Julian Ungar-Sargon

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Daf Ditty

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

Ahimelech giving Goliath's sword to David by Arent De Gelder

Yevamot 77: Doeg

jyungar May 23, 2022

For the source text click/tap here: Yevamot 77

To download, click/tap here: PDF

King David was a descendant of Rut ha-Mo’aviah – Ruth the Moabite (see Ruth 4:17).

Our Gemara relates that when King Saul was concerned that David would claim the monarchy, his advisor, Do’eg ha-Edomi argued – convincingly – that David should be forbidden from being considered a true member of the Jewish people, due to this ancestry.

Based on our daf (Yevamos 77a) on the basis of the question regarding the prohibition of a Moavite woman,

Doeg HaEdomi very nearly managed to invalidate Dovid HaMelech altogether.

When Doeg asked Avner why the Moavite women didn’t meet the Jewish women with food and drink, since by anyone’s standards that could still be considered modest, no one could answer.

It was just then that Amasha girded his sword and said, ‘I will run through anyone who doesn’t wish to accept this ruling. I received from the beis din of Shmuel HaRamasi that the language of the verse is Amoni and Moavi—in the masculine—and it excludes the women of either nation!’

This dramatic Haggadah forms part of a genre of Dovid Hamelech legends which we investigate with particular attention to the character of Doeg.

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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.​