Sotah 044
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BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI
of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel
RABIN MISHNAH STUDY GROUP
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What are the differences between a man and a woman? A man lets his hair grow and rips his garments, a woman does not do so. A man may declare his son a Nazir, a woman may not do so. A man may end his term using his father's Nazirite savings, a woman may not do so. A man may sell his daughter, a woman may not do so. A man may betroth his daughter, a woman may not do so. A man is stoned naked, this is not so with a woman. A man is hanged, a woman is not. A man is sold for theft, a woman is not.
EXPLANATIONS (continued):
7:
We now come to the item concerning the hanging of a man. Hanging, of course, is not one of the four modes of judicial execution that were enforced in ancient Israel. These four modes were terminated, for all practical purposes, around the year 30 CE: people have not been put to death by a Jewish court for offences against the law for almost 2000 years. The four modes were: stoning, burning, decapitation and strangulation. These four modes were explained (in all their gruesome detail) when we studied tractate Sanhedrin a few years ago, and I shall not recapitulate here. Tractate Sanhedrin 6:4 reads in part:
All those stoned are hanged, according to Rabbi Eli'ezer; but the rest of the sages hold that the only ones hanged are the blasphemer and the idolater. According to Rabbi Eli'ezer, men are hanged with their bodies facing the people and women are hanged with their bodies facing the wood; But the rest of the sages hold that men are hanged and women are not.
Here is part of the explanation of the mishnah that I gave when we studied it originally – enough to clarify its meaning for our present purposes.
Our mishnah divides into a Reisha [first section] and a Seifa [last section]. The Reisha is concerned with a Maĥloket [difference of view] between Rabbi Eli'ezer and the rest of the sages. The Maĥloket is concerned with what is done with the body of a criminal after he has been stoned to death (as described in the previous shiur). It is therefore most important for us to understand that the hanging referred to in our mishnah is not hanging for the purposes of causing death (and is not to be confused with strangulation…). The hanging referred to in our present mishnah is a degradation that was enacted upon the dead body of the person executed before burial.
The source of this act of degradation is in the Torah [Deuteronomy 21:22-23]:
If a person be found guilty of a crime that requires the death penalty and that person is put to death, you shall [then] hang him upon a gallows. But you must not leave his body [thus exposed] over night, but you must bury him that very same day. For he that is hanged is a reproach unto God [Ki Killelat Elohim Talu'i]. And you shall not defile the soil that the Lord God is giving you as your patrimony.
The phrase that I have quoted also in Hebrew is very difficult to translate because it is susceptible of several connotations. (In the text of this phrase I have given the translation of the Jewish Publication Society of America, 1917, for want of anything better.) The traditional commentators offer several alternatives. We offer here three examples:-
Rabbi Eli'ezer in our mishnah is clearly following the plain meaning of the Biblical text: the bodies of all persons executed must be exhibited in this manner 'post mortem'. The view of the sages certainly contradicts the plain meaning, and their interpretation must derive from a desire to limit the rather grisly Biblical requirement as much as possible. The Gemara [Sanhedrin 45b] brings their interpretations as follows: Rabbi Eli'ezer's syllogism: the text states specifically that blasphemers are to be executed and their bodies hanged; by inference therefore the body of anyone executed must be hanged. The sages' syllogism: the text states specifically that blasphemers are to be executed and their bodies hanged since they have denied a basic principle of Torah [to love and honour God]; by inference therefore only the bodies of persons who have denied a basic principle of Torah are to be hanged 'post mortem'. (Idolatry is obviously a denial of a basic premise of the Torah.) The Seifa of our mishnah is concerned with the manner of the hanging. The sages deny that the bodies of executed women are to be subject to 'post mortem' exhibition at all; Rabbi Eli'ezer holds that they are so exhibited. Once again, it seems to me that the sages are trying to limit the possible application of the Biblical law by their interpretation. The Torah states: "you shall [then] hang him upon a gallows". Rabbi Eli'ezer interprets the word 'him' as indicating that only the person is to be thus exposed and not his clothes as well; for the sake of decency, then, the females should be strung up nude with their bodies turned towards the gallows and thus away from the people. He does not apply this to the bodies of male criminals. The rest of the sages interpret the word 'him' as indicating 'him' and not 'her'.
To be continued.
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