supplementary daf bit: Sanhedrin 91

[cellio]

I first heard the following as a joke and thought it modern; only later did I learn that it was talmudic.

The Egyptians brought a suit against Israel before Alexander of Macedon (otherwise known as Alexander the Great), saying: give us the gold and silver you took when you left our land. Gebiha b. Pesisa argued for the defense (saying: if I lose you can say they won against an ignorant man, and if I win you can say the torah prevailed). He asked the Egyptians for their proof, and they said they argued from the torah. Then, he said, I will argue from the torah as well: the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt was 430 years. Pay us the wages of the 600,000 men you enslaved for 430 years! Alexander told them: answer him! The Egyptians asked for a recess, which Alexander granted for three days. They could not find a counter-argument so they fled, leaving their sown fields and planted vineyards behind. (91a)

This is one of three torah-based arguments cited here between Gebiha and others before Alexander. I don't know if this is to be understood as "everyone has a Gebiha story and the talmud is a compilation", or "Gebiha gets around".

Comments

[gingicat]

So Gebiha is the Talmudic version of Hershel of Ostropol?

[sethg]

Maybe he was the Alan Dershowitz of his generation. :-)