ברוריא דביתהו דר' מאיר ברתיה דר' חנינא בן תרדיון הואי אמרה לו זילא בי מלתא דיתבא אחתאי בקובה של זונות שקל תרקבא דדינרי ואזל אמר אי לא איתעביד בה איסורא מיתעביד ניסא אי עבדה איסורא לא איתעביד לה ניסא
אזל נקט נפשיה כחד פרשא אמר לה השמיעני לי אמרה ליה דשתנא אנא אמר לה מתרחנא מרתח אמרה לו נפישין טובא (ואיכא טובא הכא) דשפירן מינאי אמר ש"מ לא עבדה איסורא כל דאתי אמרה ליה הכי
אזל לגבי שומר דידה א"ל הבה ניהלה אמר ליה מיסתפינא ממלכותא אמר ליה שקול תרקבא דדינרא פלגא פלח ופלגא להוי לך א"ל וכי שלמי מאי איעביד א"ל אימא אלהא דמאיר ענני ומתצלת א"ל
ומי יימר דהכי איכא [א"ל השתא חזית] הוו הנהו כלבי דהוו קא אכלי אינשי שקל קלא שדא בהו הוו קאתו למיכליה אמר אלהא דמאיר ענני שבקוה ויהבה ליה
לסוף אשתמע מילתא בי מלכא אתיוה אסקוה לזקיפה אמר אלהא דמאיר ענני אחתוה אמרו ליה מאי האי אמר להו הכי הוה מעשה
אתו חקקו לדמותיה דר' מאיר אפיתחא דרומי אמרי כל דחזי לפרצופא הדין לייתיה יומא חדא חזיוהי רהט אבתריה רהט מקמייהו על לבי זונות איכא דאמרי בשולי עובדי כוכבים חזא טמש בהא ומתק בהא איכא דאמרי אתא אליהו אדמי להו כזונה כרכתיה אמרי חס ושלום אי ר' מאיר הוה לא הוה עביד הכי
קם ערק אתא לבבל איכא דאמרי מהאי מעשה ואיכא דאמרי ממעשה דברוריא:
§ The Gemara relates: Berurya, the wife of Rabbi Meir, was a daughter of Rabbi Ḥanina ben Teradyon. She said to Rabbi Meir: It is a disrespectful matter for me that my sister is sitting in a brothel; you must do something to save her. Rabbi Meir took a vessel [tarkeva] full of dinars and went. He said to himself: If no transgression was committed with her, a miracle will be performed for her; if she committed a transgression, no miracle will be performed for her.
Rabbi Meir went and dressed as a Roman knight, and said to her: Accede to my wishes, i.e., engage in intercourse with me. She said to him: I am menstruating [dashtana] and cannot. He said to her: I will wait. She said to him: There are many women in the brothel, and there are many women here who are more beautiful than I. He said to himself: I can conclude from her responses that she did not commit a transgression, as she presumably said this to all who come.
Rabbi Meir went over to her guard, and said to him: Give her to me. The guard said to him: I fear that if I do so, I will be punished by the government. Rabbi Meir said to him: Take this vessel full of dinars; give half to the government as a bribe, and half will be for you. The guard said to him: But when the money is finished, what shall I do? Rabbi Meir said to him: Say: God of Meir answer me! And you will be saved. The guard said to him:
And who can say that this is the case, that I will be saved by this utterance? Rabbi Meir said to him: You will now see. There were these carnivorous dogs that would devour people; Rabbi Meir took a clod of earth, threw it at them, and when they came to devour him, he said: God of Meir answer me! The dogs then left him alone, and after seeing this the guard gave the daughter of Rabbi Ḥanina ben Teradyon to Rabbi Meir.
Ultimately the matter was heard in the king’s court, and the guard, who was brought and taken to be hanged, said: God of Meir answer me! They then lowered him down, as they were unable to hang him. They said to him: What is this? He said to them: This was the incident that occurred, and he proceeded to relate the entire story to them.
They then went and engraved the image of Rabbi Meir at the entrance of Rome where it would be seen by everyone, and they said: Anyone who sees a man with this face should bring him here. One day, Romans saw Rabbi Meir and ran after him, and he ran away from them and entered a brothel to hide. Some say he then escaped capture because he saw food cooked by gentiles and dipped [temash] this finger in the food and tasted it with that other finger, and thereby fooled them into thinking that he was eating their food, which they knew Rabbi Meir would not do. And some say that he escaped detection because Elijah came, appeared to them as a prostitute and embraced Rabbi Meir. The Romans who were chasing him said: Heaven forbid, if this were Rabbi Meir, he would not act in that manner.
Rabbi Meir arose, fled, and arrived in Babylonia. The Gemara notes: There are those who say that he fled because of this inci-dent, and there are those who say that he fled due to embarrassment from the incident involving his wife Berurya.
סבר לה כי הא דתניא מגרר אדם גלדי צואה וגלדי מכה שעל בשרו בשביל צערו, אם בשביל ליפות אסור
Mar Zutra holds in accordance with that which was taught in a baraita: A person may scrape off dried excrement crusts and scabs of a wound that are on his flesh because of the pain that they are causing him. However, if he does so in order to clean and beautify himself, it is prohibited.
בשביל צערו - ואם אין לו צער אחר אלא שמתבייש לילך בין בני אדם שרי דאין לך צער גדול מזה:
Because of his pain: And if there is no other pain than the fact that he is embarrassed to walk amongst others, it is permitted, because there is no greater pain than this.
"One could speculate that there is a difference between making improvements to an existing feature of the world Hashem created, which is permitted, and creating a new species, such as the mule, which is forbidden. Grinding grain and kneading it into bread is improving the grain for human use, which is not the case with creating new species which alter and repudiate G-d's plans for creation (Cohen, 2017, p.26)
אמר רב חסדא שוק שבאשה ערוה. ודוקא לאחרים ולאנשים ומשום הרהור, אבל לעצמה לא דהא קתני האשה יושבת וקוצה לה חלתה ערומה.
"And Rav Chisda says, the leg of a woman is nakedness". And specifically [it is nakedness] to others and to men, because of [sexual] thoughts, but to herself it is not, as we teach (Mishna Challah 2:3) "A woman may sit and separate challah naked" (implying she may make the accompanying blessing whilst naked).
OLIVIA'S NOTE - I include this for it refers to "others" and that seems nonbinary?
וכן בכל דור ודורשיו הם משלימין התורה, כי התורה נדרשת בכל דור ודור לפי מה שצריך לאותו דור. ולפי שורש כשמתן של אותו הדור, כך השי"ת מאיר עיני חכמי הדור ההוא בתורתו הקדושה. והכופר בזה, ג״כ כאילו כופר בתורה ח"ו. וכן ראיתי בספר הקדוש ששם המפורש היה משתמשין בו בכל דור, כ"א לפי דורו, ולפי שורש נשמתו, וכן כל התורה כולה שהוא שמותיו של הקב׳׳ה.
In every generation, the scholars (of that generation) are making up [alternative translation: are finishing, or filling up] the Torah, because the Torah is being interpreted in every generations according to the needs of that generation. And according to the source of their souls - so is God enlightening the eyes of the wise people of that generation, in Its holy Torah. And whoever denies that, it is as if they deny/do not believe in in the Torah, heaven forbid.
(Translation by Abby Stein)
“As for the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths,
Who have chosen what I desire
And hold fast to My covenant— I will give them, in My House
And within My walls,
A monument and a name
Better than sons or daughters.
I will give them an everlasting name
Which shall not perish.
Ah, my Sovereign GOD !
I don’t know how to speak,
For I am still a boy. And GOD said to me:
Do not say, “I am still a boy,”
But go wherever I send you
And speak whatever I command you. Have no fear of them,
For I am with you to deliver you
—declares GOD. GOD reached out and touched my mouth, and GOD said to me: Herewith I put My words into your mouth.