Julian Ungar-Sargon

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  • Dominican University
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Daf Ditty

A wide-ranging commentary on the daily page of Talmud.

The relief stone of Darius the Great in the Behistun Inscription

Rosh Hashanah 3: Divine Rights

jyungar October 12, 2021

For the source text click/tap here: Rosh Hashanah 3

To download, click/tap here: PDF

Our Daf (Rosh Hashanah 3) struggles between the month of Nissan or Tishri for reckoning regnal dating and cites numerous biblical references which only causes more problems and differences between the Talmud Bavli and Yerushalmi. Do these rules apply to gentile kings as well? Maybe this proves there is no chronological order to the bible? Was Darius Jewish?

The daf endswith another reference to names. Artachshast may have also been calledDarius and Cyrus. Cyrus refers to his virtuousness. We learn thatkings who are virtuous might follow Israel's dates... but what makes a kingvirtuous? If one is a Gentile, is it necessary to be like a Jew to bevirtuous? What if one follows the Noahide laws and also follows his orher own religious rules? How do we measure virtuousness in one who is notobligated to follow known guidelines?

We explore how the Divine right of kings emerged from the ancient near East into Europe and also Prof Marc Brettler's recent essay on the Rosh Hashanah Mussaf and its antecedents.

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Julian Ungar-Sargon

This is Julian Ungar-Sargon's personal website. It contains poems, essays, and podcasts for the spiritual seeker and interdisciplinary aficionado.​