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follows. “What does beinayim mean?... Rabbi Yochanan says, ‘He
was the son of a hundred papi and one naanai.” Rashi writes (s.v. bar
me’ah),“The son of an admixture, for many men had intercourse with
his mother during one night and she became pregnant from one of
them, so one of them was his father and the others are fornicators.”
Tosfos (s.v. me’ah papi) however, cite the Yerushalmi’s opinion that
a woman can become pregnant from two men, writing: “This implies
that all hundred of them were his fathers [of Goliath] for his mother
became pregnant from all of them, unlike Rashi who says that chad
naanai means only one of them was his father, rather like the Aruch’s
opinion that she [Orpah] had intercourse with a hundred men and
with one dog. This is stated explicitly in Vayikra Rabbah and in the
Aggadah: ‘Rabbi Yitzchak said: “The night that Orpah separated
from her mother-in-law [Naomi], a band of a hundred men mixed
with her. This is the meaning of the passuk, ‘While he was speaking
to them, behold, the warrior was ascending…from the Philistine
ranks’ – it is written maaros, from a hundred Philistine foreskins.”
Rabbi Tanchuma said: “[She had intercourse with] a dog too, as it is
written, ‘The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog?”’’” [The gemara
in Sotah offers further explanations of the word beinayim: “He was
formed – from banuy, built – without any blemish (meaning that
he was perfectly formed and free of any blemish of ugliness – Rashi
ibid.). In Rav Shila‘s academy they said that he was formed like a
building (binyan).”
My teacher and father-in-law Rav Y.S. Elyashiv zt”l, raised the
question of whether each of those hundred ‘fathers’ are considered
fathers in regard to the following Torah laws:
1. In regard to yibum -- if one of those hundred ‘fathers’ who
had intercourse with Orpah died without leaving any
other child, would his role in siring Goliath be sufficient
to consider him as having a son, or would Orpah require
chalitzah?
2. Does such a ‘son’ inherit a share in his father’s assets?
124 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein