אבבא וקא דאין דינא.

   3. אזלת ותברת יתהון על רישיה.

1. 1. He said to her: Cook two lentils, i.e., some lentils, for me.

   2. She cooked exactly two lentils for him.

   3. He grew angry with her.

2. 1. On the following day, so that she would not repeat what she had done, he said to her: Cook a se’a [geriva] for me, intending: A large amount.

   2. She cooked an actual se’a for him, far more than what one person could eat.

3. 1. He said to her: Go and bring me two butzinei, intending small gourds, as butzinei are small gourds in the Aramaic dialect spoken in Babylonia.

   2. She went and brought him two lamps [sheraggei], called butzinei in the Aramaic dialect spoken in Eretz Yisrael.

4. 1. In anger, he said to her: Go and break them on the head of the bava, intending the gate, as bava means a gate in the Aramaic dialect spoken in Babylonia. She did not recognize this word.

   2. At that time, the Sage Bava ben Buta was sitting as a judge at the gate.

   3. She went and broke them on his head, as his name was Bava.

Bava ben Buta blesses her for fulfilling her husband’s will and prays that she merit two sons like him

אמר לה: מה הדין דעבדת?!

אמרה ליה: כך ציוני בעלי.

אמר:

את עשית רצון בעליך,

המקום יוציא ממך שני בנים כבבא בן בוטא.

He said to her: What is this you have done?!

She said to him: This is what my husband commanded me to do.

He said:

You fulfilled your husband’s desire,

may God bring forth from you two sons, corresponding to the two candles, like Bava ben Buta.

1. קונם - ‘konam’.

This is a technical subset of neder.

For other examples of this form of vow, see the following pieces of mine:

• Appendix here, “Appendix 2 – “Circumcised” as a Metonym for “Jewish”: Vows Concerning Benefit from the 'Circumcised' and the 'Uncircumcised' (Mishnah Nedarim 3:11)“.

• Here, section “Case Study: Nedarim 6:1-7:2 – "Restricted and Permissible Foods in Vows: A Guide to 46 Cases"“.

2. כעורה - “ugly” (grammatically feminine).

Compare the usage of this word elsewhere:

In “Divine Beauty or Prohibited Gaze? The Talmud on Admiring Non-Jewish Women (Avodah Zarah 20a-b)“, section “Forbidden Gaze: Prohibition on Looking at Women and Mating Animals”:

(דברים כג, י) "ונשמרת מכל דבר רע"

שלא יסתכל אדם

1. באשה נאה, ואפילו פנויה

2. באשת איש, ואפי' מכוערת

3. ולא בבגדי צבע [של] אשה

The verse states: “And you shall keep yourself from every evil thing” (Deuteronomy 23:10);

this teaches that a person should not gaze (יסתכל) upon

1. a beautiful (נאה) woman, even if she is unmarried;

2. and a person should not gaze upon a married woman, even if she is ugly (מכוערת);

3. and a person should not gaze upon the colored garments of a woman;

Conversely, attractive women are described as na’ah (נאה), see previous quote. And see ibid., section “Accounts of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and Rabbi Akiva Highlighting Their Attitude Towards the Beauty of Non-Jewish Women“.

מעשה ברשב"ג,

שהיה על גבי מעלה בהר הבית

וראה עובדת כוכבים אחת נאה ביותר,

אמר (תהלים קד, כד):

"מה רבו מעשיך ה'"

There was an incident involving Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel,

who was on a step on the Temple mount,

and he saw a certain non-Jewish woman who was exceptionally (ביותר) beautiful (נאה)

and said: “How great are Your works, YHWH!” (Psalms 104:24).

And right after, ibid., for the usage of the equivalent Aramaic shufra (שופרא):

ואף ר"ע ראה אשת טורנוסרופוס הרשע

רק, שחק, ובכה

[…]

בכה -- דהאי שופרא בלי עפרא

And R' Akiva too, when he saw the wife of the wicked Turnus Rufus

he spat, laughed, and cried.

[…]

he cried, as this beauty (שופרא) would ultimately be consumed by dirt.

And compare also Talmudic discussion of R' Yoḥanan’s Beauty, for example in my “The Beauty and the Bandit: The Talmudic Tragedy of R' Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish (Bava Metzia 84a)“, section “R' Yoḥanan’s Beauty“:

אמר רבי יוחנן:

אנא אשתיירי משפירי ירושלים

האי מאן דבעי מחזי שופריה דרבי יוחנן

[…]

(ההוא) [הנהו] זהרורי מעין שופריה דרבי יוחנן

With regard to R' Yoḥanan’s physical features, the Talmud adds that R' Yoḥanan said:

I alone remain of the beautiful (שפירי) people of Jerusalem.

The Talmud continues: One who wishes to see something resembling the beauty (שופריה) of R' Yoḥanan

[…]

That luster is a semblance of R' Yoḥanan’s beauty (שופריה)

And see also:

• “Ancient Burial Caves, Rankings of Beauty, and the Magus: Tales of R' Bena’a (Bava Batra 58a)“, section “Ranking the Beauty of Sarah, Eve, Adam, Shekhinah, Rav Kahana, Rav, R' Abbahu, and Jacob“ - שופריה

• “Supernatural Fruit and Fatal Beauty: R' Yosei of Yokrat, the “merciless” sage who wished his son and daughter to die (Taanit 23b-24a)“, section “Pt3 - Incident with his daughter“- הויא ליה ברתא בעלת יופי

• “Actual Resurrection or Allegory? The Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel 37 in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 92b)“, section “R' Yoḥanan: the beautiful youths of the Dura Valley killed due to the lust of Babylonian women“ - בחורים שהיו מגנין את החמה ביופיין

• “From Azubah to Zohar: Reading Miriam and Caleb in the Genealogies of the Book of Chronicles (Sotah 12a)”, sections “Beauty Transformed: From Affliction to Desire (I Chronicles 4:5)“ and “Biblical Women of Exceptional Sexual Appeal: Rahab, Yael, Abigail, and Michal (Megillah 15a)“

See also the contrast between “beautiful” and “ugly” (na’eh / ka’ur) “things” (דבר - in that context: kinds of marriages) in Pesachim 49a-b, which I cite in “Pt1 Rabbinic Elitism and the Am Ha’aretz: Hierarchy, Hostility, Hatred, and Distrust (Pesachim 49b)“.

3. ייפוה - presumably via cosmetics or other aesthetic interventions. In modern parlance: “a makeover".

On women’s cosmetics and aesthetic interventions, see my two-part series “From Kohl to Lime: A Talmudic Discussion of Cosmetics and Hair Removal (Moed Katan 9b)“, final part here.

4. מנוולתן.

Compare the usage of this transitive verb in the context of the Sotah, in my recent piece “Divine Reciprocity: Biblical Instances of Measure-for-Measure (‘Midah Keneged Midah’) Punishment and Reward (Mishnah Sotah 1:7-9)“, section “Sota (Numbers 5) - A List of 3 parallels“:

במדה שאדם מודד,

בה מודדין לו.

היא קשטה את עצמה לעברה,

המקום נולה.

With the measure that a person measures,

he is measured with it.

she, the sota, adorned (קשטה) herself to violate a transgression,

God therefore decreed that she be rendered ugly (נולה)

And see ibid., the previous part of the Mishnah (that I cite in a footnote there):

היו עליה

1. כלי זהב

2. וקטליאות,

3. נזמים

4. וטבעות --

מעבירים ממנה

כדי לנולה.

If she was wearing

1. gold adornments,

2. or chokers (קטליאות)

3. or nose rings (נזמים)

4. or finger rings —

they removed them from her

in order to render her ugly (לנולה)

And see here, in “Appendix - Maternal Influences During Pregnancy on Children's Physical Traits: A List of Fourteen Items (Ketubot 60b-61a)“:

דאכלה גרגושתא —

הוו לה בני מכוערי.

if she [=a pregnant woman] eats dirt (גרגושתא) —

she will have ugly children

5. נושאות קינה - literally: “raising a lamentation”.

6. בכינה - “cry” (grammatical feminine plural future) - using a literary/archaic/biblical construct, based on the verse quoted in the next line.

7. See Wikipedia, “2 Samuel 1“, section “David mourned Saul and Jonathan (1:17–27)“:

The lament in this section can be attributed to David himself with a very personal expression of grief over the loss of Jonathan […]

David extols Saul and Jonathan (verses 22–24) as heroes who persevered in battle (verse 22), were strong and swift (verse 23) and joined in death as father and son (verse 23).

He called the women of Israel to mourn Saul, who had brought them prosperity and luxury (verse 24).

On this famous “lament/eulogy” in general, see also Hebrew Wikipedia, “קינת דוד“.

The full relevant verse states (II_Samuel.1.24):

בנות ישראל

אל־שאול בכינה

המלבשכם שני עם־עדנים

המעלה עדי זהב על לבושכן

Daughters of Israel,

Weep (בכינה) over Saul,

Who clothed you (המלבשכם) in crimson and finery,

Who decked your robes with jewels of gold.

8. המלבישכן. This is the next word in the verse—in David’s lament of Saul—see previous footnote.

9. This exact ‘a fortiori’ is found a number of times elsewhere in the Talmud. See, for example, in my piece on David and the Tehom, where the Ahitophel makes this ‘a fortiori’.

10. Stereotypically in the Talmud, R’ Shimon is short-tempered, while R’ Yehuda is good-natured.

On R’ Shimon being short-tempered, see for example in my series “R’ Shimon’s Flight from the Romans, Hiding, and Return: A Story of Persecution, Miracles, and Retribution (Shabbat 33b-34a)“ (final part here), where R’ Shimon causes harm (killing or burning fields) via evil eye on three separate occasions, due to anger at them.

And see ibid., section “Elijah Announces Their Safety Due to the Death of the Roman emperor; Emerging and Burning the World; Divine Rebuke“ where a bat kol explicitly criticizes R’ Shimon for “destroying my world” (להחריב עולמי).

(For more on R’ Shimon’s character as depicted in the Talmud, and especially in the context of his depiction in the 13th-century Zoharic literature (as the main protagonist: “R’ Shimon bar Yochai”), see the excellent article by Boaz Huss. Huss’s article is available in English translation in his collected articles on the Zohar.)

On R’ Yehuda being good-natured, see my piece on elsewhere in this tractate: “Fingers, Forks, and Faces: Tales of R' Yehuda (Nedarim 49b-50a)”.

11. I cited this story previously in my “Word Play (Paronomasia) on Proper Names in the Talmud“, section “Likhlukhit - “dirty”“.

12. Notably, three of the attributes here are ones “scientifically” analyzed elsewhere in the Talmud, see my “Hillel vs. the Heckler: A Friday Afternoon Challenge to Hillel’s Composure and Physical Anthropology in the Talmud (Shabbat 31a)”:

Item # 1 - ראשה … סגלגל - round head.

Ibid., section “Why Do Babylonians Have Oval Heads? Due to Unskilled Midwives“:

מפני מה ראשיהן של בבליים סגלגלות

[…]

מפני שאין להם חיות פקחות

Why are the heads of Babylonians oval?

[…]

because they do not have clever midwives

Item # 3 - עיניה … טרוטות - narrow eyes.

Ibid., section “Why Do the Residents of Tadmor Have Bleary Eyes? Due to Living in Sandy Terrain“:

מפני מה עיניהן של תרמודיין תרוטות

[…]

מפני שדרין בין החולות

Why are the eyes of the residents of Tadmor (=Palmyra) bleary?

[…]

because they live among the sands

Item # 9 - רגליה … רחבות כשל אווזא- wide feet.

Ibid., section “Why Do North Africans Have Wide Feet? Due to Living in Marshlands“:

מפני מה רגליהם של אפרקיים רחבות

[…]

מפני שדרין בין בצעי המים

Why do [North] Africans have wide feet?

[…]

because they live in marshlands

On that last one (#9 - “feet wide like a goose’s), compare “Pt3 Body, Blemish, and Temple Duty: Physical Deformities that Disqualify Priests from Serving (Mishnah Bekhorot 7:1-6; Leviticus 21:18-20)“, section “Legs and Feet: protuberance on thumb or toe, protruding heel, wide feet“, where the same analogy is used:

פרסתו רחבה כשל אוז

or one whose feet (פרסתו - literally: “hoof, flat of the foot”) are wide like those of a goose.

13. צבה.

Compare “Pt2 Body, Blemish, and Temple Duty: Physical Deformities that Disqualify Priests from Serving (Mishnah Bekhorot 7:1-6; Leviticus 21:18-20)“, section “Chest and Stomach: breasts like a woman; swollen or protruding stomach“:

1. דדיו שוכבים כשל אשה,

2. כרסו צבה,

3. טבורו יוצא,

1. One who has breasts (דדיו) so large that they sag like those of a woman;

2. or if one’s belly (כרסו) is swollen (צבה) and protrudes;

3. or if one’s navel (טבורו) protrudes

And see my note there:

כרסו צבה - this word (צבה) is used in the Bible in reference to the effect on the stomach of an adulterous woman drinking the ritual water, in the process of the ordeal of the bitter water.

14. For another Talmudic sugya that discusses dialectical differences in Aramaic between Babylonia and Eretz Yisrael, in tractate Eruvin, see my piece “From Mnemonics to Miscommunication: A Talmudic Comparative Study of Judean and Galilean Aramaic Speech, Torah Study Methods, and Sociolinguistics (Eruvin 53a-b)”.