Friday, December 08, 2006

Daf Yomi - Rosh Hashana 3 - WAS KORESH A JEW?

Rabbi Avahu explained that Koresh was a righteous king and therefore his reign was calculated from Nissan as they would do for the Jewish kings.

It is evident from this Gemora that Koresh was a gentile.

Tosfos comments that Koresh was the son of Esther. This can be found in several Medrashim.

The question is obvious that if Koresh is the son of Esther, he is not a gentile but rather a Jew. The Gemora in Yevamos (45b) rules that a gentile that lives with a Jewish woman and has a child, the child is indeed Jewish. The Rambam in Hilchos Issurei Biah (15:3) rules according to this Gemora as well. Why does our Gemora state that he was a righteous gentile and that is the reason his years were calculated from Nissan? The Gemora could have answered that Koresh was a Jew and that is why his years are counted from Nissan?

Rashi’s opinion is that a gentile that lives with a Jewish woman and has a child, that child is a gentile and the meaning of the Gemora that states that he is kosher means that he is not considered illegitimate. If the child would be a Jew, he must be considered illegitimate since he is the product of two people that cannot be married to each other.

Rav Elyashiv Shlita answers that in the times of Koresh the ruling was that the child is a gentile and that is why the Gemora inquired as to why the counting of his years was from Nissan. It was only afterwards that the ruling was established that the child is considered a Jew.

This would be similar to the ruling in the times of Boaz. Until the time of Boaz, it was ruled that one is not permitted to marry an Amonis woman. This is why Ploni Almoni refused to marry Rus. It was only after Boaz ruled that she was permitted that the halacha was established for the future that an Amonis is indeed permitted.

3 comments:

David said...

That's a big chiddush. Kollel Iyun Hadaf also has a few answers to this question. Keep up the great work on this blog.

Anonymous said...

It is apparent that even if Darius would have been the son of Esther he would have been an idol worshipper since he was forced to take the religion of the land. and the talmud uses the term idol worshipper and not nochri as regarding to Tsedakah inour case, which applies to Darius.

Avromi said...

the question is if the gemora is referring to the same one