@msh210 At first I didn't realize that you were the one who asked it. But I think that one has a stronger case to remain open in that it is ostensibly based on something relating to Judaism (viz. does Torah expertise confer knowledge of other matters).

A possible way to think about it is if the question would be exactly the same if the person was not Jewish then it is not about Judaism. If Rashi's father was not Jewish you could ask and answer the question about whether he threw a jewel into the water the same way. If R. Machir was not Jewish you could equally ask about his nobility and answer it. But if the rabbis weren't Jewish then you could not ask your question.

@Alex note that besides the canonical Meta post there are also a bunch of others: a heavy proportion of these

Perhaps most important to see (besides the canonical one): judaism.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1498 and judaism.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1950

dropbox.com/s/8xghaohigw5x6m9/…

@Alex I thought I phrased the question in a Judaic manner by requesting Jewish sources on the matter, not secular ones. זה לא תופס? As we say in Hebrew.

@msh210 I do not. I'd say I'm 100% certain I heard it somewhere and didn't make it up, 90% certain the story wasn't meant hyperbolically, and 50% certain the Brisker Rav was the relevant levite.

@DoubleAA 240% sure, that's pretty good ;-)