[Avodah] Jewish King

[Eli Turkel]

<<> He further speculated that when Esther's son became king there
> was a Jewish King over the land of Israel which affected some
> halachot. When Esther dies Darius lost all contact with Jews and
> could no longer be considered a Jewish king.

Why would "contact with Jews" be a criterion for the definition of "Jewish
king"? I would expect the definition to be either genetic/conversion-based
(in which case he would be a Jewish king even after he lost contact with the
Jews), or it would also be dependent on Shmiras Hamitzvos, like when we
define Jewishness for wine, or minyan, or many other situations (in which
case his status would be unchanged before and after Esther's death, unless
he actually converted out).>>

RHS assumes that the definition of a Jewish King involves some connection to
yiddishkeit. It is not the same
as other halachot which only depend on genetics.

Interestingly it seems that when Prince William of Britain married Kate
Middleton, that her mother's family was Jewish
and so their son and possible future king of the United Kingdom would be
halachically Jewish. RHS would hold
that nevertheless he would not be considered a Jewish king.
-- 
Eli Turkel
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