Avot240

6:
Despite his great halakhic influence the halakhic decisions proposed by Rabbi Me'ir were almost never accepted. The Gemara [Eruvin 13b] says that this was because his discussive acumen was so brilliant that most of his colleagues could not follow his argumentation. The Gemara, perhaps with more than just a modicum of exaggeration says that he was able to give a hundred and fifty reasons to prove a thing pure and as many more reasons to prove it impure.

7:
If his halakhic novellae were not accepted his aggadic activity was received with pleasure, indeed with glee. His lessons would be interspersed with stories, parables and maxims of worldly wisdom – some of them culled from Greek and Latin literature, in which he was well versed. We are told that he wrote aggadic notes on the margin of his bible and composed aggadic midrashim. However, both notes and midrashim are no longer in existence as a collection; but they are often quoted in midrashic literature in general. The Gemara [Sanhedrin 38b] also says that Rabbi Me'ir composed a collection of three hundred fables. A couple of them are quoted in the Gemara.

8:
Rabbi Me'ir was a true lover of peace and harmony. (We have already mentioned the fact that he left Eretz-Israel to avoid participation in the war against the Romans.) One very famous story is told [Deuteronomy Rabbah 5:14] that illustrates his nature in superb manner. Rabbi Me'ir was wont to give a Dvar Torah (sermon, lecture) every Friday night in the local synagogue. There was one woman who came regularly so that she would not miss even one of these sermons of Rabbi Me'ir. However, on one occasion, because the sermon was longer than usual she arrived home quite late. Her husband (who either did not attend synagogue or had attended a different one) was furious that she was not at home when he arrived. He threw her out from his house and vowed that she could not return until she spat in the wretched rabbi's face! The poor woman could not bring herself to do the one thing that would reconcile her with her irate husband. Rabbi Me'ir was informed of her situation. The following Friday night, after the service, he approached her and, pretending to have a sore eye, asked her to spit in it to heal it. The woman did so. Then Rabbi Me'ir saod to her, "Tell your husband that you have spat in the eye of Rabbi Me'ir. Go, make your peace with your husband."

9:
The enormous tolerance that Rabbi Me'ir was able to show was never surpassed by his devotion to his teacher, Elisha ben-Avuyah. We shall have occasion to discuss this sage at great length when we reach Mishnah 24 in this chapter. Suffice at this stage to note that Elisha ben-Avuyah forsook Judaism altogether and became an apostate. When all the sages would have nothing more to do with Elisha, Rabbi Me'ir continued to visit him and they would discuss various topics connected with Hellenistic wisdom. Of course, the rest of the sages rounded on Rabbi Me'ir for his continued relationship with Elisha ben-Avuyah, but Me'ir would not listen and maintained his association with his erstwhile teacher until the teacher's death.

10:
Hardly less well-known than Rabbi Me'ir is his famous wife, Beruryah. This brilliant woman was a sure support for her husband during many vicissitudes. Probably the most famous story about their married life is what happened one Shabbat when their two sons died while Me'ir was at the synagogue. A midrash [Yalkut Shim'oni on Proverbs, 964] tells us that this giant of womanhood withheld the knowledge of their sons' death from her husband during the Sabbath in order that the day should not be profaned by weeping and lamentation. At the end of that Shabbat she sought to console her husband with a parable:

To be continued.