Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Sanhedrin

Folio 37a

AND THREE ROWS OF SCHOLARS SAT¹  IN FRONT OF THEM; EACH KNOWING HIS OWN PLACE.²  IN CASE IT WAS NECESSARY TO ORDAIN [ANOTHER JUDGE],³  HE WAS APPOINTED FROM THE FIRST [ROW] IN WHICH CASE ONE OF THE SECOND [ROW] MOVED UP TO THE FIRST, ONE OF THE THIRD TO THE SECOND, AND A MEMBER OF THE ASSEMBLED [AUDIENCE]⁴  WAS SELECTED AND SEATED IN THE THIRD [ROW]. HE⁵  DID NOT SIT IN THE PLACE VACATED BY THE FIRST⁶  BUT IN THE PLACE SUITABLE FOR HIM.⁷

GEMARA. Whence is this derived? — R. Aha Haninah said: Scripture states, Thy navel is like a round goblet ['aggan ha-Sahar] wherein no mingled wine is wanting.⁸  'Thy navel' — that is the Sanhedrin. Why was it called 'navel'? — Because it sat at the navel-point⁹  of the world. [Why] 'aggan?¹⁰  — Because it protects [meggin] the whole world. [Why] ha-Sahar? — Because it was moon-shaped.¹¹  [Why] in which no mingled wine is wanting? — I.e., if one of them had to leave, it had to be ascertained if twenty-three, corresponding to the number of the minor Sanhedrin, were left,¹²  in which case he might go out; if not, he might not depart.

Thy belly is like a heap of wheat:¹³  Just as all benefit from a heap of wheat, so do all benefit from the deliberations of the Sanhedrin.

Set about with lilies:¹⁴  Even through a hedge of lilies they would make no breach.¹⁵  In this connexion there is the story of a Min¹⁶  who said to R. Kahana: Ye maintain that a menstruant woman is permitted yihud [privacy] with her husband: can fire be near tow without singeing it? He retorted: The Torah testifies this of us: Set about with lilies — even through a hedge of lilies they make no breach. Resh Lakish deduced [the same answer] from the following verse, Thy temples [rakkathek] are like a pomegranate split open!¹⁷  Even the emptiest [rekanin]¹⁸  among you are as full of meritorious deeds as a pomegranate [of seeds].¹⁹  R. Zera deduced it from the following verse, And he smelt the smell of his raiment;²⁰  read not begadaw [his raiment] but bogedaw [his traitors].²¹

In the neighbourhood of R. Zera there lived some lawless men. He nevertheless showed them friendship in order to lead them to repent; but the Rabbis were annoyed [at his action]. When R. Zera's soul went to rest,²²  they said: Until now we had the burnt man with the dwarfed legs²³  to implore Divine mercy for us; who will do so now? Thereupon they felt remorse in their hearts and repented.

THREE ROWS Abaye said: We may infer from this²⁴  that when one moves they all move.²⁵  But can he²⁶  not object to them: Until now I used to sit at the head,²⁷  whilst now ye place me at the tail!²⁸  Said Abaye: They can answer him thus: Better a tail to lions than a head to foxes.²⁹

MISHNAH. HOW WERE THE WITNESSES INSPIRED WITH AWE? WITNESSES IN CAPITAL CHARGES³⁰  WERE BROUGHT IN AND INTIMIDATED [THUS]: PERHAPS WHAT YE SAY IS BASED ONLY ON CONJECTURE,³¹  OR HEARSAY,³²  OR IS EVIDENCE FROM THE MOUTH OF ANOTHER WITNESS,³³  OR EVEN FROM THE MOUTH OF A TRUSTWORTHY PERSON:³⁴  PERHAPS YE ARE UNAWARE THAT ULTIMATELY WE SHALL SCRUTINIZE YOUR EVIDENCE BY CROSS EXAMINATION AND INQUIRY? KNOW THEN THAT CAPITAL CASES ARE NOT LIKE MONETARY CASES. IN CIVIL SUITS, ONE CAN MAKE MONETARY RESTITUTION³⁵  AND THEREBY EFFECT HIS ATONEMENT; BUT IN CAPITAL CASES HE IS HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS BLOOD [sc. THE ACCUSED'S] AND THE BLOOD OF HIS [POTENTIAL] DESCENDANTS UNTIL THE END OF TIME,³⁶  FOR THUS WE FIND IN THE CASE OF CAIN, WHO KILLED HIS BROTHER, THAT IT IS WRITTEN: THE BLOODS OF THY BROTHER CRY UNTO ME:³⁷  NOT THE BLOOD OF THY BROTHER, BUT THE BLOODS OF THY BROTHER, IS SAID — i.e., HIS BLOOD AND THE BLOOD OF HIS [POTENTIAL] DESCENDANTS. (ALTERNATIVELY, THE BLOODS OF THY BROTHER, TEACHES THAT HIS BLOOD WAS SPLASHED OVER TREES AND STONES.)³⁸  FOR THIS REASON WAS MAN CREATED ALONE, TO TEACH THEE THAT WHOSOEVER DESTROYS A SINGLE SOUL OF ISRAEL,³⁹  SCRIPTURE IMPUTES [GUILT] TO HIM AS THOUGH HE HAD DESTROYED A COMPLETE WORLD; AND WHOSOEVER PRESERVES A SINGLE SOUL OF ISRAEL, SCRIPTURE ASCRIBES [MERIT] TO HIM AS THOUGH HE HAD PRESERVED A COMPLETE WORLD.⁴⁰  FURTHERMORE, [HE WAS CREATED ALONE] FOR THE SAKE OF PEACE AMONG MEN, THAT ONE MIGHT NOT SAY TO HIS FELLOW, 'MY FATHER WAS GREATER THAN THINE, AND THAT THE MINIM⁴¹  MIGHT NOT SAY, THERE ARE MANY RULING POWERS IN HEAVEN; AGAIN, TO PROCLAIM THE GREATNESS OF THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE: FOR IF A MAN STRIKES MANY COINS FROM ONE MOULD, THEY ALL RESEMBLE ONE ANOTHER, BUT THE SUPREME KING OF KINGS,⁴²  THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, FASHIONED EVERY MAN IN THE STAMP OP THE FIRST MAN, AND YET NOT ONE OF THEM RESEMBLES HIS FELLOW. THEREFORE EVERY SINGLE PERSON IS OBLIGED TO SAY: THE WORLD WAS CREATED FOR MY SAKE.⁴³

PERHAPS YE WILL SAY:

1. Also in semi-circular form, but on the floor. Each row numbered twenty-three, making a total of sixty-nine. They were there for completion purposes in case there might be a majority of only one for condemnation. Although forty-eight would have sufficed for that purpose, since the completion goes on till the number of seventy-one is reached, some difficulty would have been experienced in arranging that number into rows. It would not have been proper to make two rows of twenty-four, since these would have been larger than that of the Sanhedrin, nor three rows of sixteen, which would have seemed too small, nor two rows of twenty-three and a third one only of two. Hence the sixty-nine (Rashi).
2. The disciples were seated according to rank.
3. If a member died, or for completion purposes.
4. [Behind the rows of the members of the Courts there stood a large audience of scholars, v. Krauss op. cit.]
5. Who was chosen from the assembly.
6. Of the row.
7. When the one at the head of the row was promoted, all moved one place up, leaving the last seat for the new member.
8. Cant. VII, 3.
9. I.e., the centre. According to Midrashic legend the Temple was situated in the centre of the world. Cf. Tanhuma, Wayikra. XVIII, 23.
10. [H] akin to [H] — 'to enclose'. Hence, shield, protect.
11. [H]=moon.I.e., they were seated in circular form like a moon.
12. The actual number required for capital cases is twenty-three, roughly a third of seventy-one, the remaining two-thirds being for completion purposes. The Aggadists therefore compare the court to mingled wine, a mixture of one-third of wine and two-thirds of water. Cf. B M. 60a; Tanhuma. Bamidbar IV.
13. Cant. VII, 3.
14. Ibid.
15. Metaphorically: the lightest barrier sufficed to keep them from sin.
16. [H], a sectarian. v. Glos.
17. Cant. VI, 7.
18. [H] from [H] (empty, void: a play on [H]). Even those who by comparison are emptiest of good deeds.
19. So there is no fear of their infringing the prohibition.
20. Gen. XXVII, 27.
21. The consonants of both words are the same — [H] I.e., even those who are traitors to the teachings of Judaism diffuse the fragrance of good deeds. Maharsha: Isaac was able to trace in Jacob his original character even though he appeared before him in disguise, so even in his apparently unworthy descendants their good qualities are discernible.
22. I.e., when he died.
23. V. B M. 85a for the reason for this nick-name.
24. The statement in the Mishnah that the member chosen from the assembled audience does not occupy the seat just vacated.
25. V. p. 231, n. 7.
26. The promoted member of the rows of scholars.
27. E.g., of the second row.
28. Of the first row.
29. Aboth IV, 15.
30. [Ms.M: How are witnesses in capital charges intimidated? They were brought in, etc.]
31. I.e., from circumstantial evidence.
32. [A general rumour (Yad Ramah).]
33. [Each one of you has heard it from a separate witness (Yad Ramah).]
34. [You both heard it from the same trustworthy person.]
35. If he causes financial loss through giving false testimony.
36. Lit., 'the world', i.e., not only for the death of the accused himself, but of his potential descendants for all time.
37. Gen.IV, 10; [H] is plural.
38. This is obviously not part of the caution, but interpolated. V. Krauss, Sanhedrin-Makkot a.l.
39. 'OF ISRAEL' is absent in some texts.
40. Since all mankind originated from one man.
41. V. p. 211, n. 8, and p. 239, n. 9; here, however, it is more probable that the allusion is to the Gnostics and their doctrine of the Demiurgus; v. Krauss, op. cit. a.l.
42. Lit., 'the King of the Kings of the Kings.'
43. How grave the responsibility therefore of corrupting myself by giving false evidence, and thus bringing the moral guilt of murder upon a whole world.

GEMARA. Our Rabbis taught: What is meant by BASED ON CONJECTURE? — He [the judge] says to them: Perhaps ye saw him running after his fellow into a ruin, ye pursued him, and found him sword in hand with blood dripping from it, whilst the murdered man was writhing [in agony]: If this is what ye saw, ye saw nothing.⁵

It has been taught: R. Simeon b. Shatah said: May I never see comfort⁶  if I did not see a man pursuing his fellow into a ruin, and when I ran after him and saw him, sword in hand with blood dripping from it, and the murdered man writhing, I exclaimed to him: Wicked man, who slew this man? It is either you or I!⁷  But what can I do, since thy blood [i.e., life] does not rest in my hands, for it is written in the Torah, At the mouth of two witnesses etc., shall he that is to die be put to death?⁸  May he who knows one's thoughts exact vengeance from him who slew his fellow! It is related that before they moved from the place a serpent came and bit him [the murderer] so that he died.

But should this man [have died] through a serpent? Did not R. Joseph say, and so too it was taught in the school of Hezekiah: From the day the Temple was destroyed, although the Sanhedrin was abolished, the four modes of execution were not abolished? They were not abolished, [you say,] but surely they were! — But the law of the four modes of execution was not abolished:⁹  He who is worthy of stoning either falls from the roof,¹⁰  or is trampled to death by a wild beast; he who merits burning either falls into the fire or is bitten by a serpent;¹¹  he who is worthy of decapitation is either delivered to the [gentile] Government¹²  or brigands attack him; he who is worthy of strangulation is either drowned in a river or dies of suffocation?¹³  — I will tell you: that man was guilty of another crime,¹⁴  for a Master said: One who incurs two death penalties imposed by Beth din is executed by the severer.¹⁵

BASED ON CONJECTURE. Thus, only in capital charges do we disallow conjecture, but permit it in civil suits.¹⁶  Who [is the authority for this]? — R. Aha. For it has been taught: R. Aha said: If among camels there is a lustful one, and a camel is found killed by its side, it is certain that this one killed it.¹⁷  Now, on your reasoning,¹⁸  when he [the Tanna] regards EVIDENCE FROM THE MOUTH OF ANOTHER WITNESS [as invalid]: it is only in capital charges that we do not admit it; whilst we do in monetary cases? But did we not learn: If he [the witness] says: He [the defendant] said to me, 'I owe him [the money],' or, 'So and so told me that he owes him,' his statement is worthless,¹⁹  unless he states, 'In our presence²⁰  he admitted to him that he owed him two hundred zuz!'²¹  This proves that although [such evidence] is inadmissible in monetary cases too, we caution them²²  only in capital cases. So in the present instance,²³  though it [sc. conjecture] is inadmissible in civil suits too, we nevertheless admonish them only in capital cases.

KNOW THAT etc. Rab Judah the son of R. Hiyya said: This teaches that Cain inflicted upon his brother many blows and wounds, because he knew not whence the soul departs,²⁴  until he reached his neck.²⁵  Rab Judah the son of R. Hiyya also said: Since the day the earth opened her mouth to receive the blood of Abel, she has never opened it again, for it is written, From the edge of the earth have we heard songs, glory to the righteous:²⁶  implying, from the 'edge' of the earth, but not from the mouth of the earth. Hezekiah his brother objected thereto: And the earth opened her mouth!²⁷  — He answered: She opened if for evil,²⁸  but not for good.

Rab Judah the son of R. Hiyya also said: Exile atones for the half of men's sins. Earlier [in the Cain narrative] it is written, And I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer;²⁹  but later, And he dwelt in the land of Nod [wandering].³⁰

Rab Judah said: Exile makes remission for three things, for it is written, Thus saith the Lord etc. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence; but he that goeth out and falleth away to the Chaldeans who beseige you he shall live and his life shall be unto him for a prey.³¹  R. Johanan said: Exile atones for everything, for it is written, Thus saith the Lord, write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days, for no man of his seed shall prosper sitting upon the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah.³²  Whereas after he [the king] was exiled, it is written, And the sons of Jechoniah, — the same is Assir — Shealtiel his son etc.³³  [He was called] Assir,³⁴  because his mother conceived him in prison. Shealtiel,³⁵  because God did not plant him³⁶  in the way that others are planted. We know by tradition that a woman cannot conceive in a standing position.

1. If the moral responsibility is so great, why should we give evidence at all? Quite unintentionally we may cause a perversion of justice.
2. Then he shall bear his iniquity. Lev. V, 1.
3. I.e., we prefer to transgress that law, rather than be responsible for the accused's death.
4. Prov. XI, 10.
5. For it is not an actual witnessing of the murder. But v. Mishnah on 81b, and Talmudic discussion thereon.
6. A customary oath. This may either mean, May I (personally) always be afflicted; or, May I never see the comfort of Zion and of Jerusalem. If the latter be correct, the troublous times of the period, owing to the clash of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, might have given rise to such an oath.
7. I.e., it must be you.
8. Deut. XVII, 6.
9. I.e., the death which the Jewish courts could no longer decree was now brought about by Heavenly agencies.
10. Before stoning one was thrown from a certain height. Cf. infra 45a.
11. The action of the poison was likened to the inner fire of burning; v. p. 349.
12. Whose mode of execution was then as a rule by the sword: 'handed over' does not mean, by the Jews, but rather, falls into their hands, through some misdeed which attracts their attention.
13. Now, returning to the subject, the said murderer ought to have met his death by the sword: why then did he die of a bite?
14. Punishable by burning, which is severer. Cf. infra 49b.
15. Infra 81a.
16. This follows from the fact that the Mishnah states this only in connection with the former.
17. V. B.B. 93a. Hence in monetary cases circumstantial evidence is acceptable. The Mishnah thus follows the view of a single authority.
18. That, because in monetary cases the attention of the witnesses is not actually called to the inadmissibility of circumstantial evidence, such is permissible.
19. Lit., 'He hath said nothing.'
20. I.e., 'In the presence of another witness and myself.'
21. Supra 29a.
22. Sc. the witnesses.
23. With reference to circumstantial evidence.
24. I.e., he did not know which blow would prove fatal.
25. And severed the arteries.
26. Isa. XXIV, 16.
27. Num. XVI, 32.
28. To swallow Korah and his associates; the opening to receive Abel's blood is however accounted for good. i.e., to hide Cain's guilt.
29. [H] Gen. IV, 14.
30. [H], The other half of the curse, 'to be a fugitive' was remitted because of his wandering, i.e., exile,
31. Jer. XXI, 8-9. He that remained at home was subject to these three evils; but wandering and its consequent hardships outweighed them all.
32. Jer. XXII, 30.
33. I Ch. III, 17. Notwithstanding the curse that he should be childless and not prosper, after being exiled he was forgiven.
34. [H], imprisoned.
35. According to this Haggadah they were one and the same person.
36. [H], a play on [H].