Sanhedrin 022
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BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI
of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel
RABIN MISHNAH STUDY GROUP
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אֵין דָּנִין לֹא אֶת הַשֵּׁבֶט וְלֹא אֶת נְבִיא הַשֶּׁקֶר וְלֹא אֶת כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל, אֶלָּא עַל פִּי בֵית דִּין שֶׁל שִׁבְעִים וְאֶחָד. וְאֵין מוֹצִיאִין לְמִלְחֶמֶת הָרְשׁוּת, אֶלָּא עַל פִּי בֵית דִּין שֶׁל שִׁבְעִים וְאֶחָד. אֵין מוֹסִיפִין עַל הָעִיר וְעַל הָעֲזָרוֹת, אֶלָּא עַל פִּי בֵית דִּין שֶׁל שִׁבְעִים וְאֶחָד. אֵין עוֹשִׂין סַנְהֶדְרָיוּת לַשְּׁבָטִים, אֶלָּא עַל פִּי בֵית דִּין שֶׁל שִׁבְעִים וְאֶחָד. אֵין עוֹשִׂין עִיר הַנִּדַּחַת, אֶלָּא עַל פִּי בֵית דִּין שֶׁל שִׁבְעִים וְאֶחָד. וְאֵין עוֹשִׂין עִיר הַנִּדַּחַת בַּסְּפָר, וְלֹא שָׁלשׁ, אֲבָל עוֹשִׂין אַחַת אוֹ שְׁתָּיִם:
Only the [Supreme] Court of Seventy-One may judge a tribe, a false prophet, or a High Priest. Only the Court of Seventy-One may declare a political war. Only the Court of Seventy-One may add to the City or the Courtyards. Only the Court of Seventy-One may appoint the courts [of Twenty-Three] for the tribes. Only the Court of Seventy-One may declare a township liable to extinction. Such a township may not be declared if [situated] on the border nor three such townships – but one or two is possible.
EXPLANATIONS:
1:
Our mishnah consists of five topics dealt with in six sections. We shall consider them one by one. The first few mishnayot of this chapter were concerned with the "usual" Courts of three members which deal with Dinei Mamonot. The previous mishnah was about the Courts of Twenty-Three which deal with Dinei Nefashot. Our present Mishnah is concerned with the Court of Seventy-One. Although the Court of Twenty-Three was also termed a "Little Sanhedrin", the Court of Seventy-One was almost always known as the "Great Sanhedrin" or just "Sanhedrin". The mishnah that is the subject of our present study is about the duties and privileges of "The Sanhedrin". 2: 3:
Rabbi Yosé says that originally there were no [halakhic] disputes in Israel. The Court of Seventy-One would convene in the Gazit Room [in the precincts of the Bet Mikdash], there were Courts of Twenty-Three convening in the townships of Eretz-Israel, and there was a Courts of Three in the main concourse of the Temple Mount and another one within the sacred precincts. If any sage needed [to clarify] a point of halakhah he would apply to the the Bet Din in his town; if there was not such a Bet Din he would apply to the one in the nearest township that had one. If they knew the answer to his query they would tell it him; otherwise he and the greatest sage among them would apply to the Bet Din on the Temple Mount. If they knew the answer they would tell them so; if they did not they and the greatest sage of that Bet Din would apply to the Bet Din within the sacred precincts. If they knew the answer they would tell them so; if they did not they would apply to the Great Court in the Gazit Room.
It had a membership of seventy-one and there were never less than twenty-three in attendance at any given time. If one of them had to leave he would check to make sure that he left behind him twenty-three. They would be in session from the [time of offering] the Morning Sacrifice until the time of the Afternoon Sacrifice. [Approximately, from 7 am until 3 pm – SR.] On Shabbat and Festivals they would only convene in the Bet Midrash on the Temple Mount. Whenever a question was asked they gave the answer if they had heard it [from their teachers]. Otherwise they would take a vote, and whether something was pure or impure [for example] would be decided by majority vote. From there the halakhah would spread throughout Israel. When the students of Hillel and Shammai increased, because they had not studied as carefully as they should at the feet of their teachers, disagreements began to multiply in Israel. From there [the Gazit Room] they would send out [emissaries] to seek out everybody who was sage, level-headed, sin-fearing, learned, and popular; such a person would be appointed as a judge [of Dinei Nefashot] in his town. From there he would advance to become [a member of the court that met] within the sacred precincts, and from there he could advance to become [a member of the court that met] in the Gazit Room.
We note that this baraita suggests that the diversification of halakhah began around the beginning of the first century CE, with the proliferation of the two schools of Bet Hillel and Bet Shammai. The Gemara [Temurah 15b] suggests that the problem began about 150 years earlier, during the time of Yosé ben-Yo'ezer and Yosé ben-Yoĥanan. The first "maĥloket" on record was between these two sages and concerned the "laying on of hands" on a sacrifice.
To be continued. |