Sanhedrin 013

1:
The difference between our present mishnah and the previous ones in this chapter is that, while they all deal with the functions of a "Bet Din shel Sheloshah" – a Court of Three [members] – our present mishnah is not concerned with a judicial case as such, but with the required participation of the Bet Din in a ceremony. In most of these cases the ceremony, as interpreted by the sages, requires the participation of a very special Bet Din: the members had to be members of the Sanhedrin, which is often perceived as the Bet Din established by the incumbent President of the Sanhedrin.

2:
'Designation by the Elders' is a term connected with the ancient sacrificial system. As regards their provenance, all offerings could basically be divided into two categories: any given offering was either 'private' or 'public'. That is to say that it was being brought either by an individual on his own behalf or it was being brought by the general public. The 'private' offerings were brought for personal reasons, usually to atone for some personal misdemeanour. The individual concerned was required to place his hands (with pressure) on the head of the animal and to confess the sin involved. Through the imposition of the hands the animal was symbolically designated as a surrogate: the offender's life was really forfeit, as it were, for the sins he had committed, but his 'persona' was thus symbolically transferred to the animal who would suffer the atonement of death in his stead. (Nowhere in the Torah is this rationale specifically indicated, but the psychology of the act of imposition of hands [semikhah] is implicit and undisputed. The cessation of the cultus of the Bet Mikdash [Temple] made it possible for the prophetic teaching of personal and untransferable responsibility for acts committed to come to the fore. This is one of the reasons why it seems to me that the restoration of the sacrificial cultus would be a retrogressive step.]

3:
However, there were two 'public' offerings that also required semikhah, and their association with the concept of the expiation of guilt will be immediately apparent. One of these was annual: the High Priest, representing the whole people of Israel, was required to place his hands on the head of the Scapegoat that was sent hurtling to its death every Yom Kippur: Aaron shall place both his hands upon the goat's head and make confession of all the sins and offenses of the Israelites, thus transferring them onto the head of the goat, which he then dispatched to the desert with a handy person. Thus the goat would carry upon itself all their sins into a barren land…[Leviticus 16:21-22].

4:
The other public offering that required semikhah was occasional, and it is to this item that our mishnah refers. The Torah [Leviticus 4:13-20] recognizes the possibility that the whole community will sin, even if only inadvertently. If the Sanhedrin were to make a ruling and the people acted according to this ruling in all innocence, but the ruling was later found to be erroneous (please note that even the Sanhedrin can make mistakes!) the whole people were thus in a pickle. They had done wrong for the best of reasons: they followed the law [Deuteronomy 17:10-11]. The Torah [verse 15] requires the people to atone for their sin by substituting a sacrificial bull for their forfeited lives. Before killing it the "Elders" were required to "designate" this bull by the imposition of hands. The elders are, of course, the Sanhedrin upon whose ruling the people had relied.

5:
Our mishnah presents a "maĥloket" between Rabbi Shim'on [ben-Yoĥai] and Rabbi Yehudah [ben-Ilai]. The former (whose view is accepted as halakhah) is of the opinion that three members of the Sanhedrin are sufficient for the purposes of Semikhat Zekenim [Designation by Elders], whereas the latter teaches that five are required. The very fact that we find these two sages differing in this matter less than a century after the cessation of the sacrificial system can teach volumes about the last time in Jewish history when this law was invoked. Both sages base their opinion purely on midrashic interpretation and neither claim 'received teaching' for their view.

6:
The Gemara [Sanhedrin 13b-14a] understands the term Semikhat Zekenim [Designation of Elders] to be referring also to another concept: the appointment of people to the rabbinate. Up to the first quarter of the 5th century CE rabbis were created by the President of the Sanhedrin upon the recommendation of the person's teacher and with the concurrence of the Sanhedrin. This ceremony did not involve the imposition of hands, but a declaration in words that the person was now entitled to adjudicate and teach Torah and to assume the title of Rabbi. The Sanhedrin jealously guarded this their prerogative and would not permit Semikhat Zekenim to be "exported": thus worthy people in the Diaspora had either to go an study in Eretz-Israel in order to eventually receive semikhah or to make do with the lesser title of "Rav" instead of "Rabbi". This short-sighted policy of the Sanhedrin in Eretz-Israel eventually brought about the complete demise of the true Rabbinate – elders who had been invested by the Sanhedrin in Eretz-Israel – since the Byzantine government in Eretz-Israel abolished the institution in the year 425 CE (the President had died in 415 leaving no successor). Thus all rabbis today can, at best, be entitled "Rav" and none are qualified to sit in a Sanhedrin should it ever be reconstituted.

7:
A cameo conversation recorded in the Gemara [Sanhedrin 5a-b] permits us to eavesdrop on the manner of appointment. Rabbi Ĥiyya was a close and respected colleague of Rabbi Judah the President of the Sanhedrin (and editor of the Mishnah). Rabbi Ĥiyya had a nephew, Abba ben-Ayvo who had come from his native Babylon in order to study in Eretz-Israel. (Later, this great sage was to introduce revolutionary changes in the manner of Torah study in Babylon, thus laying the foundations for the Talmud. His eventual title, Rabbi Abba, became contracted into "Rav".) When his nephew wanted to return to Babylon Rabbi Ĥiyya spoke to the President:

To be continued.

Shabbat Shalom to everybody.