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