ואביו לא ידע ליה והכתיב (שמואל א יז, יב) והאיש בימי שאול זקן בא באנשים ואמר רב ואיתימא רבי אבא זה ישי אבי דוד שנכנס באוכלוסא ויצא באוכלוסא
Doeg the Edomite then said to him,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To Saul.
');"><sup>39</sup></span> 'Instead of enquiring whether he is fit to be king or not, enquire rather whether he is permitted to enter the assembly or not'! 'What is the reason'?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That his eligibility to enter the congregation should be questioned.
');"><sup>40</sup></span> 'Because he is descended from Ruth the Moabitess'. Said Abner to him,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To Doeg.
');"><sup>41</sup></span> 'We learned: An Ammonite,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. XXIII, 4.
');"><sup>42</sup></span>
Sefer HaChinukh
From the laws of the commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Yevamot 76b) that specifically the males of the Children of Ammon and Moav - them and their sons forever - are the ones forbidden to come into the congregation, but the females are permitted immediately when they convert. And they said in explanation of this that it is since it is the way of the man to greet, but not the females; which is to say that their hand was not in this villainy when [the men] did not greet Israel with bread and water - since it is not the way of a woman to go out. And God would not twist justice to punish the woman for the villainy of the man - God forbid, that God would [allow such] evil. And the rest of its details are elucidated in the eighth chapter of Yevamot and at the end of Kiddushin (see Tur, Even HaEzer 4).
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