more miscellany

Here's a bit from pages 15 and 16 of that book. Thanks to my daughter, I can't help but think what Marion Wiesel was thinking, rendering her husband's French into this English:

But before we accuse the Midrash of anti-feminist tendencies, let us listen to another, more flattering, text:

A king met Rabban Gamliel and told him: I don't know how to say this, but . . . your God--yes, your God--is nothing but a thief. Here was Adam sleeping the sleep of the just and suddenly God steals one of his ribs.--Rabban Gamiliel's daughter chose to answer the sovereign: Do you know what happened last night; they took all my silver and in its place they left me gold.--If only I could be the victim of such robbers every night, said the king.--Well, said the sage's daughter, that is precisely what happened to Adam. True, God did take a rib from him, but in exchange he gave him a beautiful woman who helped him when he needed help, served him when he needed to be served and was silent when he talked.

Notice, listen, neither my daughter nor Rabban Gamliel's daughter nor Elie Wisel's wife is silent.