And it happened that when the handsome Simeon returned to the Yeshiva
the students there cried out in horror at his altered looks.
“See,” he exclaimed, “what has overtaken me because for thirty days
I dashed myself against the stony strength of Beruriah. Her strength
and purity are above all uncertainty, but I am utterly undone.”
And Rabbi Mayer glowered triumphantly at his disciples, took his
staff and wallet and left to seek Beruriah. But he found her
dead,—gone to join her children. And on the tablet were written these
few words: “He who cuts open the apple also destroys it.”
He seized his temples, his eyes expanded wildly, and he burst forth
into a heart-breaking, soul-rending wail: “Beruriah!”