More Discussions for this daf
1. Miriam the Prophetess 2. List of Prophets 3. Miriam
4. 55 Prophets in Point by Point Outline 5. Rashi's List of the Nevi'im 6. Miriam's Nevu'ah
7. Darius 8. When did Rachav Convert? 9. The Chasam Sofer's element of d'Oraisa in Mikra Megilah
10. Nevi'im 11. Yirmiyah and the 12 tribes 12. Hallel on Purim
13. Avigayil 14. 48 Neviim 15. Nerya as a Navi
16. Leah as a Navi 17. ורוח לבשה את עמשי 18. אביגיל
DAF DISCUSSIONS - MEGILAH 14

Rabbi Gersten asks:

Tosefos D"H D'igyrah. Suggests that Rachav converted before Bnei Yisroel crossed over the Yarden River into Eretz Yisroel. How is that possible? She couldn't do it on her own. She would need three Jewish Men acting as Beis Din to validate her conversion. (there were only two spies that came to her in Yerico so they couldn't convert) We know she was in Yerico when they came to conquer it because the pasukim say she was in Yerico when they came to conquer it. It's hard to believe that she went to join Bnei Yisroel before they entered Eretz Yisroel to convert and then left them to return to Yerico after converting.

Do you have a logical explanation?

Rabbi Gersten, Israel

The Kollel replies:

1) Tosfos cites Yesh Mefarshim who say that there was no prohibition against marrying someone from the Seven Nations until after Klal Yisrael entered Eretz Yisrael. According to this opinion, there was no need for Rachav to convert before they crossed the Yarden.

2) The Tosfos ha'Rosh here does write that she converted before the nation entered Eretz Yisrael. He cites Rav Yehudai Gaon who says that even though she was from the Seven Nations, she converted before the Land was conquered, immediately after the Meraglim were sent.

So the question can be asked on Rav Yehudai Gaon: how could she be converted without a Beis Din of three Dayanim? I suggest an answer based on the Ba'al Halachos Gedolos (BeHaG), cited by the Chidushei ha'Ramban to Yevamos (45b, DH Mi Lo Tavlah), who writes, "And nowadays the Halachah is that a Ger requires three...." This implies that that the Halachah did not always follow the Gemara in Yevamos (end of 46b) that Gerus requires three Dayanim. We suggest that in the time of Rachav, three were not necesarry, and the two Dayanim who accepted Rachav as a convert were the two spies, Pinchas and Kalev.

Note also that Rav Yehudai Gaon and the Behag were both Geonim, from the period before the Rishonim, which gives added plausibility to the suggestion that they agree with each other.

3) Here is support for the above suggestion:

If we do say that Tosfos suggests that Rachav converted before Bnei Yisrael entered Eretz Yisrael, we still can say something similar to what I wrote above, bs'd. We may suggest that there is additional support for what I wrote from Tosfos in Yevamos 109b (DH Ra'ah). The Gemara there says, "Bad things after bad things shall come to those who accept Gerim." Tosfos asks from a number of instances in Tanach where we find that converts were accepted. One of the examples is what Tosfos writes, "Yehoshua accepted Rachav." The interesting point is that Tosfos does not say merely that Yehoshua married Racbav; Tosfos says that he "accepted" her. This suggests that he was part of the Beis Din that accepted Rachav as a Ger. If we say that Tosfos in Megilah learns that Rachav converted before Bnei Yisrael enetered Eretz Yisrael, then this means that there would seem to be a contradiction between Tosfos in Megilah and Tosfos in Yevamos, since Yehoshua could not have accepted her Gerus before Bnei Yisrael entered Eretz Yisrael, as Yehoshua was not yet in Eretz Yisrael at that stage.

But if we say that the two spies commenced the Gerus of Rachav when they stayed in her house, and saw how genuine her intentions were -- not only to help Am Yisrael but even to become a part of Am Yisrael, and, as we have noted above, according to some opinions two Dayanim are sufficient mid'Oraisa to make a Gerus, then Yehoshua completed the Gerus at a slightly later stage.

I also found that the Kli Yakar on Sefer Yehoshua (of Rav Shmuel Laniado (circa 1530-1605, Aleppo), not to be confused with the Kli Yakar on the Chumash, by Rav Shlomo Efraim Luntschitz (1550-1619, Prague), on the verse, "Yehoshua saved Rachav alive" (6:25), writes that this means that Yehoshua converted her and brought her under the wings of the Shechinah. He gave her Eternal Life.

So the two spies began her conversion process before Bnei Yisrael entered Eretz Yisrael, and Yehoshua completed the Gerus shortly afterwards.

4) Here are further sources to explain how the conversion of Rachav was valid even though it did not start with three Dayanim. This is from the Rif in Yevamos (15b of the pages of the Rif).

The Rif cites the Gemara in Yevamos (end of 45b) which tells us about somebody whom people called "the son of an Aramite" because his mother had not immersed in the Mikveh when she converted. Rav Asi said that this did not matter because she must have gone to the Mikveh for Nidah which is also sufficient.

The Rif questions this Gemara from the Gemara in Yevamos (end of 46b) where Rebbi Yochanan says that three Dayanim are necesary to accept a Ger. The Rif asserts that the Halachah follows Rebbi Yochanan, so how can the Tevilah of the mother be effective without three? The Rif answers that Rav Asi's Heter is only b'Di'eved; we do not disqualify her child, since she immersed for Nidah. The Rif writes that the Din of Rebbi Yochanan is a l'Chatchilah rule. We do not relate to him as a Ger, and do not let him marry a Bas Yisrael, until his mother will immerse in front of three Dayanim.

So now we can strengthen our argument, bs'd, about Rachav. We cited the Tosfos ha'Rosh (Megilah 14b) in the name of Rav Yehudai Gaon, who writes that the Gerus of Rachav, which took place immediately after the Meraglim were sent before the Land was conquered, was effective in removing the prohibition of "Lo Sechayeh Kol Neshamah." We now may assert that to remove this prohibiton one does not need a full-scale l'Chatchilah conversion. It is enough to have the Gerus of the two spies, and shortly afterwards Yehoshua will combine with them to make a Gerus of three Dayanim, and she will now be totally permitted to marry.

Kol Tuv,

Dovid Bloom