(Please include header and footer when redistributing this material.)
_________________________________________________________________
THE DAFYOMI DISCUSSION LIST
brought to you by Kollel Iyun Hadaf of Yerushalayim
Rosh Kollel Rabbi Mordecai Kornfeld
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE TO DISCUSS THE DAF WITH THE KOLLEL]
________________________________________________________________
Sanhedrin 095a: David's punishment
Rob Shorr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> asked:
The aggadita describing the near death of David Hamelech (and his rescue)
as an extension and ramification of the maase by Nov and the death of the
Cohanim tells of David being given a choice of bearing personal
responsibility (and being killed) or a deferral to his descendants.
(a) How can this choice be given? Don't we have an open possuk that the
sins of the father are NOT visited on the son? Even with the caveat that
such sins ARE visited upon the son should there be a failure of the
children to do teshuva, what happens to the free will of David's
descendants in this case?
(b) Further, does this imply that the Tzaddik David did not do (or could
not do) complete teshuva for his part in this maase?
Please comment.
Rob Shorr, Ph.D., D.I.C.
Edison, NJ
------------
The Kollel replies:
(a) Often find that a person's children are punished for his sins, as we
find with regard to the children of Eli (Shmuel 1 3:12), Yorav'am (Melachim
1 14:10) etc. In fact, the Pasuk says (Shemos 20:5 etc.) that Hashem *does*
punish children because of their fathers.
The Gemara in Sanhedrin 27b explains that the children are punished for the
sins of their fathers, but only if they follow in the evil ways of their
fathers. For this reason, the Gemara tells us (Rosh Hashanah 18a) that
Abaye and Rabah lived 40 and 60 years respectively, despite their ancestral
connections to the sons of Eli.
(b) Sometimes Teshuvah alone cannot be Mechaper without physical punishment
(Yoma 85b).
M. Kornfeld
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send email to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with this text in the body of the message:
unsubscribe daf-discuss
