"(a) (R. Yochanan) The new year for kings is learned from a verse that relates the date of King Shlomo's reign with the Exodus, the years from which are counted from Nisan."
But did he not succeed Dovid who dies in Shavuous? Does anyone deal with this...on a tape I heard someone say Sfas Emes but I do not have the al Shas available to me?
Please help/ send gif file of it?
hg, rockland, usa
The Sfas Emes indeed asks the question, quoting Tosfos in Chagigah (17a, DH "Af Atzeres") in the name of the Yerushalmi that David died on Shavuos. The Sfas Emes says that it is difficult to state that we would count the years Shlomo was king from when David Hamelech was still alive. However, in my humble opinion this is not difficult, as the Gemara in Sanhedrin (107b) states that David Hamelech was a Metzora (leper) for the last six months of his life, and the Sanhedrin no longer dealt with him. Accordingly, it is not problematic to say that Shlomo took over during this final period of David's life when he was no longer acting as king (see commentaries on Sanhedrin ibid. for more proof toward this approach).
Chodesh (Nisan) Tov,
Yaakov Montrose