Wednesday, April 09, 2008

how old was Haran when he gave birth to Sarah (and a lesson for husbands)

My wife's old Wordpress blog has vanished so I can't link to her old post, but a few months ago she posted and had asked me about Haran's age when he gave birth to Sarah. If Avraham is 10 years older than Sarah, and Haran, who is Sarah's father, was younger than Avraham, it must mean that Haran fathered Sarah when he was under 10. I did not really think much about it at the time - working out things like this is just not my cup of tea and I tend to me dismissive of these type practical questions. Well, I guess I should have paid attention because lo and behold, I just came across a Yerushalmi (Yevamos 59b in Vilna ed) which makes exactly the same calculation to prove that one can father a child pre-puberty. I shared the Yerushalmi with my wife because I deserve an "I told you so!" on this one and promised a blog post to be modeh al ha'emes. Moral of the story: always pay attention to your wife!
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6 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:48 PM

    I belive the same gemurah is in Bavli Sanhedrin Cant remeber were

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  2. Anonymous11:04 PM

    What you don't know is that Haran was born on February 29th, so he was really three times as old as Avrom biologically.

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  3. Anonymous12:53 AM

    I just heard two shokers at least to me. First the Sfas EMes says that The story of the rabbonim sitting and saying Sipur Yitzas Mitzrayim "WAS NOT ON PESACH NIGHT?!" And another doozy the ABARBNEL says BNEI BRAQ was a type of clothes and guess that answers why Rashi all over SHAS feels the need to say SHEM MAKOM all the time.

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  4. Chaim B.9:28 AM

    Yes, it is in the Bavli (the Pnei Moshe gives you the mareh makom to perek Ben Sorer U'Moreh). Bad enough I didn't know the Yersuhalmi, you have to make me feel bad that I forgot the sugya in the Bavli also : )

    I've seen that Abrabanel, not the sefas emes. What year is it in?

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  5. Anonymous1:34 PM

    What is pshat in the Abarbanel?What is the signfigince of B'nei Brak clothes that the Hagodah mentions it?Why doesn't he want to say like the simple understanding that B'nei Brak was a place(that they were hiding from the Romans in)?

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  6. Anonymous7:16 PM

    The Sfas emes Is in TUF REISH MEM

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