Sunday, June 01, 2008

Sotah 9b - Shimshon and his Marriages

The gemara says that shimshon's first "kilkul" was in azza. Although his first marriage was actually to a woman from Timna, the Maharsha explains that the woman in azza was not converted, but the woman from timna was converted before he married her. Nevertheless, his parents considered it as if he were marrying a non-jewish woman (when he married the one from timna) because she originated from "zerah passul". The Maharatz chiyus claims that the Rambam already preceeded the maharsha in this explanation. However, when you look at the Rambam (Issurei Biah 13:14) he clearly seems to hold that shimshon would never have married a woman without converting her, and therefore even the woman he married from azzah was first converted. The Mahratz chiyus understands the Rambam to be saying that the woman from timnah was a jew that he married, but the woman from azza was a goy that he took derech z'nus (the rambam's assumption that shimshon would never marry a non-jewish woman, was limited to marriage but not to z'nus).
Rambam writes:
אל יעשה על דעתך ששמשון המושיע את ישראל או שלמה מלך ישראל שנקרא "ידיד ה'" נשאו נשים נכריות בגיותן, אלא סוד הדבר כך הוא, שהמצוה הנכונה כשיבא הגר או הגיורת להתגייר וכו' שכל החוזר מן העכו"ם בשביל דבר מהבלי העולם אינו מגירי הצדק, ואעפ"כ היו גרים הרבה מתגיירים בימי דוד ושלמה בפני הדיוטות והיו ב"ד הגדול חוששין להם, לא דוחין אותן אחר שטבלו מכ"מ, ולא מקריבין אותן עד שתראה אחריתם, ולפי שגייר שלמה נשים ונשאן וכן שמשון גייר ונשא, והדבר ידוע שלא חזרו אלו אלא בשביל דבר, ולא על פי ב"ד גיירום, חשבן הכתוב כאילו הן עכו"ם ובאיסורן עומדין, ועוד שהוכיח סופן על תחלתן שהן עובדות כו"ם שלהם ובנו להן במות ע"כ
The Rambam implies that both shlomo and shimshon would never have married non-jewish woman, rather they took woman who were converted not following the proper process of accepting the mitzvos and in a ad hoc beis din, rather than a formal beis din. The Rambam categorizes such conversions as "לא דוחין אותן וכו' ולא מקרבין אותן". This seems to imply that conversions without following the process of accepting mitzvos and may be happening for ulterior motives, is pending. We don't push them away nor do we fully accept them. When the Rambam writes "ועוד שהוכיח סופן על תחלתן שהן עובדות כוכבים", he seems to imply that if they choose to return to their idolatry, their conversion is void retroactively and they are therefore considered goyim.
BUT, the Rambam in the very next halacha (13:17) seems to contradict this because he writes:
גר שלא בדקו אחריו או שלא הודיעוהו המצות וכו' אפילו נודע שבשביל דבר הוא מתגייר הואיל ומל וטבל יצא מכלל העכו"ם וחוששין לו עד שיתבאר צדקותו, ואפילו חזר ועבד כוכבים הרי הוא כישראל מומר שקידושיו קידושין וכו' ולפיכך קיימו שמשון ושלמה נשותיהן ואע"פ שנגלה סודן
R' Moshe (Even Ha'ezer 4:7) points out that the Rambam in Halacha 17 clearly states that even if they were converted for the wrong reasons and the return to their idolatry, they are considered Jewish in every respect. Therefore, even the wives of shlomo and shimshon are only called goyim by the pasuk but are not actually goyim. He struggles with understanding what the Rambam means by the phrases "חוששין לו עד שיתבאר צדקתו" and "לא דוחין אותן וכו' ולא מקרבין אותן", which imply some sort of pending conversion. R' Moshe explains that the conversion is not at all pending, it is an absolute conversion. The Rambam just means to say that we don't give them the perks and special treatment that the torah instructs us to give to geirim until we determine their sincerity.
It seems to me that the Rambam means to say slightly more than what R' Moshe suggests. Although they are considered jews for everything, we are suspect that since they never properly accepted mitzvos they have the status of "yisroel mumar" and therefore are not given even privileges that a regular jew would have such as a mitzvah l'hachayoso. Normally the halacha by "ישראל מומר להכעיס" is like the gemara says in avoda zara 26b - מורידין ולא מעלין, since this ger may be a yisroel mumar, we are not willing to help him out and be ma'alin but we are also not moridin until he proves himself to return to avoda zara and be a yisroel mumar.

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