More Discussions for this daf
1. Prophets to the nations 2. Job Marrying Dinah 3. Queen of Sheba
4. Moshe's Name 5. Last Eight Lines 6. Last eight verses of Torah and Ibn Ezra
7. Reading from a Sefer Torah
DAF DISCUSSIONS - BAVA BASRA 15

Barry Epstein asked:

First it says Job married Dinah. Then it says Job was Jewish except for the last case, which is where he married Dinah.

Q: How could he marry Dinah if he wasn't Jewish?

Barry Epstein, Dallas, USA

The Kollel replies:

It was before the giving of the Torah, no one was Jewish.

D. Zupnik

Jeff Ram asks:

That's fine - except Chazal always seem to make a big deal out of our forefathers and mothers *Jewishness*. For example; Avraham converted the men and Sarah converted the women. It seems quite clear that Dinah, as a daughter of Ya'akov, would not only *be* Jewish, but insist on *at least* conversion from anyone she would marry.....yet there's nothing to indicate that Iyov ever converted. Please explain.

Jeff Ram, Jerusalem

The Kollel replies:

There is also nothing to indicate that he didn't convert. The same proof that you have that Dina insisted on the conversion of anyone she would marry (that proof being the intuitive argument that, as a daughter of Ya'akov, it is quite reasonable that she would insist on conversion), tells us also that Iyov indeed converted.

D. Zupnik

Serena asked:

My understanding is that Job was not necessarily a real person either. I thought that Job was a parable? (The Job we are talking about is Eyov correct?) Also, it was my understanding that after Dinah married Shechem, she no longer is mentioned. Is there a midrash regarding this?

The Kollel replies:

This opinion is a minority opinion quoted in our Gemara. Additionally, Dina is mentioned in the Torah two more times after the incident with Shechem (Bereishis 34:26,46:15). The Torah does not mentioned explicitly that she married anyone. This was brought in our Gemara.

All the best,

Yaakov Montrose