Greetings. I don't understand the conclusion in Kiddushin 76a stating that the Kusim are not proficient in kiddushin and gerushin as a reason to reject them. After all, even if they were baki, the Samaritans would not have been accepted even though they rejected the oral law and even all of Nach. So what difference does it make whether they were baki or not?
Even with regard to Maseches Kusim which states that they will be accepted when they accept Yerushalayim, this leaves out the other elements which are of equal importance. Similarly in both cases, especially in Kiddushin, we don't see a statement that they are rejected because they don't even accept the correct version of the Torah itself!
Thanks,
David Goldman
David, it is very good to hear from you again!
Tosfos (Gitin 25a, DH ha'Loke'ach) writes that the Kusim abandoned idol-worship more than the other nations and believed in the written Torah.
In the time of the second Beis ha'Mikdash they did not worship their gods in the same way that they did in the time of the first Beis ha'Mikdash.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom