Caesar's Lesson

Caesar said to Rabban Gamliel: "Your G‑d is a thief; as it is written, 'And G‑d caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man... and He took one of his sides...'"

Said Caesar's daughter, "Allow me to reply." Said she to him: "Summon me a guardsman."

"Why do you require one?" asked her father.

"Thieves came upon us in the night, took a silver flask, and left us a golden flask."

"If only they would come every night."

"And was it not beneficial for Adam that a side was taken from him and a handmaid to serve him was given him in its place?"

"What I mean to ask," said the king, "is why could it not have been taken in his presence?"

Said she: "Bring me a piece of raw meat."

It was brought to her; she charred it in the ashes of the hearth, handed it to him, and said: "Eat of this!'

Said he to her: "It is repulsive to me."

Said she to him: "Adam, too, if the woman had been formed in his sight, she would be repulsive to him."

(Talmud, Sanhedrin 39)