[Avodah] [Areivim] vashti

[Marty Bluke]

R' Micha Berger wrote:
<Could someone post a maqor that says that the default assumption when
dealing with a medrash that is "fantastical" is to assume it IS <historical?
Or even that the majority are

The gemara at the end of berachos (54b) has an incredible story about Og.
The gemara describes how Og had planned to destroy Israel. He planned to
uproot a mountain three miles in size, throw it upon them and kill them. The
gemara then goes on to describe how Moshe killed Og. Both the Rashba and the
Maharsha assume that the story is not to be taken literally. However, the
Mishna Berura (Biur Halacha Siman 218 sif 1) does take this story very
literally. He comments how Og was descended from Malachim and was therefore
endowed with great powers etc. One could infer from here that the MB held
that we take all of these stories literally as this is one of the more
fantastic ones, and that is not just me talking, the Maharsha writes that
the story is "zar hu". So if we take this story literally when the Rashba
and the Maharsha don't kal vachomer we would take a less incredible story
like Vashti's tail literally.
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