[Avodah] R Chiya Raba

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Jan 16, 2011 at 08:34:50PM +0000, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
: > As I understand him, the CI (YD, Hilkhos Tereifos 5:3; Yevamos
: > 57:3) is saying there was an exact time of transition from the
: > era of Torah to the era of Geulah. That's different than saying
: > that time was the year 4000 AM on the nose...
: 
: According to Gemara Avoda Zara 9a, in answering this very question, the
: year 2000 marked the pasuk "v'es hanefesh asher asu b'charan." (Bereshis
: 12:5)

Whether or not the CI CI agreed and took 2000 AM exactly, he could not
have taken 4000 AM as well. Rebbe lived from 135 - 188 CE or 219 CE.
Lemisparim she'anu monim kan, that's 3895 - 3948 or 3979 CE.

We have no reason to believe the CI had any notion of missing years or
questioning the counting of the Seder Olam. So I continue insisting he
didn't mean the year 4000 exactly, even though he apparently meant the
moment of the siyum hamishnah, precisely.

Taking this idea even further to its logical conclusion... Not only could
R' Chiya argue with Rebbe one day, but not make the same argument if he
waited a year before speaking up -- Rebbe himself couldn't change his
mind from what he said before finishing the mishnah! That too would be
an amora -- a statement from the alpayim yemos hage'ulah arguing with
with one from the alapayim leTorah.

Just for curiosity, with the missing 168 years, Rebbe lived from 4063
to... Makes no difference; Rebbe would have been born too late. There is
little motivation IMHO to assume missing years that don't line up Persian
dates (and the astronomical events they record using those year numbers)
with ours.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             A person must be very patient
micha at aishdas.org        even with himself.
http://www.aishdas.org         - attributed to R' Nachman of Breslov
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