I asked someone who claimed that Rebbe Akiva was descended from Haman rather than Sisera where he saw it and he quoted the following source. Is it something on your shelf so that you can send me a jpeg or other scan of the page where it says so and from where. It is not a sefer I have access to.
> Actually I had heard it said; after looking I found one source, (Rav
> Mordechai Cohen's book ISHIM U'TEKUFOT (Israel: Yad Rama, 1977) p. 84-91.)
chaim
Sorry, Chaim, I do not have access to that Sefer.
I did in fact note that there appeared to be a printer's error in that piece of Gemara, which if not corrected would lead one to the conclusion that your friend reached. It should say that "A grandson of Sisera taught Torah in Bnei Brak, while a grandson of Haman taught children in Yerushalayim." That would be consistent with the Rishonim who record that Rebbi Akiva was the descendant of Sisera, and Rav Shmuel bar Sheilas was the descendant of Haman (see Bava Basra 21a).
M. Kornfeld
Are you noting this error or who are you quoting who says there is an error?
Chaim
I am noting it; I once presented my suggestion to my Rebbi, Hagaon Rav Yisroel Zev Gustman, one Purim, and he approved of it.
Mordecai
According to Rav Reuven Margoliyos the Gemara should say not "Haman" but "Na'aman," the non-Jewish officer who was cured miraculously of Tsara'at.
Rav Reuven in Margoliyos ha'Yam (Sanhedrin 96b:13) does make such a suggestion. However he does not bring any convincing proof for this. His proofs are:
1. How can an Ameleki be accepted as a convert? But the Acharonim -- some of which Rav Margoliyos lists -- discuss this at length and suggest various answers; see also Teshuvos Avnei Nezer, end of Orach Chayim.
2. He cites an inference from the words of the Ba'al ha'Turim to Tetzaveh (Shemos 28:7). However, the Ba'al ha'Turim, if anything, implies that he had the Girsa Na'aman instead of Sancheriv, not instead of Haman. And even that is not clearly written in the Ba'al ha'Turim.
Many Rishonim write clearly that it is to the grandson of Haman that the Gemara is referring, and that the grandson was Rav Shmuel bar Sheilas, as I wrote previously.
M. Kornfeld
So basically Rabbi could you summarize the issue and what should we remember. That would help us
thanks Salomon Amar, DMD, Ph.D. Professor Boston Univ. Medical Center http://dentalschool.bu.edu/research/perio%2Dfaculty/amar.html
To sum it up the Gemara says in Gitin (57b) and Sanhedrin (96b) that-
Haman's grandchild learned Torah in Bnei Brak
Sisera's grandchild taught children (Gitin: Torah) in Yerushalayim
(The Gemara does not identify who these grandchildren were.)
The Rishonim had a Girsa according to which the grandchild of:
Haman was Rav Shmuel bar Sheilas, a well-known Amora who taught children (in Yerushalayim)
Sisera was Rebbi Akiva, a Tana who was the Torah authority of Bnei Brak
I therefore suggest that the correct Girsa in the Gemara is:
*Sisera's* grandchild learned Torah in Bnei Brak
*Haman's* grandchild taught children in Yerushalayim
(I found support for this Girsa in the Menoras ha'Ma'or, Mosad Rav Kook edition, 5:3:2:3.)
Be well,
Mordecai Kornfeld